60% of Respondents Believe Corruption Levels in Armenia Have Increased

The Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center has issued a statement on the occasion of the International Day Against Corruption, noting that "significant improvements in the fight against corruption were only recorded after the Velvet Revolution of 2018. There were noticeable changes in public sentiment. The TI CPI score increased by 14 points from 2019-2020, reaching 49 from the 35 points during the years of stagnation. In 2021, it remained unchanged, while in 2022 it retreated to 46.

TI assessed this decline as "worrisome" and noted that it "reflects the setbacks in maintaining checks and balances, the integrity of law enforcement agencies, ensuring the independence of the judiciary, and protecting civic space." The findings of the 2023 public opinion survey are similarly alarming.

73% of respondents believe that corruption is a very serious or somewhat serious problem for the country, while only 25% think it is a very small or somewhat small problem. 60% of respondents consider that the level of corruption in Armenia has increased or remained unchanged over the past 12 months.

Only 2% of respondents mentioned anti-corruption prevention as the government's biggest achievement in the last six months. A larger group, 43%, indicated that the government had no achievements. When asked about the anti-corruption reforms conducted by the government, 46% of respondents either found it difficult to answer or refused to respond, while 32% claimed they were unaware of such reforms.

43% of respondents believe that efforts to combat corruption have somewhat or significantly improved in the past six months, whereas 23% think they have somewhat or significantly worsened. These responses are particularly troubling when compared to similar survey results from 2018 and 2019. In just 4-5 years, the proportion of those perceiving improvement in the fight against corruption in the country has decreased by almost two times (from 82% to 43%), while those perceiving deterioration have increased by 11.5 times (from 2% to 23%).