Are Armenia's residents thrifty, and how do they prefer to keep their savings? Statistics and reality
Are Armenians thrifty
Most residents of Armenia (50.4%) believe it is important to build up savings, according to a study conducted by the Central Bank titled “Assessment of the Financial Capabilities of Armenia’s Population: Barometer 2025”.
The Central Bank also sought to establish how people in Armenia tend to accumulate savings and where they prefer to keep their money. The findings showed that:
- 87.2% view savings not merely as idle capital, but also as an opportunity to invest and generate additional income;
- 57.6% continue to keep their savings at home, either because they consider it safer or because the amounts saved are relatively small;
- Only 10.7% keep their savings in bank deposits.
The study revealed that people have widely differing views on how to manage their savings. Some even consider investing in their own homes a form of saving. They take out mortgages and allocate a portion of their income towards repayments.
Others prefer to buy land, cars or property, including outside Armenia. Relatively few people trust financial institutions, investment funds or the cryptocurrency market.
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Personal story of successful investment
Artak Farmanyan invests his savings in three different areas – property, gold and cryptocurrency. Over the past three years, he has earned the highest returns from crypto assets, although the gold and property markets have also seen strong growth.
“Unlike traditional savings and investments, the cryptocurrency market has a very interesting logic and way of developing. The more you learn about it, the more fascinating it becomes. There is simply more risk involved than, for example, with a bank deposit or property,” Artak explains.
He says that when people are young and do not yet have a family or children, they can afford to make riskier investments. As they grow older and their circumstances change, so do their priorities:
“I also actively manage my pension funds – I’ve already switched them twice. I try to constantly analyse the situation and make investment decisions based on my conclusions. But this requires knowledge and the ability to assess risks. To avoid suddenly losing my accumulated savings, I also buy gold and property. In short, I take risks within reasonable limits.”
According to Artak, Armenia has achieved financial stability across all sectors over the past decade, and its economy is gradually growing stronger despite numerous external and domestic challenges:
“First and foremost, I pay attention to foreign investment. It helps me understand which sectors investors are active in, how much they are investing and what their prospects are.”
Although he has achieved his greatest success in the cryptocurrency market, he has become more cautious about investing in it over the past six months. He believes that crises can strike suddenly and have severe consequences.
In any case, he advises against keeping or investing all one’s savings in a single asset:
“You need to have cash and savings in the bank, and buy gold and property. Once you’ve done that, you can start thinking about bonds, cryptocurrency and investing in businesses.”
Armenia ranks among the least thrifty countries
Armenia performed poorly among the countries surveyed by the World Bank on financial literacy. Its scores were particularly low in long-term financial planning and saving habits. For example, only 8% of Armenians said they were satisfied with their savings, compared with 64% in Peru.
Armenians also lag behind when it comes to saving for retirement. The World Bank surveyed 148,000 people to determine what percentage had set aside money for old age over the previous 12 months. According to the results, Armenia was among the countries with the lowest rates in the world, at just 2.1%.
“Armenians prefer other ways of saving”
Ethnographer Svetlana Poghosyan argues that it is wrong to describe Armenians as unthrifty:
“The fact is that we do not have much trust in banks or investment funds. We know from various historical sources that Armenians preferred to buy valuable items. Women, in particular, regularly wore silver belts and headdresses, as well as gold jewellery. During disasters and wars, they could take these possessions with them. The same applies to household utensils. Families used their savings to buy items they could carry with them, such as copper vessels, jugs and tools.”
According to her, most Armenians remain thrifty today, using their savings to buy homes, cars and gold jewellery:
“But even now, many people keep their money under the mattress, just as their ancestors did. The banking collapse of the 1990s contributed significantly to this. People had saved money for years and trusted a banking system that collapsed overnight, leaving them with nothing. Both they and the next generation regard the banking system with caution and scepticism.”
As for young people, the ethnographer says they choose different ways to save and invest in their future:
“They consider education, travel and gaining experience to be investments in their future. These are indeed important investments nowadays. Young people may not accumulate savings in bank accounts or buy gold, but they are investing in their future. So rather than viewing our compatriots as a society that does not save, let us see them as a society that prefers different ways of saving, in response to the demands of the times.”
Svetlana Poghosyan notes that, according to various international surveys, people in many countries prefer to keep their savings in banks or investments. The picture in Armenia is different: one in three people keeps their savings at home, in the form of cash or gold jewellery.
“At the same time, some Armenian families believe that saving money does not mean financial security, but rather giving up life’s pleasures. Some people are against saving and want to spend whatever money they have immediately, getting the maximum enjoyment out of it. But this behaviour is not typical of the population as a whole.”
