It is difficult to gauge the immense changes recorded in the South Caucasus in the years since the fall of the Soviet Union. The people of Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan have lived and experienced on their skin, these uneven, often adverse, sometimes inspiring developments. Yet, seen from within, it has often been difficult to maintain perspective and to put things in context.
Under strikingly dissimilar economic, political and social circumstances, the economies and societies of each country have recorded notable change. Perhaps not surprisingly, these changes appear far less dramatic when compared to conditions in Russia, Iran and Turkey – the regional powers which neighbor the Caucasus.
In this first publication of its kind, the Civilitas Foundation has issued a booklet entitled ARMENIA AND NEIGHBORS, 20 YEARS IN FIGURES. Where available, figures have been provided for the entire 20 years, in order to clearly view trends and patterns in education, demographics, social and economic development. Wherever possible, figures have been provided for all six countries in order to make plain the pace, significance and context of the human, economic and institutional progress.
In each of these countries, it took years for reliable statistics to be assembled. For the Caucasus neighborhood, numbers have often only been available from international organizations, and not national institutions.
“All that has changed,” said Salpi Ghazarian, director of the Civilitas Foundation. “Each country now can speak of its own reality, in numbers. What remains is for each country to also view itself as part of a region and a neighborhood. This booklet strives to quantitatively present a picture of that region,” she concluded.