Numbers never lie, so let's start with the numbers. Maybe, at least in this way, everyone will be convinced and realize the current bitter reality. As of 2023, 3,736,357 people lived in Georgia, of which 838,097 were pensioners. That is, almost every fifth (more precisely, 4.5) citizen of the country is a pensioner.

Could such a ratio be a sign of the aging of the nation? Of course it can. Moreover, taking into account the fact that in all Georgian regions, except three, the mortality rate has recently exceeded the birth rate. Simply put, almost everywhere in the country more people die than are born. And three regions that constitute an exception are Tbilisi, Kvemo Kartli and Adjara.

Let us, discarding the elements of chauvinism, admit that in Kvemo Kartli the prevalence of birth rates over deaths was achieved not at the expense of the Georgian population, but specifically at the expense of the Azerbaijani nation. Yes, Azerbaijani families usually have many children, although it is difficult for them, like everyone else, and having many children is associated with difficulties. Nevertheless, they have not refused to have many children for a long time, and show a very remarkable approach to this issue - if out of 5, 6 or 7 children even one achieves something in life, he very often pulls the rest along with him, puts them on their feet, helps in every possible way. As a rule, this is what happens.

Meanwhile, most Georgian families, at best, have two children and stop there. And those who are called families with many children generally expect help from the state, ask for it, try to get as much as possible, and it is not uncommon for large families, fearing to lose this state assistance, to refuse to improve their living conditions, even if such an opportunity has arisen. I don't mean everyone, of course, but it happens quite often.

As for Adjara, there are many children there, mainly from Muslim Georgians. May God grant that they all grow up healthy and happy, multiplying the families of Azerbaijanis and Georgians who profess Islam. Citing these figures, I just want to draw your attention to the fact that the Orthodox part of Georgians is in a catastrophic situation. That is, we are talking, as you understand, about the overwhelming part of the Georgian nation, after which our entire country is called Georgia, and over which the threat of degeneration hangs, as Japanese scientists stated and wrote about a few years ago.

In the capital of the country, which is among the exceptions along with Kvemo Kartli and Adjara, the situation is radically different, because population growth here is very conditional and more apparent. What do I want to say? It is well known that, due to economic reasons, almost half of all Georgia lives and works in Tbilisi. However, after a person dies, their ashes are usually taken to be buried where they are from and where the graves of their relatives and relatives are located. Such death statistics are not reflected in the archives of the capital. But when a pregnant woman from the region is brought to give birth in Tbilisi, she is placed in a city clinic and assigned a Tbilisi personal number. It turns out that a newborn who receives such a number ultimately improves the capital's birth statistics. But in reality, the parents of such children are representatives of regions - the very ones where the demographic situation is in a catastrophic situation. Of course, their children, born in Tbilisi, do not disappear anywhere, and God grant that they also grow up without knowing grief. However, we know well what the transformation of Tbilisi into a tadpole city has led to - the rest of Georgia is simply fading away, depopulated, and in some places only empty houses remain from villages.

There is nothing good if these empty Georgian houses and lands are taken over by foreigners either through rent or directly. Then in Racha-Lechkhumi, Kakheti, Kvemo Svaneti, more and more often, instead of Georgians, Indians, Chinese, Iranians will be met... What are we doing to correct this situation in the country? - you probably ask. Nothing! Elections are approaching, but despite the alarming statistics published, not a single one of the leaders of the political parties has said a word about what time it is to think about and deal with the votes of voters, all sorts of political squabbles, if the nation is dying right before our eyes?!

Why? Yes, because, having said “A”, you must certainly say “B”, that is, look for a way out of such an unenviable situation and offer a solution, and this, as you know, is very difficult. Calls and words alone were clearly not enough to ensure a demographic explosion in the country - active action is needed, and most importantly, huge funds will be required. Let me give you a very simple example. We have been building houses for refugees for many years, a military camp was built, a town for policemen is being built, and all this, of course, is absolutely wonderful. But in this case, maybe the state should think about building a town where apartments in houses will be given to large families? For example, those with 6 children or more. Moreover, 2-4-story buildings of a similar purpose can be erected in Lechkhumi, in Racha... After which you can start donating free and uncultivated land to these people, and then the regions will come to life. Even if out of 6 children only two survive, this will already be a huge achievement, a patriotic deed. Because today, in order to count the students and pupils of schools and kindergartens in high mountain areas, the fingers of one hand are enough.

But the opposition suddenly remembered that, it turns out, 1,500,000 Georgian citizens live in Russia, and they need to be given the opportunity to participate in elections. Why did the opposition suddenly need the voices of Georgian citizens living in Russia - after all, just recently they called these people “Russian observants” and “traitors to the nation”?! Apparently, they didn’t need them before, so you can rest assured that after the elections they won’t need them again. The main thing for them now is that, even if the votes cast in Russia turn out to be in favor of the ruling force (which is quite expected), they can say: we have a “Russian government” and “the Georgian elections were rigged in Russia.” Then these voters will again become “traitors.” In general, for the opposition, anyone who is not on their side is a traitor. This was the case during the times when the “nationals” were in power, with the only difference that at that time they tried to physically deal with such people, and they succeeded. But the demographic problem...

You can often hear that in Georgia’s golden era there were more than 6 million of us. The fact is that the size of a nation is directly related to the well-being of the state, which is why we usually don’t like it if, when starting a conversation about economic growth, we are shown some incomprehensible tables, figures and sheets - here, they say, everything is taken into account and reflected in detail. In fact, all this is reflected only on paper, because ordinary citizens do not feel anything even close to this. All the political forces that announced their coming to power had a colorful plan for the prosperity of the state, but none of them has yet been able to put this plan into practice. I don’t know how things will go in this regard tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, but I am sure that as long as the West applauds empty and unsubstantiated figures, nothing will help us.

It is no coincidence that I mentioned the West. Several hundred thousand Georgian citizens, in addition to Russia, went to various European countries in search of happiness, and now “European partners and friends” regularly (at least once a year) promise to bring them all back, declaring that these people have no place in Europe . Do you think that out of the whole million Georgians living in Russia, all of them are on Russian territory absolutely legally and their documents are in perfect order? I don't think anyone can seriously believe this. However, when was the last time Russia threatened to expel Georgian citizens from the country? So much for the difference in attitudes, and... But let's return to the problem of demographics.

Do you know that Germany has begun to financially encourage families with more than two children? Yes, yes, that same Germany, which is considered one of the most developed countries in the world. As soon as problems related to demographics arose there, they immediately adopted a law on financial incentives, easily calculating that if there are two children in a family, the nation does not grow, since in reality this is simply compensation to society for two parents - mother and father. That is, in this case there is no increase in population, but the birth of a third child already provides an indicator of growth. The Germans will soon begin to reap the results of such a motivated campaign, and the compensation paid is quite substantial, and, as they say, it will increase in the coming years so that even more families will want to have a third child. Thus, even Germany has reached the point of needing financial incentives for the population in demographic matters, but can you imagine what will happen with similar solid financial incentives here?

For this reason, our state, I believe, should timely reconsider from this point of view some priority areas in order to at least temporarily suspend some of them (for example, infrastructure projects), shifting the emphasis to encouraging large families. And if social packages are not enough, people can be offered more profitable jobs instead (with higher pay than the social package provides). Such proposals are quite realistic and feasible; this will free up sufficient funds to pay families substantial compensation for the third and each subsequent child. Otherwise, we will very soon reach the point where the nation will be on the verge of degeneration even before 2050, that is, the date that was calculated and named as a result of research by Japanese scientists.

Since we started this conversation, let’s also say that according to the international happiness index, Georgia ranks 91st in the world and only Gabon, Laos, Nepal and other poor countries appear behind it. Meanwhile, ahead of us are even such states as Mozambique, Congo, Tajikistan, Armenia, Indonesia, Venezuela, Colombia, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan... In them, people live happier than the citizens of Georgia, and, most importantly, they are not in danger of degeneration.

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