Poll results: Corruption in Armenia has reduced significantly 

ArmInfo. Over 49% of respondents in Armenia consider the country's judicial system to be the most corrupt institution. This is evidenced by the results of the poll  "Public Opinion of Households of Armenia on Corruption ", conducted  by Transparency International, with the assistance of USAID and CRRC  Armenia.

As the representative of the United States Agency for International  Development (USAID) in Armenia, Deborah Grieser, said at a meeting  with reporters, the country's citizens considered media to be on the  second place in terms of corruption, and the prosecutor's office is  on the third place.

At the same time, according to a survey, people today consider the  government headed by the Prime Minister the most non-corrupt body of  the country. The prime minister received the highest mark - almost  75% of respondents, and the president and his staff - 57%.

When asked which public sector in Armenia is the most corrupt, 39.7%  of respondents said that it was health care, 63% considered municipal  services (transport, sanitary services, construction permitting  services).

Regarding the level of corruption that prevails in the country after  the "velvet revolution", only 36% noted that corruption is still very  widespread in the country, 46.5% noted that it is not very widespread  in Armenia, and 7.5% said that there is no corruption it in the  country. At the same time, 83.7% of respondents believe that  corruption reigned everywhere before the change of power.

At the same time, almost half of the respondents (43%) noted that  corruption is most common among middle-ranking officials, and 26%  said that it comes across more often when dealing with small  officials.  16% of respondents did not exclude the presence of  corruption in the upper echelons of power.  Interestingly, a previous  survey in 2010 showed that 49% of respondents believed that  corruption was especially prevalent in the upper echelons, 26% that  it was characteristic of the middle circles, and 6% that it was most  common among lower-ranking officials.

At the same time, corruption as a phenomenon is considered one of the  most serious problems by 90% of respondents, 36.5% found it serious  enough problem, 25.3% thought it wasn't such a big problem today.   16.8% said that people are pushed to corruption by the fact that the  majority of the country's citizens do not comply with the laws, and  14.2% considered that the whole problem is the imperfection of the  legislation, 12.3% said that poverty drives people to corruption.

During the event, Advisor to Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan  Arsen Manukyan emphasized that the government is carrying out a  consistent fight against corruption. "Such surveys can help us draw  attention to important aspects of the anti-corruption fight. In 2019,  we made significant progress in this area. The government developed a  strategy for anti-corruption for the next 3 years, and a commission  has been formed to prevent corruption. Some of our citizens believe  that the consequences of corruption should be combated, but it's not  so necessary to destroy the roots of this phenomenon, "Manukyan  emphasized. He said that for this it is necessary to conduct  discussions in schools and universities, where adolescents will be  explained in an accessible form that corruption is dilapidated  kindergartens and schools, poor roads, old hospitals, unpaid taxes,  etc.

"We believe that television programs should also be launched, in  which, as part of the discussions, they will talk about the dangers  of corruption and its negative impact on the quality of human life.  We believe that everything possible must be done so that our public  understands once and for all, that it's necessary to combat this  phenomenon. Our cooperation with the public in this area is very  important, "Manukyan concluded.

It is worth noting that the survey also touched on issues of public  administration. The biggest challenges in public administration 26.4%  of respondents considered unsuccessful staff appointments and 14% -  lack of experience. 82% of respondents believe that after April-May  2018, amount of bribes in the country decreased significantly.

Regarding the media, the most trustworthy TV channel among the  respondents was "Shant" - 30%, the second place was taken by  "Armenia" TV channel - 18.3%, "Public TV Channel of Armenia" - 13.8%.

The survey involved 1,500 people based on the principle of random  sampling. All respondents were adults.