Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said Yerevan does not rule out taking its dispute with Russia over the management of the South Caucasus Railway to an international court if the issue cannot be resolved through negotiations. At the same time, he stressed that the Armenian authorities hope to settle the matter through talks.
In the international "2026 Happiness Index," Armenia ranked 89th out of 147 countries. Among the South Caucasus regions, it ranked ahead of Georgia (91st) and Azerbaijan (102nd). However, Armenia trailed several post-Soviet states, such as Lithuania (28th), Kazakhstan (33rd), and Russia (79th).
Finland, Ireland, Denmark, Costa Rica, and Sweden topped the rankings. The list of the "unhappiest" countries included Botswana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Sierra Leone, while Afghanistan ranked last.
The results of the study, conducted by the Oxford University Centre for the Study of Well-Being in collaboration with Gallup and the UN, based on surveys of 100,000 people, are based on several key factors. These include economic well-being (GDP per capita), the level of social support from the state, the health of the population, the degree of freedom in making life decisions, social mutual assistance between people (including charity), and the level of corruption.