Armenia

Economy & income

Currency

• Armenian Dram (AMD, ֏)
• ~367.85 ֏ per USD (Jul 14, 2026; 1 ֏ ≈ $0.0027)

GDP per capita

• ~$9,521 nominal (2025, IMF)
• ~$23,737 PPP (2025, IMF WEO) — total GDP ~$29.2B nominal (2025, World Bank)
• strong post-2022 growth (~5–6%) partly from Russian relocant/IT inflow, now decelerating

Average salary

• ~$660 net/mo (Numbeo, Jun 2026)
• gross avg ~AMD 303,140/mo ≈ $824 (ArmStat, 2025 avg; +5.6% YoY) — private sector ~AMD 327,604/$890, public ~AMD 239,369/$651

Median salary

• n/a — ArmStat publishes the mean nominal wage (~AMD 303,140/mo, 2025), not a public monthly median
• the mean is skewed upward by Yerevan, IT & finance, so typical pay is materially lower

Minimum wage

• AMD 75,000/mo statutory (~$204), unchanged 2023–2026
• a rise to AMD 85,000/mo (~$231) has been announced but is not yet enacted as of mid-2026

Cost of living

• Low — Numbeo (Jun 2026): single person ~$749/mo excl. rent
• 1-bed city-centre rent ~$750/mo
• Yerevan cheap by European standards but noticeably pricier since the 2022 Russian relocant influx

Digital landscape

Population

• 2.96 million (Jan 2025, DataReportal)
• 64.1% urban, median age 36.6

Internet users

80.0% (~2.37M users; ~590K offline; -0.7% YoY)

Social media users

54.0% (~1.60M identities; 70.1% of adults 18+; 52.1% female)

Mobile connections

4.35M cellular connections = 147% of population (96.7% broadband-capable)

Devices

desktop ~56.3% / mobile ~43.0% / tablet ~0.8% (StatCounter, Jun 2026) — unusually high desktop share for a Tier-3 market

Ad spend

• DataReportal reports no AM ad-spend figure
• Statista Digital Advertising ~$90.5M (2025 est.; €42.0M), Banner largest (~€14.9M), Video ~$28.7M
• forecast ~€50.1M by 2028

Top social platforms

Facebook ~1.60M, 54.0% — dominant

Instagram ~1.30M, 43.9%

Messenger ~1.10M, 37.1%

LinkedIn ~480K, 16.2%

X/Twitter ~135K, 4.6%

• TikTok — widely used; DataReportal publishes no AM ad-reach figure
• YouTube — near-universal reach; no AM ad-reach figure

Messengers

• Telegram (#1 messaging app in Armenia; news & channels)
• Viber (long popular in Armenia/CIS)
• WhatsApp (widely used, esp. with diaspora)
• Facebook Messenger (~1.10M reach)
• Zangi (Armenian-made encrypted messenger)

Payments & behaviour

Payment methods

• ArCa cards (Armenian national card scheme) + Visa / Mastercard debit & credit (dominant online)
• Idram (largest e-wallet + QR network — 300+ services, ~26,000 QR points)
• Telcell Wallet (large wallet; 600+ services, ~4,500 terminals; issues Visa digital cards)
• Bank mobile apps & instant transfers
• Cash & cash-on-delivery (declining but still used)
• Apple Pay / Google Pay

E-wallets

• Idram (market leader, QR)
• Telcell Wallet
• EasyPay
• Fastshift
• Apple Pay
• Google Pay

Cash on delivery

Moderate but declining — COD still relevant on classifieds (list.am) and some online stores, but card, wallet and QR (Idram) share is rising fast, especially among younger users

E-commerce

• Growing from a low base — list.am dominates classifieds/marketplace activity ('Avito' equivalent)
• QR/wallet adoption expanding
• cross-border shopping (AliExpress, Temu, Wildberries) is large

Notes

• ArCa national switch plus Idram/Telcell wallets and strong remittance inflows underpin consumer payments
• the Central Bank is actively pushing cashless adoption
• BNPL is emerging but still limited

Audience & culture

Languages

• Armenian (official, ~99% — 2022 census)
• Russian (~65% speak/understand; widely used in business & media)
• English (~5%, growing among urban youth)
• Kurdish / Yazidi (~1%, minority)

Religion

• Armenian Apostolic Christian ~95.2% (2022 census)
• Evangelical ~0.5%
• Catholic ~0.6%
• Yazidi ~0.5%
• Orthodox ~0.2%
• remainder other/none (~17,500 no religion) — one of the world's most religiously uniform countries

Median age

36.6 years (DataReportal, 2025)

Key seasons

• New Year (Dec 31–Jan 1 — main gift-giving / spend peak)
• Armenian Christmas & Epiphany (Jan 6)
• Easter / Zatik (spring)
• Genocide Remembrance Day (Apr 24 — solemn national day, NOT commercial)
• Vardavar (July water festival — summer social peak)
• Independence Day (Sep 21)
• Black Friday & back-to-school (Sep — imported)

Cultural notes

• A very large global diaspora (~7–8M vs ~3M domestic) and heavy remittance inflows (~10%+ of GDP) make diaspora-targeted and Russian-language campaigns effective
• Armenian is preferred for locals
• Post-2022 Russian relocant/IT inflow lifted disposable income and card usage
• Family- and church-centred, socially conservative society

Where to find creators

• Instagram
• YouTube
• TikTok
• Telegram
• Facebook

Media landscape

Creators & public figures

Top creators

Celebrities

Henrikh Mkhitaryan ~3M Instagram

Footballer — Inter Milan midfielder, ex-Arsenal/Roma/Dortmund, most famous Armenian athlete

Super Sako ~2M Instagram

Singer/rapper — global hit 'Mi Gna'; LA-based Armenian recording artist

Serj Tankian ~1.4M Instagram

Frontman of System of a Down — Armenian-American rock icon & activist

Sirusho ~650K Instagram

Singer & businesswoman — Eurovision 2008 ('Qélé Qélé'), major Armenian pop star

Iveta Mukuchyan ~320K Instagram

Singer & fashion icon — represented Armenia at Eurovision 2016

Artur Aleksanyan ~184K Instagram

Greco-Roman wrestler — Rio 2016 Olympic champion, multiple World/European titles, UNICEF ambassador

Affiliate & traffic

Hot verticals

• iGaming / sports betting (local-licensed only)
• Crypto & trading
• Nutra / supplements
• Dating & sweepstakes
• Finance / microloans
• eCommerce (COD + cross-border)
• Mobile games

Active networks

• Admitad (strong across CIS)
• Adsterra (native/push, CIS roots)
• PropellerAds (push/pop)
• Local licensed iGaming affiliate programs
• Global CPA networks (crypto, nutra, dating, sweepstakes)
• Salesdoubler / CIS lead networks

Payouts

• Tier-3 payouts (below Tier-1/2): betting/casino CPA ~$20–90 per FTD, crypto/trading higher, nutra often COD, dating CPL low
• deals typically in USD/EUR

Competition

• Low–moderate — small Tier-3 market with cheap CPMs
• local betting brands buy heavily
• Armenian-language creative wins, Russian is a usable fallback

Seasonality

• Peaks around New Year (Dec–Jan), summer (Vardavar/July, tourism) and major football fixtures (betting)
• solemn dip around Apr 24

Traffic sources

• Facebook / Instagram Ads
• TikTok
• Telegram channels
• Google Search & Display
• Push & native (Adsterra / PropellerAds)
• Influencer / creator collabs

Good to know

Capital

Yerevan

Major cities

• Yerevan
• Gyumri
• Vanadzor
• Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin)
• Hrazdan
• Abovyan
• Kapan

Time zones

Single zone — Armenia Time (AMT, UTC+4), no daylight saving (abolished 2012)

Android vs iOS

62% 39%

Android 62% iOS 39%

Phone brands

• Apple (~38.5%)
• Samsung (~27.9%)
• Xiaomi (~16.3%)
• Google (~3.7%)
• Realme (~1.7%)

Top e-commerce

• list.am (dominant classifieds/marketplace — 'Avito' equivalent)
• SAS Supermarket (first online supermarket, delivery)
• Buy.am (multi-shop platform + food court)
• Zigzag / Vega (electronics & appliances)
• Onex / Globbing (parcel-forwarding, cross-border)
• AliExpress
• Temu
• Wildberries (Armenia)

Peak activity

Weekday evenings ~20:00–23:00 local (UTC+4); lunchtime secondary bump; heavier weekend browsing

Creative taboos

• Armenian Genocide (Apr 24) — never commercialise or trivialise
• Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh, the 2020 war and 2023 exodus
• relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey
• domestic political polarisation (Pashinyan government vs opposition & Church)
• Armenian Apostolic Church sensitivities and conservative attitudes to LGBTQ+ themes

Also worth knowing

• Gambling is local-licence-only with active ISP/payment blocking of foreign operators, so grey-market iGaming offers are risky — target licensed local brands
• A huge diaspora plus heavy remittances means diaspora-targeted and Russian-language campaigns can outperform, and the post-2022 Russian relocant/IT inflow raised card usage
• Unusually high desktop share (~56%) and Telegram as the #1 messenger mean Telegram channels and desktop-friendly funnels matter more here than in most Tier-3 markets.