Emigrants send significant sums of money to Georgia

Poor employment and living conditions and dire social conditions forced many Georgians to emigrate over the last decade or more. According to unofficial data around a million and a half Georgians work abroad, mainly in post-Soviet countries and Russia in particular. Many emigrated to Europe and the USA as well. In 2010, emigrants transferred funds worth more than $500,000,000 to their families in Georgia from Russia alone, and approximately the same amount from all other countries, for a total amount of over $1 billion.