Responding to journalists’ questions about claims that economic difficulties and rising prices are discouraging people from starting families, Papuashvili said the situation was “exactly the opposite”, according to News Georgia.
He argued that there is a direct correlation between rising living standards and declining birth rates, as people increasingly prioritise careers over having children.
“Unfortunately, there is a direct correlation between growing prosperity and declining birth rates. The more economic well-being increases, the greater the demographic challenges will become… As prosperity grows, families refrain from having children because they are focused on their careers. What was once a spontaneous and emotional decision — to have many children — has now become a rational one. And when people approach it rationally, they set different priorities,” Papuashvili said.
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Speaking about measures to support higher birth rates, the parliament speaker noted that parents in Georgia do not pay for state kindergartens, schools or public universities.
He also highlighted an initiative launched by the late Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II, under which the head of the Georgian Orthodox Church became the godfather of third and subsequent children born into families.
According to the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat), 17,509 children were born in the country during the first six months of 2026, 210 fewer than during the same period a year earlier. Over the same period, 22,224 people died, resulting in a natural population decline of 4,715.
Georgia has recorded negative natural population growth since 2020. Between 2020 and 2025, the number of deaths exceeded the number of births by a total of 38,852 people.
