Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze told Parliament this week that, for the first time, the number of Georgians receiving social allowance now exceeds the number officially measured as living below the poverty line. He attributed the divergence to a Covid-era moratorium on updating social-score assessments, a measure that caused beneficiary numbers to increase and remain elevated even after economic recovery.
Kobakhidze stressed, however, that the increase in social-allowance recipients does not mean poverty has worsened. He pointed out that Georgia’s poverty rate has declined sharply in recent years, from 21.3% to 9.4%. Meanwhile, GDP per capita has more than doubled since 2020 and is expected to surpass USD 10,000 in 2025.
Still, the prime minister acknowledged that Georgia remains far behind even the least developed EU member states, with GDP per capita lagging 30–40% behind. He emphasized that sustaining high economic growth is essential to further reduce poverty and reliance on social programs.
Official figures in October 2025 showed some 708,245 people received a subsistence allowance at a total monthly state cost of more than GEL 71 million. By the end of last year, 671,337 individuals, equal to 18.1% of the population, were receiving the allowance, significantly exceeding the 9.4% poverty rate.
