Poverty in Georgia

Officially almost 25% of Georgia’s population lives below the poverty line. Of these 10% are in the direst conditions. Of course there are different reasons for this but the biggest is unemployment. The Department of Statistics has officially stated that in rural areas unemployment is 7% and in cities it is 25%.

It should be said that 53% of Georgia’s population lives in rural areas and undertakes small farming activities with a very low level of productivity. Many farmers work hard on the land but due to the big risk factors in agricultural work such as drought, flooding, land erosion and lack of equipment, fertilisers and so on these people cannot secure a proper existence.

Some analysts notice positive trends despite this. Social transfers, increases in pensions and some programmes have made it possible to decrease the overall number of people living below the poverty line. However other analysts challenge this and state that the 2008 Russian invasion and world economic crisis have kept the number of people living below the poverty line pretty high. They suggest that to treat an illness the doctor should treat not the precise symptoms but the cause of those symptoms. Assistance should therefore be targeted at development rather than one time humanitarian actions.