Issue 146: Emigration and the Effect of Remittances on the Georgian Economy (2013-2022)

Georgia is considered a country of emigration. Since the mid-1990s, emigration from the country has been largely defined as labor migration, with Georgian citizens seeking better prospects abroad to ease persistent socio-economic challenges at home, including high unemployment, widespread poverty, and low wages.

A distinctive feature of this trend is that a significant proportion of Georgian labor emigrants choose to reside and work illegally in their host countries. Meanwhile, for Georgians who opt to emigrate, their primary motivation for doing so is to earn enough to support their families back in Georgia to whom they send remittances to alleviate economic hardships.

This bulletin discusses Georgia’s emigration trends and the role of remittances in the Georgian economy at macro and micro levels over the last decade.