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Armenia ranked 105th out of 180 nations with a score of 35 on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2018 released by Transparency International non-governmental organization on Tuesday, 29 January.

The index, which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople, uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean. More than two-thirds of countries score below 50 on this year’s CPI, with an average score of just 43.

It reveals that the continued failure of most countries to significantly control corruption is contributing to a crisis in democracy around the world. While there are exceptions, the data shows that despite some progress, most countries are failing to make serious inroads against corruption.

Armenia rose by two points from the previous year’s 107th place with the same score. Meantime, Armenia sat at 113rd with 33 points on the 2016 index.

Among the neighboring countries, Azerbaijan was much further down at 152nd place with a score of 25, while Turkey placed 78th with 41 points. Russia's score fell to 28, leaving it in 138th place. Georgia led the way for the region with a score of 58, making it 41st on the index.

Denmark and New Zealand top the index with 88 and 87 points, respectively. Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria are at the bottom of the list, with 10, 13 and 13 points, respectively.