The birth rate trend is very alarming, but this is not unique to Georgia - everywhere liberal ideology has spread intensively, there are problems, - this was stated by Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze from the parliamentary rostrum.

Kobakhidze assessed the demographic situation in the country as “one of the most important challenges” at the plenary session.

According to the Prime Minister, we have a negative indicator in terms of births, when the death rate exceeds the birth rate. According to his information, the situation is constantly worsening in terms of the marriage-to-divorce ratio.

Kobakhidze emphasized today that the decline in birth rates does not have a social cause. As he stated in this context, international practice confirms that the higher the level of well-being in a country, the more severe the demographic trends become.

“We have positive dynamics in practically all directions. This primarily concerns economic indicators. At first glance, one might think that if the economy grows rapidly, this should directly reflect on the improvement of demographic indicators, but unfortunately this is not the case, and international practice shows us this. As a rule, it is the opposite - when the level of well-being improves, it usually causes the worsening of demographic trends. If you look at international practice and the map, where the best demographic indicators are - these are precisely the economically less developed countries. If you look at which continents the population is growing the most - the leaders are Africa and Asia, where the level of economic well-being is the lowest, and the heaviest statistics are in Europe. It is the only continent where the population decreases every year. At the same time, Europe stands out compared to other continents with a higher level of well-being.

It is a sad reality that the higher the level of well-being in a country, the more severe the demographic trends become. Therefore, we cannot rely solely on economic growth and need to think about specific measures that will contribute to the improvement of demographic indicators.

There is an interesting detail that indicates that the decline in birth rates does not have a social cause - in the 1990s, when after the collapse of the system our country was in the most difficult situation, the birth rate coefficient was much higher than it is today. This has little social cause. It is also interesting that since 2014 the birth rate of the third and fourth child has increased and remains stably high.

The birth rate of the first and second child is sharply and dramatically declining. This indicates that we have a serious worldview challenge that we must confront positively. It is necessary to change people’s worldview. Interest in marriage has decreased, as shown by marriage and divorce statistics. This directly affects the statistics of first and second child births.

The trend is very alarming, but this is not unique to Georgia. Everywhere liberal ideology has spread intensively, there are problems. You remember the so-called gender policy, LGBT propaganda, and so on. This was precisely confronted by the law adopted by the Parliament of Georgia, regarding which criticism came both from the radical opposition and from their foreign supporters.

In reality, we need serious measures to change society’s worldview. We need to take care of raising the patriotic spirit of society and, in general, forming such consciousness that will contribute to the positive development of demographic processes,” - stated Kobakhidze from the parliamentary rostrum.

Irakli Kobakhidze also spoke about specific birth rate indicators.

“In 2014, 26,355 children were born in Georgia. I remind you once again that in the case of the third and subsequent children, we have growth. As for the first child, in 2014 26,355 children were born, and in 2024 14,156 children were born. This is a catastrophic trend. The indicator for the first child has almost halved. We have a similar indicator for the second child. In 2014, 23,171 children were born, and in 2024 - 13,323 children. This statistic is also strange - in the case of the first and second child it has almost halved, while in the case of the third and subsequent children the indicators have increased. This is the result of those heavy worldview and ideological processes from which we practically freed ourselves last year, despite the most severe external pressure. Just recall what we went through in connection with the law ‘On Family Values and Protection of Minors.’ You remember that there was a storm from abroad and from the radical opposition inside the country. Today, people who fled the hall are talking to us about demography because they did not want to fix their position in connection with this bill. On the one hand, they were afraid of foreign patrons, and on the other hand, they were afraid of public opinion. That is why they fled the discussion on this issue,” - stated Kobakhidze.

As the Prime Minister noted, the opposition “does not like the numbers,” but it is the numbers that show what situation we have.

“There are numbers that confirm that the speculative statements we heard regarding migration, ‘Arabization,’ were speculations from beginning to end and had no basis. The numbers confirm exactly this and also that things are not as the radical opposition claims,” - stated Kobakhidze.