Under the previous government, the migration indicators were much more severe, - Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said while talking about the GeoStat data regarding the fact that the number of emigrants increased by 95.6% in 2023.

According to him, the economic problems are still serious, the borders are open and it is easy to leave the country, "there is a temptation for people to leave the country, move to another country".

"The country has many challenges, the main one among these challenges is demography. We have negative statistics, both in terms of births and migration, which have underlying causes. As for migration, there are essentially two reasons for migration. First: there is still a big economic gap with the European Union and European countries. Second: the borders are open, it is easy to leave the country and go to EU countries. We are still three times behind Germany in terms of living standards, in 2012 the gap was 4.5. Therefore, under the previous government, the migration figures were much more severe, under our conditions the demographic data is bad, but there are reasons for this. First: still existing backwardness, we are three times behind Germany, 2 times behind Greece and so on. At such times, there is a temptation for people to leave the country and move to another country. Borders are also open. During the National Movement, when the borders were not open, the indicators were twice as bad in terms of migration. We have negative indicators, but the main thing here is the development of the economy. If the economy does not move forward and we do not get closer to the EU member states, of course, the negative indicators will remain. We will need the next few years to get closer to the EU member states", the Prime Minister said.