Demographics

Abstract

Georgia’s population monotonically increased from 1770 to 1990, and then it started to decline. Now the population has stabilized. In 1801 the population of Georgia was 785,000, and it increased up to 1,943,000 in 1897. In 1926 it reached 2,677,000, and in 1959 it was 4,044,000. Between 1960 and 1980, more people emigrated than immigrated. In 1989, the population was 5,443,000, and in 2002 it was 4,601,500. Nearly 89.1% of the Georgian population resided at 0–800 m elevation above sea level. Between 800 and 1200 m, it was 5.8%, 4.2% between 1200 and 1800 m, and it was only 0.9% between 1800 and 2400 m. In 2002, the birthrate in Georgia was very low—10.7/1000 of the population, a significant change from the 14.9/1000 in 1992. The rate of increase was no more than 5.3 in 1992 and reduced to 2.1 in 1994; the index of natural increase stood at zero in 1997. In 2010, the natural increase rate was 3.3. The proportion of ethnic Georgians began to decline. During the 1920–1950s, the difference between the number of immigrants and emigrants was 240,000, when in the 1960–1989 the emigrants predominated over immigrants with 278,000. Most of emigrants were not ethnic Georgians. With independence in 1991, there came a great outflow of Georgian emigrants from the country. The emigration grew steadily during the first year of independence, rising from 300,000 to a peak of 1 million after 1991. A quarter of them were Georgians. This chapter reflects on the demographic landscape of Georgia through time.