The Messenger, Georgia
Dec 15 2004

Georgia’s demographic woes
By M. Alkhazashvili

Civil confrontation, ethnic conflicts, economic collapse, a leap in
unemployment and many other negative factors have led to many
Georgians to leave the country in the last fifteen years.

The census conducted in 2002 shows that within the territory under
Georgia’s jurisdiction (excluding separatist Abkhazia and South
Ossetia) 4,361,000 people live, some 431,000 less than in the 1989
census.

The situation is worse if the 162,000 refugees who left the
separatist-controlled territories are taken into account. Urban
population decreased by 7,000 and rural population by 323,000.

Experts estimate that approximately one million people – or one in
five of the population – left the country because of the developments
in Georgia in the 1990s. These were mainly young people – the
educated, qualified sector of the population – meaning that the
population left behind has become older and older.

Many of those to leave were of Abkhaz ethnicity: the number of Abkhaz
in Georgia, including Abkhazia, has halved and is now about 45,000 –
42,000 of whom live in the separatist republic, and the rest in
different regions of Georgia. Around 50,000 Abkhaz live abroad,
mainly in Russia.

The number of Ossetians has also halved. There are currently 84,000
in the country, including 46,000 who live in Tskhinvali controlled
territory. 79,000 Ossetians now live abroad, again, mainly in Russia.

Other citizens of non-Georgian ethnicity have also left the country.
Of the 341,000 Russians who used to live here, only 100,000 remain;
while people of Armenian origin now number 281,000, a decrease of
155,000. The number of Azeri leaving the country is lower – around
22,000 – leaving 284,000 in the country.

Although there are social reasons for such an exodus, for the most
part the high number of emigrants is due to economic reasons.
According to official statistics, there are some 620,000 registered
unemployed people in Georgia, 33 percent have a University education
and 75 percent of whom live in urban areas. 40 percent are under
thirty and 22 percent have had no permanent job since the beginning
of the 1990s.

Parliament is shortly to adopt the new Tax Code and law on financial
amnesty, and it is hoped that this will provide a boost to the
economy, and that as a result the hemorrhaging of the Georgian
population will be brought to a halt.