The population is growing. Who will work in ten years?
Demography is a stubborn thing. The population grew to 3.93 million, an increase of 5.6% over the decade. At first glance - good. But if you dig deeper, the picture is more complex. Cities are growing, villages are emptying. Tbilisi, Adjara are attracting people, and the other areas are losing. This means one thing: people go where there is work and life. Old men remain in the villages, and this is no longer just a statistic, but the question of who will feed the country in ten years.
The second point is aging. There were almost 30% more elderly people, their share increased to 17.6%. But there are 21 thousand fewer people aged 15-64. Those who work and pay taxes. That is, the population as a whole has increased, but the labor force has decreased. This is a wake-up call.
Third and most important. Since 2020, there have been more deaths than births. The population grew not because Georgians started having more children, but because people came from outside. In the years 2022-2024, immigration increased by 169.9 thousand people. 86% of the total increase during the decade occurred in the last three years, that is, in the period after the start of the war in Ukraine and relocation.
Georgia is growing at the expense of visitors, not at the expense of itself. It is neither bad nor good - it is a fact. Visitors bring money, business, taxes. But if they leave tomorrow, what will be left? A country that is aging and emptying.
What is the approach here? Not banning visitors is stupid. But think about how to keep your people: jobs in the regions, affordable housing, normal schools and hospitals in the villages. Otherwise, in ten years we will not count the population, but how many are left.