Georgia’s poverty rate cut by half over four years, says Georgian Prime Minister

Georgia’s poverty rate has been cut in half over the past four years, dropping from 21.3% to 9.4%, the Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced on Wednesday during a hearing in Parliament.

In his remarks, Kobakhidze noted that the sharp decline in poverty was a direct result of strong economic growth.

He added that Georgia’s economy, measured in US dollars, has more than doubled, while significant growth was also recorded in the national currency, contributing to improved living conditions.

“At the end of 2020, our economy was approximately $4,300 per capita, and today it has grown to around $9,200 per capita, and for the first time in history, this year it will exceed $10,000. The economy has more than doubled in [US] dollars. Growth in lari was also rapid, which, of course, caused the poverty rate to drop from over 20 percent to 9.4 percent. For the first time, more people receive social assistance than the number of people living below the poverty line. That is, more people receive social support than those who are considered poor - this is happening for the first time in Georgia’s history since the 1990s”, he said.

“Of course, this indicator needs to be considered carefully, because a kind of moratorium has been in place since 2020. As you know, due to objective reasons during COVID and external factors, the number of socially vulnerable people increased sharply. At that time, we faced serious economic problems; the economy contracted by 6.5 percent in 2020”, he continued.

Kobakhidze emphasised that that caused social challenges in the budget and an increase in the number of socially vulnerable people, and since then, a kind of moratorium was in place.

“Accordingly, instead of decreasing, this number increased. However, this is not related to a deterioration in the social condition of the population. The poverty rate decreased from 21.3 percent to 9.4 percent”, he concluded.