According to research funded by the USAID CAPS project, Armenia's exceptionally high rate of economic growth during the last decade has been largely dependent on external factors ( e. g., remittances, assistance from international financial and donor organization ).

According to one analyst, Armenia's economic system is anticompetitive due to the structure of the economy being a type of " monopoly or oligopoly ".

The Government of Armenia's stated aim is to build a Western-style parliamentary democracy as the basis of its form of government.

The government's policy toward conscientious objection is in transition, as part of Armenia's accession to the Council of Europe.

Armenia's record on discrimination toward the few remaining national minorities is generally good.

The Armenian economy's competitiveness is low and stagnating according to the Global Competitiveness Index, in which Armenia's ranking slipped from 80th out of 132 countries in 2006-2007 index to 93rd out of 131 countries in the 2007-2008 index ( just below Libya, Namibia, Georgia, Serbia and Pakistan ).

Armenia's economy is highly anticompetitive with government-connected individuals enjoying de facto monopolies over the import and distribution of basic commodities and foodstuffs, and under-reporting revenue to avoid paying taxes.

According to the estimate of a former prime minister, Hrant Bagratian, 55 percent of Armenia's GDP is controlled by 44 families.

As of early 2011, trade with China is dominated by imports of Chinese goods and accounts for about 10 percent of Armenia's foreign trade.

Since early 2008, Armenia's entire rail network is managed by the Russian state railway.

Armenia's main rail and road border-crossing with Georgia ( at ) is along the Debed river near the Armenian town of Bagratashen and the Georgian town of Sadakhlo.

This suggests that tax collection in Armenia is improving at the expense of ordinary citizens, rather than wealthy citizens ( who have been the main beneficiaries of Armenia's double-digit economic growth in recent years ).

* Armenia's largest thermal power plant which is in the town of Hrazdan and is gas-burning

* May 28 is Armenia's first independence, from the Ottoman Empire ;- May 28, 1918.

The Catholicos of All Armenians ( plural Catholicoi, due to its Greek origin ) () is the chief bishop of Armenia's national church, the Armenian Apostolic Church.

It is sometimes called the Second Republic of Armenia, following the Democratic Republic of Armenia's demise ( which was also known as the First Republic of Armenia ).

Azerbaijan's successor order is that of National Hero of Azerbaijan and Armenia's own hero medal is that of National Hero of Armenia, both modeled on the Soviet one.

* Aleksandr Sargsyan, brother of President Serge Sargsyan and parliament deputy who has a fifty percent stake in Multi Lion, Armenia's leading supplier of liquefied gas to households, cars and buses ( the other fifty percent is owned by Gagik Tsarukian's Multi Group ).

The duduk is Armenia's national instrument, and among its well-known perfomers are Margar Margarian, Levon Madoyan, Saro Danielian, Vatche Hovsepian, Gevorg Dabaghyan and Yeghish Manoukian, as well as Armenia's most famous duduk player, Djivan Gasparyan.

Syunik is home to many of Armenia's largest mining operations ( at Kajaran, Kapan, Agarak ) as well as the largest tailing dams ( at Artzvanik, Voghtchi, Darazami, Geghanoush ).

The spa town of Jermuk, one of Armenia's premiere tourist attractions during Soviet times, is also located in the province.

It is planned to hold Armenia's home matches after a complete renovation this year.

In 1936, Beria and Stalin worked to deport Armenians to Siberia in an attempt to bring Armenia's population under 700, 000 in order to justify an annexation into Georgia.

Historical facts are intermingled in this life with legendary or uncertain additions, and the whole is woven into a certain unity by the narrator, who may have assumed his significant name from his quality of narrator of " the good news " of Armenia's conversion.

" The compact includes a $ 67 million to rehabilitate up to 943 kilometers of rural roads, more than a third of Armenia's proposed " Lifeline road network ".

During Soviet times, Armenia's rail network connected to Russia's via Georgia through Abkhazia along the Black Sea.

About half of Armenia's area of approximately has an elevation of at least, and only 3 % of the country lies below.

The Araks forms most of Armenia's border with Turkey and Iran while the Zangezur Mountains form the border between Armenia's southern province of Syunik and Azerbaijan's adjacent Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.

In the early 1990s, the latter group blamed Armenia's economic woes on the role played by the former in closing major industries.

The Council of Ministers, Armenia's cabinet, includes a minister of the environment.

Environmental conditions in Armenia have been worsened as a result of war with Azerbaijan over Armenia's claim of historic rights to Azerbaijan's province.

However, international observers have questioned the fairness of Armenia's parliamentary and presidential elections and constitutional referendum since 1995, citing polling deficiencies, lack of cooperation by the Electoral Commission, and poor maintenance of electoral lists and polling places.

Most of Armenia's ethnic Azeri population was deported in 1988 – 1989 and remain refugees, largely in Azerbaijan.

Until independence, Armenia's economy was based largely on industry — chemicals, electronic products, machinery, processed food, synthetic rubber and textiles ; it was highly dependent on outside resources.

Like other former States, Armenia's economy suffers from the legacy of a centrally planned economy and the breakdown of former Soviet trading patterns.

The consequent blockade along both the Azerbaijani and Turkish borders has devastated the economy, because of Armenia's dependence on outside supplies of energy and most raw materials.

Armenia's unemployment rate, however, remains high, despite strong economic growth.

Armenia's severe trade imbalance has been offset somewhat by international aid, remittances from Armenians working abroad, and foreign direct investment.

Following the advice of economic advisors who cautioned Armenia's leadership against the consolidation of economic power in the hands of a few, in January 2001, the Government of Armenia established the State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition.

After a decade of double-digit growth, Armenia's economy declined by 14. 4 percent in 2009.

According to RFE / RL, comparable sums are believed to be transferred through non-bank systems, implying that cash remittances make up approximately 30 percent of Armenia's GDP in the first half of 2008.

According to the National Statistical Service, Armenia's booming construction sector generated about 20 percent of Armenia's GDP during the first eight months of 2007.