Geostat: Georgian population amounts to 3.723 million

Georgia’s National Statistics Office (Geostat) has released the 2018 Natural Movement Statistics, according to which, as of January 2019, the population of Georgia is 3.723.500 people.

The agency says that the population density per square kilometer is 65.1, adding that 58.7 percent of the population lives in urban areas.

In addition to this, the population of the capital is almost one-third of the total population and is the most densely populated (2 322.5 persons per sq. Km) compared to other regions. The smallest population resides in the Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti region (29.7 thousand people) and the population density does not exceed 7 persons per 1 sq. Km there.

According to Geostat, as of January 1, 2019, 48.1 percent of Georgia's population is male and 51.9 percent is female. The proportion of men aged 0-14 in the general population is higher than women, and in the population of 65 years and older women outnumber men, due to the longer life expectancy of women than men. In Georgia, the difference in life expectancy for men and women is 8.5 years.

Also, in 2018, the number of births exceeded the number of deaths by 4 614. According to Geostat, 9.6% fewer babies were born in 2018 compared to 2016. 438 cases of stillbirth were reported last year, down 21.5 percent from 2016.

The number of live births in Georgia amounted to 51 138 in 2018, lower by 9.6 percent compared to 2016. Most births were reported in Tbilisi (31.6 percent) and the smallest in Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti (0.6 percent).

26 538 boys and 24 600 girls were born in Georgia last year.

According to Geostat, the number of deaths in 2018 decreased by 8.4 percent to 46 524 compared to 2016. The most cases of deaths in 2018 were reported in Tbilisi (26.1%) and the lowest in Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti (1.4%) region.

“In 2018, 416 babies (children under the age of 1) died. However, the infant mortality rate decreased by 0.9 points compared to 2016 and amounted to 8.1 per mil. Majority of deaths of children under the age of 1 occurred in the neonatal period (from birth to the 28th day of life),” the report says.

The proportion of live births which occurred outside marriage in Georgia stood at 34% in 2018. According to the agency, the high birth rate without registered marriages is largely conditioned by the popularity of religious marriages, which have no legal power.

As for the marriages and divorces, 23 202 marriages were registered in 2018 and the number of divorces amounted to 10 288 during the reported period.

Most cases of marriages and divorces (29.0 percent and 37.9 percent, respectively) were reported in Tbilisi.

The average age for marriage for women was 27.7 and 30.4 for men. Also, 32% of the total numbers of marriages were registered in autumn.