Armenia is described as “hybrid regime” in the Democracy Index 2019 published by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Armenia raised jumped in its ranking from 103 to 86 spot. 

According to the report, two countries in the “hybrid regime” category made substantial steps towards democracy in 2019: Ukraine and Armenia. In both countries elections were held that were judged to be free and fair.

“Armenia’s score in the Democracy Index rose from 4.11 in 2017 to 4.79 in 2018, as government accountability and transparency improved and public confidence in the political system grew; it rose further, to 5.54 in 2019, as these improvements were consolidated and peaceful political activity became possible without government interference,” the report says.

Neighboring Georgia (89) and Turkey (110) are also included in the same group of “hybrid regimes”. Azerbaijan (146) and Russia (134) are listed among “authoritarian regimes”.

In the 2019 Democracy Index the average global score for democracy fell from 5.48 in 2018 to 5.44 (on a scale of 0-10). This is the worst average global score since the index was first produced in 2006.

According to this year’s Index, 76 of the 167 countries covered by the model, or 45.5% of all countries, can be considered to be democracies.