This weird dichotomy, unfolding the in-depth reality of our contemporary Sakartvelo, sounds a little bizarre, but seems to be accurate enough to believe in. This way or that way, a thorough deliberation on the subject will not hurt. Why? Because, human-reproduction-wise, we are unquestionably emulating Europe, and in terms of economic endeavor, we are probably floating somewhere between East and West.
Let’s prove it, but without declaring whether this is good or bad, because I would rather stay safe than sorry. Oftentimes, comparisons do not make a lot of sense to execute, but they sometimes help in determining the trends that affect the nation’s life.
Speaking about its demographic structure, Georgia is fairly comparable with Western trends, accentuating an aging population and low birth rates, which is quite similar to the tendencies characterizing Europe, especially Southern and Eastern Europe. Meanwhile, speaking about the economy, although Georgia is functioning more as a developing market with high-growth services, accelerated liberalization, and strong integration with European markets, the impression is that it fits more accurately into Eastern economic trends than not, exactly like most of the developing post-Soviet states.
Looking at the demographic picture of the nation, it is very difficult not to notice that Georgia’s population has been declining since the 1990s, with a negative natural increase in the first half of 2024, mirroring European aging rather than the younger demographic profile found in Central Asia. Concerning the nonstop movement of people out of the country, or the desire of a disturbing number of citizens to leave and find work and abode somewhere else, the nation may very well qualify as a country of emigration, with a considerable proportion of working-age people leaving for Europe and the United States, provided they get a chance.
Even more painfully, like many Western nations, Georgia is compelled to deal with fertility challenges, although the country is literally strewn with a good number of specialized clinics, probably working more with the foreign population than the indigenous one. On top of all that, it is said that Georgia has a skewed sex ratio at birth, which is evidently among the highest in the world, referring to the significant, persistent, and unnatural imbalance of more baby boys being born compared to girls. This tendency is also comparable with the Western one, although the numbers there are lower than in Georgia.
Let’s now turn to the economic comparisons. Georgia suggests deserving-of-attention economic growth, often showing somewhat better results than the EU (European Union) candidate countries and certainly the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) members, but some of the social scenes based on economic issues still remind us of the East, like those numerous street markets under open skies all over the place. The good news is that here people (both locals and foreigners) enjoy a most business-friendly environment for the comfort of doing business, which is not characteristic of many developing Eastern nations, although it is also true that the style of doing business in this country sometimes has an oriental veneer.
The Georgian economy is heavily dependent on tourism, remittances, agriculture, and its role as a transport corridor between Asia and Europe, which is good, but this might also be reckoned as not exactly a very Western thing. One of the most bothering issues is that, in spite of the evident growth, our economic environment faces structural challenges like low productivity, limited high-quality job creation, and a reliance on imports.
To conclude, while the comparison with West and East is often used to describe our structural trends (a Western-like, shrinking, aging population) and economic position (developing, high-growth, post-Soviet, yet rapidly liberalizing), Georgia is better described as a unique, rapidly developing, and highly liberalized, small, open economy with a European trajectory, sometimes reminding one of what the world calls Asia and, at times, being distinct from that selfsame Eastern world and, of course, its neighboring CIS partners.
Why do we have to know all this? How much does it matter to be aware whether we are like the East and West or distinct from them? A rational comparison with what surrounds us so tightly and influences us so severely might matter only because it should be useful to know where we stand in the rapidly changing world, and to have sensitive feelers out for detecting what kind of useful turns and curves we might have to make at the right moment and in the right place. Nothing else!
Op-Ed by Nugzar B. Ruhadze
