For many years, Georgia had a declining population, although its current growth rate is estimated at about 0.6% per year. Unless something changes, government officials and demographers predict Georgia's population may fall to half its current size in just 40 years. In 2011, President Mikheil Saakashvili set a population goal of 5 million by 2015.
Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, more than 1.5 million Georgian nationals have left the country. There are believed to be 1 million Georgian immigrants living in Russia.
There are several reasons the country's population remains flat, including a preference for boys that has led to more abortions of females and fewer potential mothers, as well as the financial hardship of having more than one child. One possible way to address this overall stagnant population is welfare benefits and assistance for large families and pregnant women. A low fertility rate of less than 2 children per mother is also a considerable impact on this reported low natural growth. As of 2019, the annual rate of change in Georgia was -0.07%.
The declining birth rate in combination with increasing emigration is expected to continue into the foreseeable future, causing the population to continuously decline. Current projections believe that the annual growth rate will get down to -0.55% by the year 2050. If this proves to be true, the population in Georgia will likely be around 3,898,529 in 2020, 3,748,350 in 2030, 3,576,930 in 2040, and 3,393,665 in 2050.
