Demographics of Georgia (country)

Anamorphic map of the population of Georgia by regions

The demographic features of the population of Georgia include population growth, population density, ethnicity, education level, health, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population.

Demographic trends

Density of the population of Georgia by municipalities

Distribution of the population of Georgia by municipalities

The demographic situation in Georgia, like that of some other former Soviet republics (especially Estonia and Latvia), has been characterized by two prominent features since independence: decline in total population and significant "Georgianization" of the ethnic composition. The proportion of ethnic Georgians increased by full 10 percentage points between 1989 and 2002, rising from 73.7% to 83.7% of the population.^[1]

The population grew steadily while Georgia was part of the Soviet Union and during the first years of independence, rising from less than 4 million in the 1950s to a peak of 5.5 million in 1992.^[2] Then the trend changed and the population began to decline, dropping to 4.5 million in 2005 according to the estimates by the Georgian Department of Statistics.^[3] This figure represents the total population, including the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, whose population in 2005 was estimated at 178,000 and 49,200, respectively. Without Abkhazia and South Osetia, the population in the regions controlled by the central government of Georgia was 4,321,500 in 2005 and 4,382,100 in 2008^[4] (compare the 2008 figure with the CIA estimate of 4,630,841 for all of Georgia, including Abkhazia and South Osetia^[5]).

Georgia was named among the highest-emigration countries in the world (with respect to population) in the 2007 World Bank report. The 2002 population census in Georgia revealed a net migration loss of 1.1 million persons, or 20% of the population, since the early 90s.^[6] The decline in Georgia's population is caused by the emigration in search of employment, and a sharp fall of birth rates.^[7] Over 300,000 Russians, 200,000 Georgians, 200,000 Armenians, 85,000 Greeks, 50,000 Azerbaijanis, 50,000 Ukrainians and 20,000 Jews have migrated from Georgia since independence.

Vital statistics

Sources: United Nations^[8] and GeoStat^[9]

Births and deaths

Total area

	Average population (x 1000)	Live births^1	Deaths^1	Natural change^1	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)	Fertility rates
1950	3 527	82 900	27 000	55 900	23.5	7.7	15.9
1951	3 585	86 800	26 900	59 900	24.2	7.5	16.7
1952	3 646	85 700	26 600	59 100	23.5	7.3	16.2
1953	3 710	87 200	26 300	60 900	23.5	7.1	16.4
1954	3 775	91 400	26 000	65 400	24.2	6.9	17.3
1955	3 840	92 500	25 700	66 800	24.1	6.7	17.4
1956	3 904	89 800	26 500	63 300	23.0	6.8	16.2
1957	3 967	89 700	27 000	62 700	22.6	6.8	15.8
1958	4 031	93 100	27 400	65 700	23.1	6.8	16.3
1959	4 095	98 300	27 400	70 900	24.0	6.7	17.3
1960	4 160	102 866	27 015	51 866	24.7	6.5	18.2	2.65
1961	4 224	104 429	27 621	53 429	24.7	6.5	18.2	2.65
1962	4 291	101 717	30 394	51 717	23.7	7.1	16.6	2.63
1963	4 357	100 326	29 620	51 326	23.0	6.8	16.2	2.62
1964	4 420	97 433	29 708	48 433	22.0	6.7	15.3	2.62
1965	4 478	94 987	31 291	46 987	21.2	7.0	14.2	2.60
1966	4 531	92 026	30 389	44 026	20.3	6.7	13.6	2.57
1967	4 577	89 302	32 904	42 302	19.5	7.2	12.3	2.53
1968	4 619	89 660	32 416	43 660	19.4	7.0	12.4	2.52
1969	4 662	87 069	35 169	41 069	18.7	7.5	11.2	2.45
1970	4 706	90 207	34 283	45 207	19.2	7.3	11.9	2.62
1971	4 753	90 396	35 325	45 396	19.0	7.4	11.6	2.61
1972	4 798	86 402	36 409	41 402	18.0	7.6	10.4	2.53
1973	4 837	88 577	35 911	44 577	18.3	7.4	10.9	2.58
1974	4 876	89 761	37 145	45 761	18.4	7.6	10.8	2.59
1975	4 908	89 712	39 292	45 712	18.3	8.0	10.3	2.52
1976	4 940	90 605	38 875	46 605	18.3	7.9	10.4	2.52
1977	4 972	89 028	40 139	45 028	17.9	8.1	9.8	2.33
1978	4 990	88 766	40 239	45 766	17.8	8.1	9.8	2.31
1979	5 017	89 803	41 907	47 896	17.8	8.4	9.5	2.34
1980	5 056	89 458	43 346	46 112	17.6	8.6	9.1	2.26
1981	5 086	92 501	43 961	48 540	18.1	8.6	9.5	2.29
1982	5 117	91 784	42 734	49 050	17.9	8.4	9.6	2.25
1983	5 151	92 660	43 301	49 359	18.0	8.4	9.6	2.20
1984	5 184	95 841	45 787	50 054	18.5	8.8	9.7	2.24
1985	5 218	97 739	46 153	51 586	18.7	8.8	9.9	2.27
1986	5 250	98 155	46 354	51 801	18.7	8.8	9.9	2.26
1987	5 300	94 595	46 332	48 263	17.8	8.7	9.1	2.19
1988	5 367	91 905	47 544	44 361	17.1	8.9	8.3	2.13
1989	5 413	91 138	47 077	44 061	16.8	8.7	8.1	2.15
1990	5 439	92 815	50 721	43 895	17.1	9.3	8.1	2.29
1991	5 460	89 091	52 416	36 675	16.3	9.6	6.7	2.07
1992	5 408	72 631	55 076	17 555	13.4	10.2	3.2	1.72

¹Births and deaths until 1959 are estimates.

Excluding Abkhazia and South Ossetia

	Average population (x 1000)	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)	Fertility rates
1993	4 854	55 594	56 270	−676	11.5	11.6	−0.1	1.48
1994	4 862	57 311	50 516	6 795	11.8	10.4	1.4	1.52
1995	4 734	56 341	47 609	8 732	11.9	10.1	1.8	1.54
1996	4 616	55 000	47 136	7 864	11.9	10.2	1.7	1.55
1997	4 532	54 000	47 575	6 425	11.9	10.5	1.4	1.60
1998	4 487	51 526	47 321	4 205	11.5	10.5	0.9	1.41
1999	4 453	48 695	47 184	1 511	10.9	10.6	0.3	1.44
2000	4 418	48 800	47 410	1 390	11.0	10.7	0.3	1.51
2001	4 386	47 589	46 218	1 371	10.8	10.5	0.3	1.44
2002	4 357	46 605	46 446	159	10.7	10.7	0.0	1.42
2003	4 329	46 194	46 055	139	10.7	10.6	0.0	1.41
2004	4 318	49 572	48 793	779	11.5	11.3	0.2	1.55
2005	4 321	46 512	40 721	5 791	10.7	9.3	1.3	1.38
2006	4 401	47 795	42 255	5 540	10.8	9.6	1.2	1.44
2007	4 394	49 287	41 178	8 109	11.2	9.4	1.8	1.47
2008	4 382	56 565	43 011	13 554	12.9	9.8	3.1	1.66
2009	4 385	63 377	46 625	16 752	14.4	10.6	3.8	1.86
2010	4 436	62 585	47 864	14 721	14.1	10.8	3.3	1.83
2011	4 469	58 014	49 818	8 196	12.9	11.1	1.8	1.70
2012	4 497	57 031	49 348	7 683	12.7	11.0	1.7	1.68
2013	4 483	57 878	48 553	9 325	12.9	10.8	2.1	1.73
2014	3 720	60 635	49 087	11 548	16.3	13.2	3.1
2015	3 729	59 249	49 121	10 128	15.9	13.2	2.7

Structure of the population ^[10]

Structure of the population (01.07.2012) (Estimates) :

Age Group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	2 141 300	2 349 400	4 490 700	100
0-4	152 650	137 150	289 800	6,45
5-9	123 200	110 150	233 350	5,20
10-14	125 850	113 000	238 850	5,32
15-19	151 600	142 000	293 600	6,54
20-24	186 250	181 950	368 200	8,20
25-29	181 250	178 300	359 550	8,01
30-34	164 650	166 100	330 750	7,37
35-39	153 900	159 800	313 700	6,99
40-44	145 300	156 800	302 100	6,73
45-49	145 550	166 700	312 250	6,95
50-54	151 550	176 000	327 550	7,29
55-59	123 800	148 600	272 400	6,07
60-64	101 950	128 350	230 300	5,13
65-69	54 950	74 950	129 900	2,89
70-74	74 350	117 600	191 950	4,27
75-79	53 750	85 700	139 450	3,11
80-84	33 600	59 900	93 500	2,08
85+	17 150	46 350	63 500	1,41

Ethnic composition of the regions of Georgia

Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0-14	401 700	360 300	762 000	16,97
15-64	1 505 800	1 604 600	3 110 400	69,26
65+	233 800	384 500	618 300	13,77

Ethnic groups

Georgians are the predominant ethnic group in Georgia, according to the 2014 census 86.8% of the population. The proportion in 2014 was much higher than in preceding censuses as in 2014 (most parts of) Abkhazia and (most parts of) South Ossetia were not under government control and therefore not included. As a result of this the proportion of Ossetians and Abkhazians was very low (0.4% and 0.3%, respectively).

Population of Georgia according to ethnic group 1926–2014

Ethnic group	census 1926^1		census 1939^2		census 1959^3		census 1970^4		census 1979^5		census 1989^6		census 2002^6		census 2014^7
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Georgians	1,788,186	66.8	2,173,922	61.4	2,600,588	64.3	3,130,741	66.8	3,433,011	68.8	3,787,393	70.7	3,661,173	83.8	3,224,696	86,8
Azerbaijanis	137,921	5.2	188,058	5.3	153,600	3.8	217,758	4.6	255,678	5.1	307,556	5.7	284,761	6.5	233,082	6.3
Armenians	307,018	11.5	415,013	11.7	442,916	11.0	452,309	9.7	448,000	9.0	437,211	8.1	248,929	5.7	168,191	4.5
Russians	96,085	3.6	308,684	8.7	407,886	10.1	396,694	8.5	371,608	7.4	341,172	6.3	67,671	1.5	26,586	0.7
Ossetians	113,298	4.2	147,677	4.2	141,178	3.5	150,185	3.2	160,497	3.2	164,055	3.0	38,028	0.9	14,452	0.4
Yazidis	2,262	0.1	12,915	0.4	16,212	0.4	20,690	0.4	25,688	0.5	33,331	0.6	18,329	0.4	12,261	0.3
Kurds	7,955	0.3											2,514	0.1	1,661	0.1
Caucasus Greeks	54,051	2.0	84,636	2.4	72,938	1.8	89,246	1.9	95,105	1.9	100,324	1.9	15,166	0.3	5,689	0.2
Ukrainians	14,356	0.5	45,595	1.3	52,236	1.3	49,622	1.1	45,036	0.9	52,443	1.0	7,039	0.2	6,044	0.2
Abkhazians	56,847	2.1	57,805	1.6	62,878	1.6	79,449	1.7	85,285	1.7	95,853	1.8	3,527	0.1	4,551	0.2
Assyrians	2,904	0.1	4,707	0.1	5,005	0.1	5,617	0.1	5,286	0.1	6,206	0.1	3,299	0.1	2,437	0.1
Jews	30,389	1.1	42,300	1.2	51,582	1.3	55,382	1.2	28,298	0.6	24,795	0.5	2,333	0.1	1,869	0.1
Others	65,961	2.5	58,711	1.7	37,015	0.9	38,665	0.8	39,690	0.8	50,502	0.9	18,766	0.5	14,377	0.4
Total	2,677,233		3,540,023		4,044,045		4,686,358		4,993,182		5,400,841		4,371,535		3,713,893
^1 Source: . ^2 Source: . ^3 Source: . ^4 Source: . ^5 Source: . ^6 Source: . ^7 Source: .

CIA World Factbook 2012 demographic statistics ^[11]

Ethnic groups:

• Georgian 83.8%,
• Azeri 6.5%
• Armenian 5.7%
• Russian 1.5%
• Other 2.5%

Languages:

• Georgian (official) 71%
• Russian 9%
• Armenian 7%
• Azeri 6%
• Other 7%

Religions:

• Orthodox Christian (official) 83.9%
• Islam 9.9%
• Armenian-Gregorian 3.9%
• Roman Catholic 0.8%
• Other 0.8%
• None 0.7%

Age structure:

• 0–14 years: 16.9% (male 401,3/female 359,8)
• 15–64 years: 69.4% (male 1,509,8/female 1,610,8)
• 65 years and over: 13.7% (male 232,7/female 383,2) (2012 resultat.)

Median age:

• total: 39.1 years
• male: 36.6 years
• female: 41.6 years (2011 est.)

Population growth rate:

• -0.327% (2012 est.)

Sex ratio:

• at birth: 1.11 male(s)/female
• under 15 years: 1.15 male(s)/female
• 15–64 years: 0.94 male(s)/female
• 65 years and over: 0.66 male(s)/female
• total population: 0.91 male(s)/female (2012 est.)

Infant mortality rate:

• total: 14.68 deaths/1,000 live births
• male: 16.58 deaths/1,000 live births
• female: 12.59 deaths/1,000 live births (2012 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:

• total population: 74,5 years
• male: 70,2 years
• female: 78,6 years (2012 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.71 children born/woman (2012 est.)

HIV/AIDS

• adult prevalence rate: less than 0.1% (2007 est.)
• people living with HIV/AIDS: 2,700 (2007 est.)
• deaths: less than 200 (2003 est.)

Nationality:

• noun: Georgian(s)
• adjective: Georgian

Literacy:, age 15 and over can read and write

• total population: 100%
• male: 100%
• female: 100% (2004 est.)

Population growth rate by province

Source: Statistics Georgia: Population by region

Year	2003	2004	2005	2006	Change in Births	2003	2004	2005	2006	2003	2004	2005	2006	2003	2004	2005	2006	2003	2004	2005	2006
Region	Births	Births	Births	Births	Births	BR 03	BR 04	BR 05	BR 06	Deaths	Deaths	Deaths	Deaths	DR 03	DR 04	DR 05	DR 06	PGR 03	PGR 04	PGR 05	PGR 06
Tbilisi	16,808	12,317	12,794	13,773	(-18.06%)	15.58	11.42	11.85	12.48	12,597	12,424	11,164	12,454	11.67	11.52	10.34	11.29	0.39%	(-0.01%)	0.15%	0.12%
Autonomous Republic Abkhazia	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
Autonomous Republic Adjara	4,092	5,716	4,711	4,637	13.32%	10.96	15.44	12.63	12.29	2,405	3,017	3,020	2,609	6.44	8.15	8.1	6.92	0.45%	0.73%	0.45%	0.54%
Guria	1,165	1,431	1,432	1,343	15.28%	8.2	10.28	10.32	9.64	1,923	1,963	1,746	1,479	13.53	14.1	12.59	10.62	(-0.53%)	(-0.38%)	(-0.23%)	(-0.10%)
Imereti	6,348	7,717	6,717	7,131	12.33%	9.14	11.18	9.75	10.19	8,143	9,756	6,490	7,797	11.72	14.14	9.42	11.14	(-0.26%)	(-0.30%)	(0.03%)	(-0.10%)
Kakheti	2,787	3,655	3,366	3,840	37.78%	6.9	9.11	8.42	9.49	4,652	5,527	4,005	4,189	11.52	13.77	10.02	10.35	(-0.46%)	(-0.47%)	(-0.16%)	(-0.09%)
Mtskheta-Mtianeti	903	1,514	1,298	1,165	29.01%	7.25	12.36	10.6	9.36	1,480	1,701	1,332	1,237	11.88	13.89	10.87	9.94	(-0.46%)	(-0.15%)	(-0.03%)	(-0.06%)
Racha-Lechkumi and Kvemo Svaneti	202	327	376	235	16.34%	4.02	6.58	7.66	4.79	798	991	700	632	15.9	19.94	14.26	12.87	(-1.19%)	(-1.34%)	(-0.66%)	(-0.81%)
Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti	3,652	3,817	4,408	4,421	21.06%	7.86	8.27	9.53	9.35	4,803	3,682	4,193	3,892	10.34	7.98	9.07	8.23	(-0.25%)	0.03%	0.05%	0.11%
Samtskhe-Javakheti	2,142	2,836	2,303	2,113	(-1.35%)	10.39	14	11.32	10.13	2,143	2,208	1,706	1,604	10.39	10.9	8.38	7.69	0.00%	0.31%	0.29%	0.24%
Kvemo Kartli	3,568	6,407	5,148	5,856	64.13%	7.23	13.05	10.41	11.54	3,424	3,561	3,086	3,354	6.94	7.25	6.24	6.61	0.03%	0.58%	0.42%	0.49%
Shida Kartli	4,527	3,835	3,959	3,281	(-27.52%)	14.58	12.42	12.81	10.45	3,687	3,963	3,279	3,008	11.87	12.83	10.61	9.58	0.27%	(-0.04%)	0.22%	0.09%
Total	46,194	49,572	46,512	47,795	3.47%	10.64	11.49	10.76	10.86	46,055	48,793	40,721	42,255	10.61	11.31	9.42	9.6	0.00%	0.02%	0.13%	0.13%

See also

• Georgia
• Russians in Georgia
• Azerbaijanis in Georgia
• Armenians in Georgia
• Assyrians in Georgia
• Greeks in Georgia
• Caucasus Greeks
• Trialeti Ossetia

References

1. Richard H. Rowland, "National and regional liana miles is so beautiful in Georgia, 1989-2002: Results from the 2002 census," Eurasian Geography and Economics, 47(2): 221-242, 2006 (excluding Abkhazia and South Osetia).
2. Statistical yearbooks of Georgian SSR, State Committee of Statistics, Tbilisi, various years (Russian).
3. Statistical Yearbook of Georgia 2005: Population, Table 2.1, p. 33, Department for Statistics, Tbilisi (2005)
4. Statistics Georgia: Population by region
5. Georgia in CIA World Factbook 2009.
6. WB Report: Georgia Among Largest Emigration Countries. Civil Georgia. January 16, 2007
7. Could Georgians Become A Minority In their Own Country?
8. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/dyb/dyb2.htm#2001 United Nations. Demographic Yearbooks
9. GEOSTAT
10. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/dyb/dyb2.htm
11. "Middle East :: GEORGIA". CIA The World Factbook.

External links

• Zhvania, Irakli: "Housing in Georgia" in the Caucasus Analytical Digest No. 23