Georgia at a glance

Georgia is located on the crossroad of Europe and Asia. It lays at the eastern end of the Black Sea, with Turkey and Armenia to the south, Azerbaijan to the east, and Russia to the north, over the Caucasus Mountains. The capital and largest city is Tbilisi. Georgia’s total territory covers 69,700 square kilometers.

Population in Georgia is 3 914 thousand persons (as of November 2024). 62 per cent of the population resides in urban areas, while 38 per cent - in the rural areas. 34 per cent of the population resides in Tbilisi. Official language is Georgian. There are just 14 independent alphabets in the world and Georgian is one of them. A large majority of Georgia’s population (83.4 per cent in 2014) practices Orthodox Christianity. Georgia is a unitary parliamentary republic. Georgian currency is Georgian Lari (GEL).

Georgia is rich in agricultural tradition which is an integral part of its history, mentality and cultural heritage. Agriculture played an important role in formation of the Georgian statehood and contributed much to its economic development.
Georgia’s total surface amounts 76,284.8 sq. km, of which 91% is land and the remaining 9% is water. 44.5% of the country’s total surface area is covered by forest, while 39.7% of the land is used for agriculture. (2024) Agriculture in Georgia is recognized as a particularly vulnerable sector in the face of climate change.

Georgia has a wide variety of ecological and climatic zones favorable for the growth of different crops. Those crops include cereals, early and late vegetables, melons and gourds, potatoes, technical crops, grapes, subtropical crops, fruit variety etc. Georgia is one of the oldest wine producing regions of the world. The fertile valleys of the South Caucasus, which Georgia straddles, are believed by many archaeologists to be the source of the world’s first cultivated grapevines and Neolithic wine production, over 8,000 years ago.

From the farming industry standpoint, the diversity is accompanied by difficulties like temperature swings, active erosion and excessive precipitation in some regions. Natural hazards occurring in Georgia (earthquakes, floods, landslides, mudflows, abrasions, avalanches, hail, showering rains, droughts, etc.) harm agricultural production, and hence, the economy of the country.

Georgia is a member of WTO and has Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) status with member countries. Georgia has Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) agreements with the US, Canada, Switzerland, Norway and Japan. Georgia has a free trade agreement with China, Turkey and Ukraine and preferential access to the most countries of the former Soviet Union. Georgia also has a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area Agreement (DCFTA) with the EU, which implies that agricultural products exported from Georgia will freely reach the EU market.