Armenia has remained a “partly free” country in the Freedom House’s annual report on the state of freedom in the world.

Freedom in the World 2020 by the Washington-based organization ranks 210 countries and territories around the globe, 84 of which were marked as “free”, 67 were “partly free” and 59 were “not free” in the recent update.

Armenia scored 53 out of 100 in the global ranking — the higher the number, the better a country ranks — up from the last edition’s score of 51.

Nagorno Karabakh, meanwhile, has also been classified as a “partly free country”, with a score of 34.

Neighboring Georgia too continues to be a “partly free” country, while Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia are ranked “not free”.

The organization said in the summary of the report that the political opening in Armenia had a positive effect on Karabakh (Artsakh) during 2019.

The report notes positive signs in Armenia against the backdrop of an overall grim picture elsewhere in the world.

According to the NGO, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, in particular, was among the leaders who "took initial steps to uproot the kleptocratic forces that long stymied their countries' democratic aspirations."

Pashinyan came to power following a peaceful campaign in April-May 2019, when tens of thousands of Armenians took to the streets across the country to demand the resignation of former authorities.