According to annual Index of Economic Freedom, published by U.S. Heritage Foundation and "The Wall Street Journal," overall score of Armenia's economic freedom is 69.2, ranking its economy 38th among 179 countries in 2010 Index, which decreased by 0.7 point compared with last year's ranking. Transparency International Anti-corruption Center noted that despite its comparatively high index, Armenia's data are concerning as regards one of its 10 components making the overall score - Freedom from Corruption index - ranked 111-116th with 29.0 score of the same index. By Freedom from Corruption component's deviation from its overall score Armenia is in the second place (40.2) after Kyrgyz Republic, with Azerbaijan ranking the third.

The report on Armenia reads that corruption is perceived as widespread on all levels and in all sectors. Demands for bribes by government officials are routine. Government-connected businesses hold monopolies on the importation of numerous vital products. Freedom from Corruption component is determined by Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index.

2010 Index of Economic Freedom measures ten components of economic freedom, assigning a grade in each using a scale from 0 to 100, where 100 represents the maximum freedom. The ten component scores are then averaged to give an overall economic freedom score for each country. The ten components of economic freedom are: Business Freedom, Trade freedom, Fiscal Freedom, Government Spending, Monetary freedom, Investment Freedom, Financial Freedom, Property Rights, Freedom from Corruption, Labor Freedom.

For full information on the index of economic freedom please visit The Heritage Foundation website at http://www.heritage.org/index, and for information on Armenia at http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=505 webpage.