2023 data: number of Georgian citizens staying abroad down 62%

The number of Georgian citizens staying abroad decreased in 2023 by 27,950 people, marking a 62.1 percent reduction from the previous year, the Ministry of Internal Affairs said on Tuesday in latest data on border crossings.

The Ministry added the number of citizens leaving the country had exceeded the number of arrivals by 44,985 people in 2022.

During 2023, the number of Georgian nationals crossing the border to leave the country exceeded the number of citizens crossing the state boundary to return by 17,035 people, the Ministry said.

The figures also show more Russian citizens left Georgia last year than entered the country in the wake of the conflict in Ukraine. 

Specifically, 1,856,237 arrivals from Russia were recorded last year, while 1,887,223 Russian citizens left Georgia. Accordingly, 30,986 more Russian nationals left the country than entered in 2023, meaning the total number of Russian citizens staying in Georgia decreased by almost 31,000.

Georgia’s population was 3.7 million according to the last census. The National Statistics Office said in its latest update the country’s population increased by 1.3 percent compared to 2021 and reached 3,736,400 as of January 1, 2023.