Tbilisi: The deputy foreign minister Vladimer Konstantinidi in a meeting revealed data on Georgian living in foreign countries. The foreign minister stated on March 6 at a meeting of the Committee on Diaspora and Caucasus Issues ruling party that  1.5 million Georgian citizens live abroad.
As of January 1, 2024, Georgia’s population was officially recorded at 3.7 million who have been living in foreign countries as well.
The minister during his address stressed that this figure is “unofficial,” noting that many Georgians live abroad illegally, which reflected the actual number may be higher than reported. The Ministry’s data which is revealed that data is sourced from embassies and the diaspora, may not be fully accurate.
Konstantinidi also shared a breakdown of the countries with the highest Georgian populations which is as per follow:
U.S. – 120,000
Italy – 50,000
Germany – 50,000
Turkey – 45,000
France – 35,000
Spain – 25,000
Russia – 700,000
Greece – 200,000
Belgium – 20,000
Israel – 20,000
He also referred to data of Russia. As per the Russia’s 2020 general census, 113,687 people in Russia identified as ethnic Georgians, with 3,045 holding Georgian citizenship.
It is worth to note that the issue of the diaspora was central to the October 26 parliamentary elections. In the months leading up to the vote, opposition parties and President Salome Zurabishvili repeatedly called on the Central Election Commission of Georgia to increase the number of polling stations abroad, so emigrants could have better access to voting. These requests went unanswered by all the parties so far.
As a result, the CEC only set up 60 polling stations across 42 countries, causing long waits in cities like Berlin and New York, and many Georgians were unable to vote.
Among those who were able to vote, the majority supported opposition parties of Georgian as well. The CEC’s official results revealed that Georgian Dream only secured 13.5% of the emigrant vote, leading to a landslide victory for the opposition abroad. Voter turnout might have been higher if there had been more polling stations closer to emigrants’ hometowns, preventing them from having to travel long distances to cast their votes.
After the elections, President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili filed an appeal to the Constitutional Court, citing violations of ballot secrecy and universal suffrage, due to the state’s failure to improve voting rights for emigrants. However, the Constitutional Court rejected her appeal against October election.
