Page 51 - bne_June 060618

bne June 2018
Opinion 51
if ever. In reality, Russia plays a very small role in the internal politics of the country as Armenians are far more concerned with their personal situation than external relations. To better understand what drives popular dissatisfaction, let’s have a look at how Armenia is ranked in various credible indexes.
Armenia places 129th in Jeffrey Sachs’ World Happiness Report 2018, which makes Armenians one of the unhappiest nations in the world. Among things that make Armenians unhappy are corruption, low incomes and social injustice.
Corruption seems to be the key factor behind popular frustration. In none of the indices is Armenia a frontrunner, although it does perform relatively well in some business- focused rankings. For instance, Armenia ranks 47th out of 190 countries in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2017 ranking.
It has a good position in US-based think tank the Heritage Foundation’s 2018 Index of Economic Freedom placing 44th of 180 countries. And it does even better in Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World at 18th.
Despite these relatively good results, all the benefits
are actually monopolised by the country’s oligarchs and government officials; literally every sector of the Armenian economy is controlled by someone from one of these two groups. Very little trickles down to the man in the street.
The country’s economy is effectively divided among the local strongmen. No surprise then that there is no place for ordinary Armenians in Armenia and they have been leaving en masse: circa 15,000 left Armenia in 2017 alone. The country has a population of some 3mn people, but the diaspora is estimated at between 7mn-10mn according to various estimates. Armenia has the highest emigration rate in the South Caucasus, according to United Nations statistics. The Armenian population may fall to 2mn over the next 30 years, reaching the point of no return.
Armenia's Ranking in World Indexes
Corruption is a major driver of this trend. Anti-graft watch- dog Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index 2016ranks Armenia as 113th of 176 countries, which makes it one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Corruption is a nationwide handicap for a country with an ancient history and a vibrant youth; talented people are simply unable to realise their potential.
In the World Economic Forum’s Network Readiness Index, which measures a country’s information technology-readiness,
“Armenians are far more concerned with their personal situation than external relations”
Armenia ranks 58th–better than its progressive neighbour Georgia. Similarly, in the Global Innovation Business 2017 ranking, Armenia performs better than its neighbours, coming in at 59th. But once again, all the achievements are offset
by the corruption and injustice.
Injustice and inequality are currently the predominant
themes of Armenian society. Not only are the people and political elite divided, but the exclusion happens in every social group. In the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap survey, Armenia ranks 102nd out of 144 countries, a true offence to the nation taking into account how gender-balanced Armenian society has been in the past. Thus it should come
as no surprise that Pashinian was able to tap a deep well of resentment and was widely supported by the female part of the population, whose economic participation has been falling during recent years.
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