The National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat)

Population Census and Demographic Statistics Department

30, Tsotne Dadiani Str., 0180, Tbilisi, Georgia

Data and metadata are transmitted to Eurostat by the Member States in the framework of the Unified Demographic Data Collection which is in accordance with Regulation (EC) 862/2007 and Regulation (EU) 1260/2013 and their implementing regulations.

This Euro SDMX Metadata Structure is used for the purpose of quality reporting. The definition of the quality concepts and guidelines are described in the European Statistical System Handbook for Quality Reports.

The current regional breakdown of the countries in the regional demographic tables is according to:

1. Regulation (EU) 2016/2066 amending the annexes to Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS). The NUTS classification according to this regulation is shortly named NUTS-2016.

2. Agreements between Eurostat and Candidate countries as well as between Eurostat and EFTA countries, for which statistical regions have been coded in a way that resembles NUTS.

International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD-10).

World country and territory classification (ISO 3166) (2016)

Usual population; Births; Deaths; Emigrants; Immigrants.

Persons

Population by urban and rural – at national, regional and municipality level;

Population by sex and age - at national level;

Births - at national, regional and municipality level;

Deaths - at national, regional and municipality level;

Migration - at national level.

Population:

Population at national level by urban-rural – since 1920;

Population at regional and municipality level by urban-rural – since 1980;

Population by sex and age – since 1989.

Births:

Live births at national level by urban-rural - since 1950;

Live births by regions and sex - since 1969;

Stillbirths at national level by urban-rural - since 1960;

Stillbirths by regions and sex - since 1969.

Deaths:

Deaths at national level by urban-rural - since 1950;

Deaths by causes regions and main causes of death - since 2005.

Migration:

Net-migration at national level - since 1990;

Emigrants and Immigrants by sex and age at national level – since 2002.

Not applicable.

Number of persons

Population - as of 1 January;

Births, Deaths - the calendar year in which the events occurred;

Migration - the calendar year in which the migration occurred.

National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat), the legal entity of public law, carries out its activities in accordance with the UN Fundamental Principles. It is an institution established to produce the statistics and disseminate the statistical information according to the Georgian legislation.

The National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat) is responsibility, collecting, producing and disseminate the statistical data. Geostat guided by the following legal acts: i) the Law of Georgia on “Official Statistics” and ii) Annual Statistical Work Program.

In accordance with the Law of Georgia on “Official Statistics”, the Geostat is authorized to request from the administrative bodies and other physical and legal entities and receive all the statistical and other information (including confidential information and/or information containing personal data, in line with the “Law on Personal Data Protection") necessary for carrying out its functions. 

Upon the request and according to the legislation of Georgia, the administrative bodies are obliged to provide the Geostat with the information on physical and private entities (including confidential information). 

The Law of Georgia on Official Statistics https://www.geostat.ge/media/56202/The-Law-of-Georgia-on-Official-Statistics.pdf

Statistical Work Programme (annual) https://www.geostat.ge/en/modules/categories/307/statistical-work-programme

Charter of the National Statistics Office of Georgia https://www.geostat.ge/media/20845/10%2Csaqstatis-konsolidirebuli-debuleba.pdf

Geostat receives data from:

Population – population censuses;

Births, Deaths – Public Service Development Agency (PSDA), Ministry of Justice of Georgia; and Ministry of IDPS, Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia;

Migration – Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia

1. The Law of Georgia on Official Statistics:

•According to the article 5 of the law Statistical confidentiality and exclusive use for statistical purposes – individual data collected or received by the producer of official statistics, relating to natural or legal persons, must be strictly confidential and used only for statistical purposes.

•According to the article 34 (Observing Confidentiality of Statistical Data) of the law 1. Data collected, processed, and stored to produce official statistics are confidential if they enable the direct or indirect identification of a statistical unit. In addition, aggregated data are subject to statistical confidentiality: a) Aggregates composed of 1 to 3 units, when the unit is a natural or legal person if one of these units could be identified indirectly, thereby disclosing individual data about this unit. Aggregates composed of more than 3 units may be declared confidential by the Executive Director if required to ensure statistical confidentiality; b) Information declares as a state secret on the basis of the „Law of Georgia on State Secrets“. 2. Confidential data shall be used exclusively for the purposes of producing statistics in accordance with this law. 3. Statistical data about the administrative body cannot be considered confidential information, except for the information determined by the Law of Georgia „On State Secrets“. 4. Individual data obtained from publicly available sources, which are defined as public information in accordance with the legislation of Georgia, shall not be 3 considered confidential information. 5. Confidential (individual) data may be published if there is written consent from the statistical unit regarding the publication of such data. 6. It is not allowed to disseminate and distribute confidential data or use it for non-statistical purposes.

•According to the article 38 (Confidentiality commitments) of the law the confidential statistical data collected and processed for statistical purposes shall not be used or disseminated either for personal, academic, research or any other activities, by the employees of the producers of Official Statistics. https://www.geostat.ge/media/56202/The-Law-of-Georgia-on-Official-Statistics.pdf 

2. Data Confidentiality Policy at Geostat https://www.geostat.ge/media/20860/Data-Confidentiality-Policy-at-Geostat_En.pdf 

3. Procedure for providing access to confidential data for research purposes https://www.geostat.ge/media/20860/Data-Confidentiality-Policy-at-Geostat_En.pdf

4. The Law of Georgia on Personal Data Protection https://matsne.gov.ge/en/document/view/1561437?publication=9 

•Confidentiality guidelines.

•Written undertakings by an employee of Geostat on ensuring confidentiality of gained/collected data as a result of official duties.

Data dissemination dates are defined by the calendar developed on the basis of the Statistical Work Programme, which is published on the website of Geostat and is publicly available.

https://www.geostat.ge/en/calendar

The general policy is that before publishing statistics on the Geostat web site a press release is available, also on the web site, to inform users and media.

All users get access to data at the same time.

Summary vital statistics - 2 times a year;

Detailed demographic data – yearly.

Data is provided in press-releases https://www.geostat.ge/en/news?year=&month=04&category=9 

Data publication is also provided in MS Excel, PDF format and for Android application (see: https://www.geostat.ge/en/modules/categories/316/population-and-demography).

For the regional data the special portal is available (see: https://regions.geostat.ge/regions/#)

Online annual publications are available: https://www.geostat.ge/en/single-categories/114/population

Data is available in PS-Axis format (See the link below): 

https://pc-axis.geostat.ge/PXweb/pxweb/en/Database/?rxid=a9e5191f-e414-4243-aef3-ddc839842cc5 

https://www.geostat.ge/en/modules/categories/316/population-and-demography

Demographic Portal:
http://database.geostat.ge/pyramid/index.php?lang=en

Quality documentation is available here:

https://www.geostat.ge/en/modules/categories/730/data-quality 

To ensure the quality of the statistical processes and products Geostat follows Chapter 10 – Quality of official statistics – of the Law of Georgia on Official Statistics, as well as the European Statistics Code of Practice, the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics and Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (ESS QAF).

Methodology and Quality Management Division of Geostat, along with the sectoral departments, is responsible for the quality of the produced statistical products and processes. The Division carries out quality audit, self-assessment of statistical processes and assesses the risks for the quality of statistical processes and products. Geostat has developed policy documents, guidelines and standard routine descriptions. These documents ensure the standardization of statistical processes and products and the establishment of a unified quality assurance system. Quality policy is available on the following link: https://www.geostat.ge/media/44380/QP_Geostat_EN.pdf

• State Bodies
• Local and international experts and researchers
• Students
• NGOs
• Research Institutions and Organizations
• International Organizations (IOM, UN, EUROSTAT, WHO, etc.)

In 2023 user satisfaction survey was conducted, the target of the survey was to analyze the assessment of quality of statistical data by users and explore ways to improve user services. The survey report is available on the website of Geostat (in Georgian): https://www.geostat.ge/ka/page/customer-service

The data is aligned with international standards.

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Births, Deaths - The reference year is the calendar year. The final data is disseminated 90 days after the reference year. Preliminary data (I –II quarter of current year) are released in 195 days;

Population - The reference year is the calendar year. The final data is disseminated 120 days after the reference year. No preliminary data are released;

Migration - The reference year is the calendar year. The final data is disseminated 120 days after the reference year. No preliminary data are released;

Data are always delivered and published on the pre-announced release dates.

Data are collected and processed using the same methodology and definitions for regions and self-governing units (selfgoverning cities and municipalities).

The data are internationally comparable.

Information about demographic statistics is collected on the same basis, so the cross-sectoral analysis is possible.

The outputs of the statistical activity are coherent.

Not available.

Statistical data revision policy is available on the website of Geostat: https://www.geostat.ge/media/59824/Data-Revision-Policy-and-Error_Correction-at-Geostat_Eng.pdf

The 2014 General Population Census results revealed the necessity of re-estimation of basic demographic data of previous years. The re-estimation of data in the inter-census period is recommended by international organizations.

Population in the inter census period is calculated based on the census results and the demographic data of the respective years. The 2014 General Population Census results revealed the necessity of re-estimation of basic demographic data of previous years. In 2018, the Retro-projected results of the main demographic indicators for the period 1994-2014 became available. The detailed information is available on the Geostat website: https://www.geostat.ge/en/single-archive/3199

The retro-projected data is available on the web-page: https://www.geostat.ge/en/modules/categories/316/population-and-demography

Births, Deaths  - quarterly;

Migration - yearly.

The data-base from administrative sources.

Data quality assurance plays an important role in collecting, processing and analyzing vital statistics. Starting from 2011 changes in normative acts and transition to the electronic issuance of medical certificates increased the coverage of death and birth facts, use of personal identification numbers and introduction of the electronic system eliminated duplicates and improved quality of personal information (name, surname, sex, and date of birth).

The PSDA assigns a PIN to a person at birth registration, or during registration by place of usual residence, or by time of issuance of Identity (Residence) cards. It is prohibited to assign two or more PINs to the same person, the same PIN to different persons, or to change or reuse a PIN of a deceased person A PIN consists of eleven digits. First two digits (from 01 to 99) denote an administrative unit code; the subsequent digit (from 1 to 9) is the control digit calculated from the other ten digits based on a certain formula. The following two digits (from 01 to 99) represent a code of a territorial office that assigned the PIN and the last six digits denote the serial number of the PIN record (from 000001 to 999999). The Chairperson of the PSDA approves the formula for calculating the control digit.

The PSDA, via its territorial authorities, performs logical checks of birth and death certificates sent from the medical institution. In case of missing information and/or inconsistencies within variables, the certificates are sent back to respective medical institutions for clarification.

Since 1998 Causes of death are coded according to the ICD-10 (the 10th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems). The IRIS software recommended by the WHO for determining causes of death is used in Geostat since 2012. The software automatically selects the main cause of death and assigns a code according to the ICD-10. Additional quality checks for causes of death are performed using the ANACOD software, also recommended by the WHO.

Improvement in data quality was greatly facilitated by the introduction of the online system. Additional controls and validations were added to the system, for example, mothers’ age (15-49 years). 

After data cleaning and validation and linking, the annual anonymized source files are compiled, which are used for producing of statistics.

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