Raising its score to 5.54 in 2019 from 4.79 a year earlier, Armenia has jumped by 17 notches to rank the 86th in the new edition of The Economist Intelligence Unit's annual report on democracy.

On a regional level, Armenia is ranked the 18th and outperforms Georgia nestled in the 19th spot (89th overall), Russia in the 22nd (134th overall), and Azerbaijan in the 24th (146th overall).

The index, on a 0 to 10 scale, is based on the ratings for 60 indicators, grouped into five categories—electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture—with 0 being negative and 10 positive. According to the report, based on their management systems the countries are classified into four main groups: full democracies (8-10), flawed democracies (6-8), hybrid regimes (4-6), and authoritarian regimes (0-4).

As a "hybrid regime", Armenia made substantial steps towards democracy in 2019, the report says, reminding that the OSCE judged that the snap election in December 2018 “respected fundamental freedoms and enjoyed broad public trust”.

"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.