Almost 22 percent of Georgia’s population is under the absolute poverty line, shows the latest data of 2017 poverty indicators published by the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat).
Georgia’s population has reached 3,729,600 people.
Most people under absolute the poverty line live in the country’s rural areas.
Geostat said that the share of the population under absolute poverty line is 26.6 percent in rural Georgia and 18.6 percent in urban areas.
The share of the population under 60 percent of the median consumption is 22.3 percent (urban – 17 percent, rural – 29.6 percent), said Geostat.
Meanwhile, the share of population under 40 percent of the median consumption is 8.5 percent (urban – 6.2 percent, rural – 11.3 percent).
To note, the average monthly income in Georgia was 1,016 GEL (about $411.34/€351.15*) in 2017, says Geostat data.
The average monthly salary in Georgia was 1,069.1 GEL (about $432.83/€369.50*) in the third quarter (Q3) of 2017.
Meanwhile, last year the annual unemployment rate in Georgia declined by 0.1 percentage points and equalled 13.9 percent, said Geostat.
*Currency conversions reflect National Bank of Georgia values as of today.