Armenia
Exhibiting mid-range performance across all four categories of the Global State of Democracy Framework, Armenia is amongst the world’s top 25 per cent of countries with regards to Inclusive Suffrage and Access to Justice. Armenia has experienced significant declines in several factors between 2019-2024, including in Credible Elections, Judicial Independence, Predictable Enforcement, Personal Integrity and Security, and Civil Society. An upper-middle income country, its economy is diversified; with significant IT, mining, and agriculture sectors.
Although Armenia can be traced back to 6th century BC, its territory has been largely subsumed under various empires since. After gaining independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1918, Armenia was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1922 until its dissolution in 1991. As a small state embedded in a multipolar global power balance between European and Eurasian integration, Armenia continues to navigate its relationships with regional and international powers. Once opting to join the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union, Armenia has since suspended its participation in the Collective Security Treaty Organization and declared its intent to join the European Union. Ethnic Armenians comprise 98 per cent of the population—with a similar percentage identifying as belonging to the Armenian Apostolic Church—and minority groups include Russians and Yezidis.
The 2018 Velvet Revolution was expected to be a watershed moment for Armenia’s democracy, as anti-cronyism and -corruption protests brought in new governance promising widespread domestic reforms. This agenda was frustrated in 2020 by Azerbaijan’s offensive against the long-disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh—governed by ethnic Armenian separatists since 1991 as the Republic of Artsakh—in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. Decades of failure to resolve the conflict, which has its origins in the Soviet Union, and the subsequent 2020 military defeat soured public opinion of the political class, with sentiments only worsening after Azerbaijan’s renewed military offensive and blockade against Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023. This offensive resulted in the enclave’s complete surrender to Azerbaijan, the dissolution of the Republic of Artsakh, and the near-total displacement of the enclave’s population—over 100,000 Karabakh Armenians—to Armenia. Armenia’s political leadership seeks to normalize the relations with Azerbaijan to end its still-unresolved conflict with Azerbaijan. Normalization between Armenia and Türkiye is also underway, as the historical memory of the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks (recognized as a genocide by Armenia and over 30 other countries) remains a political issue.
Armenia attains mid-range performance in Gender Equality, with constitutional protections against gender-based discrimination, legislated parliamentary quotas, and an overall increase in women’s political participation. Gender-related bias is still prevalent in society, and Armenia is also challenged by comparatively high maternal mortality, labour market segregation, and a spike in recorded domestic violence. Members of the LGBTQIA+ community face recorded domestic and institutional discrimination and violence.
Since the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, Armenia has been acutely challenged by a lack of trust in politicians and political parties. Looking ahead, all factors of Participation—particularly electoral turnout, in light of historic lows—are therefore important aspects of democratic performance to watch. As the country struggles to integrate Karabakh Armenian refugees, Social Group Equality should be followed. Lastly, given the promises of the Velvet Revolution, it will be important to monitor whether Judicial Independence continues to decline, as well as any changes to Absence of Corruption.
Last Updated: May 2025
https://www.idea.int/democracytracker/
April 2025
Major spike in domestic violence recorded in 2024
Armenia’s Prosecutor General’s Office published annual statistics showing a 151 per cent increase in domestic violence in 2024 compared to 2023. A substantial increase was recorded in all categories of domestic violence–psychological abuse, physical abuse, as well as murder. Domestic violence support centers confirmed that statistics aligned with their experience, and that the increase was not due to a change in measurement or the tendency of victims to report. Experts say that the refugees suffering from the trauma of their expulsion from Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as the lack of data on and support for victims of domestic violence in the former self-declared republic, could account for much of the increase. Another factor could be the increased circulation of firearms following Armenia’s loosening of gun control laws in late 2022. The Prosecutor General said that better interagency cooperation was key to reversing the trend and that it was working with police in this regard.
November 2024
Women’s representation increases after cabinet shakeup
As of 25 November, the cabinet of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has the highest women’s representation in the country’s history, with over one-third of ministerial portfolios being held by women. The change came after Pashinyan forced six ministers to resign on 18 November, citing his dissatisfaction with reforms to the country’s judiciary and law enforcement bodies. In 2019 the country had only one female cabinet minister. A gender quota for the National Assembly that passed in 2020 contributed to women’s representation in Parliament rising from 22.7 per cent in that year to an all-time high of 36.4 per cent as of 2024. The appointments are not without controversy, as critics allege Pashinyan is only attempting to burnish his image ahead of elections due to be called sometime next year.
Sources: Eurasianet, Radio Azatutyun
April 2024
Agreement to transfer villages prompts protests
Armenia formally agreed to transfer control of four abandoned villages to Azerbaijan on 19 April as part of ongoing peace negotiations between the two countries. The abandoned villages have been under Armenian military occupation since 1991 and neighbour populated Armenian villages, whose residents have raised concerns over security and the ability to maintain their livelihoods when the transfers go ahead. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has argued the unilateral handover is necessary to preserve Armenia’s security, but the announcement was met with significant opposition criticism and large public protests beginning on 25 April. Protesters hold that the unilateral handover has instead diminished national security, given Azerbaijan’s recent claims that much of Armenia is actually historical “western Azerbaijan.” Tens of thousands were reportedly protesting in the capital of Yerevan by 9 May, calling for Pashinyan’s resignation.
Sources: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Azatutyun, International IDEA, Jam News
March 2024
Plan to transfer villages to Azerbaijan raises tensions
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has suggested, under significant political pressure and threats of military action from Azerbaijan, that Armenia would hand over four abandoned Azerbaijani villages that have been under its control since the early 1990s. Pashinyan argues a handover is necessary to head off Azerbaijani military aggression, and domestic opposition argues the handover only weakens Armenia’s national security and heightens the risk of conflict. There is currently no specific timeline of when the handover of de jure Azerbaijani territory to Azerbaijan would occur.
Sources: OC Media, Eurasianet
Investigations put spotlight on ruling party finances
Two separate journalistic investigations found a pattern of large campaign donations from individuals who professed no knowledge of ever donating to the ruling Civil Contract Party. Many of the individuals also had insufficient financial means to make the payments or were connected to wealthy businessmen and senior government officials. Civil Contract reportedly raised AMD 506.5 million (USD 1.25 million) for last year’s municipal elections, and individual donors contacted by journalists frequently either refused to speak on the record or claimed to not have made a donation at all. Some who did acknowledge making a donation had given the party an amount several times greater than their annual incomes. Local NGOs and activists have demanded a criminal investigation, but the Office of the Prosecutor-General has responded that no unusual activity has taken place and said it will not file charges.
Sources: OCCRP, Radio Azatutyun
See all event reports for this country
Global ranking per category of democratic performance in 2023
Basic Information
Human Rights Treaties
State party
Signatory
No action
Performance by category over the last 6 months
Global State of Democracy Indices
Hover over the trend lines to see the exact data points across the years
Factors of Democratic Performance Over Time
Use the slider below to see how democratic performance has changed over time
