Go work, Armen Ashotyan

The "Good Countries Index" for 2018 has been published, in which Armenia has sharply improved its position over the year, moving from 75th place among 163 countries to 45th. These figures were published on the Facebook page of Armenian Republican Party Vice President Armen Ashotyan.

This international rating is developed based on statistical data from the UN and its various agencies and aims to clarify the contribution of countries to the development of the planet and humanity. It is more a measure of external rather than internal development, reflecting a country’s degree of internationalization.

Regardless of political disagreements, we all rejoice and take pride in our country's successes, and such matters are outside the political agenda.

However, government media, as often happens, has tried to attribute this progress to the current government, manipulating our citizens.

This is why I feel compelled to respond to the anatomy of the “Armenian miracle.”

This international rating exclusively relies on data from previous years, with at least a two-year gap.

For example, the 2017 index was based on UN data from 2014, the 2016 index on data from 2011, and so on.

It is clear that the ranking of this year is based on data from 2015-2016. In other words, our country's leap in this ranking system is not due to Nikol Pashinyan's magic wand, but rather an assessment of the work done by previous governments.

I would only be happy if the new government consistently improves Armenia's standings in this and other international rankings, but don’t claim the credit, don’t ascribe these evaluations of our efforts to yourselves.

Go work,” wrote Armen Ashotyan.