Helping Georgia to Collect and Assess Data for Development

What's the situation ?

Georgia's population has changed considerably since its Independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

In the years which followed independence, an economic crisis, civil war and other armed conflicts led to the displacement of around 300,000 people. Many people experienced new poverty and unemployment and the gaps widened between rich and poor.

New freedom to travel combined with poverty and unemployment at home have led many people to leave the country to look for work and Georgia's population decreased from 5.4 million in 1991 to 4.4 million in 2003. The birth rate has also dropped dramatically, falling by 37 pre cent since 1990.

It is clear that growing poverty, unemployment, limited access to basic social services, low income and its unequal distribution have had a clear direct impact on population dynamics in Georgia.

As a result, Georgia faces a problem of depopulation and ageing and this, together with a lack of population policies, poor statistical systems and weak institutional capacities could threaten its sustainable development.

In order to best formulate policies to deal with the changes in its population, the government of Georgia needs to develop comprehensive population policies. It also needs to strengthen its statistical systems and ensure the availability of data disaggregated by gender, age and geography.

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