CM MARCH 2022

COUNTRY FOCUS
AUTHOR – Adam Bernstein
As for the population, it has grown
slowly and consistently from 3.52m in
1950 to 5.4m in 1992. Data since 1993
excludes the populations of the Abkhazia
and Tskhinvali region’s following their
breakaway. Nevertheless, the population
in 1993 of the rump stood at 4.85m but has
declined, to 3.71m in 2020.
A July 2021 estimate from the CIA puts
the figure at 4.93m – however this seems
to include the whole of Georgia.
No doubt this is partly down to
geopolitics. But it’s also due to a
fluctuating, but generally declining,
fertility rate – which was 2.6 births per
woman in 1960, 2.29 in 1990, 1.59 in 2000
and 1.97 in 2020, and the migration of
around 1m citizens to Russia.
As for age demographics, the National
Statistics Office of Georgia noted that
as of January 2019, the population was
relatively young: 20.35 percent were
aged 14 or under, 64.68 aged 15 to 64,
and 14.97 percent 65 or older. In more
depth, the five-year age bands used (0-4,
5-9 etc.) carry very similar proportions of
population – around six or nine percent
each – until and including the 60-64
banding. Thereafter, the proportion tails
off as would be expected.
Ethnically, the country is, according
to the CIA’s 2014 figures, 86.8 percent
Georgian, 6.3 percent Azeri, 4.5 percent
Armenian, and 2.3 percent other.
And in terms of distribution, Emerging-
Europe.com reports that workers in
Georgia are equally distributed between
rural and urban areas with a slight bias to
residing rurally. Trading Economics shows
high but generally falling unemployment
rates which stood at 26.7 percent in 2012,
21.7 percent in 2016 and 18.5 percent in
2020.
With much self-employment, especially
in rural areas, low value-added generic
activities and subsistence agriculture, and
a lack of formal jobs, there is significant
underemployment in the country.
On education, Emerging-Europe.
com said, albeit in 2017, that Georgia is
prioritising education and is improving
access and quality of its educational
institutions. The site quoted the OECD,
which said that the country is the
region’s top performer for primary school
enrolment and length of schooling.
Further, 33 percent of all adults have postsecondary
education and there is a high
level of educational attainment amongst
the labour force.
It cites data that says that for higher
educational institutions, the most popular
subjects are social sciences, including
business and law, followed by health and
social care.
INDUSTRIES AND ECONOMY
It surprises some that the World Bank
in Doing Business 2020 placed Georgia
high up in its rankings for ease of doing
business – it was placed 7th; data for 2021
does not exist as the World Bank book for
that year was cancelled. The ranking takes
into account matters such as starting a
business, sourcing power, getting credit,
trading across borders, insolvency
matters, and taxation.
The OECD described Georgia, in Sustainable
Infrastructure for Low-Carbon
Development in Central Asia and
the Caucasus: Hotspot Analysis and
Needs Assessment, published in 2019,
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2022 / PAGE 25
Gergeti Trinity Church
is a popular name for Holy
Trinity Church near the
village of Gergeti in Georgia.
The church is situated on
the right bank of the river
Chkheri, at an elevation of
2170 meters, under Mount
Kazbek.
as “a lower-middle income country in the
south Caucasus. With the most favourable
investment climate in the region, it
has become an attractive destination for
foreign investment.” It also noted that significant
structural reforms have been carried
out to simplify business procedures,
construction permits, licencing and permitting
regimes, as well as to improve tax
and customs procedures.
According to Invest in Georgia, the
country “is ideally positioned to access
markets of Asia and Europe, as well as the
Middle East and the CIS countries. Business-friendly
regulations, a favourable
tax and customs framework and relatively
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