Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
The National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat)
1.2. Contact organisation unit
Population Census and Demographic Statistics Department
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
30, Tsotne Dadiani Str,
0180 Tbilisi,
GEORGIA
1.6. Contact email address
Confidential because of GDPR
1.7. Contact phone number
Confidential because of GDPR
1.8. Contact fax number
Confidential because of GDPR
2.1. Metadata last certified
24 February 2025
2.2. Metadata last posted
3 March 2025
2.3. Metadata last update
3 March 2025
3.1. Data description
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.
Population figure by age, sex and administrative unit, the indicators are published in absolute and/or in thousands.
Vital events - number of vital events (births, deaths, marriages and divorces) registered during the calendar year and are published in absolute and relative terms (as rates) by various demographic characteristics.
3.2. Classification system
The regional breakdown of the Member States in the regional demographic tables is done under the most recent NUTS classification. There are 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.
For more information on the versions in force, please see: Eurostat NUTS.
International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD-10).
3.4.1 Statistical concepts and definitions used in the statistics transmitted to Eurostat
Most core demographic events—population, live births, deaths, immigrants, emigrants, late foetal deaths, infant deaths, and marriages—are compiled based on the usually resident population concept.
Several indicators are produced using other statistical bases:
Legally induced abortions cover all abortions, irrespective of residency status.
Acquisitions of citizenship are recorded based on decisions on granting citizenship of Georgia.
Loss of citizenship is based on decisions on termination of Georgian citizenship.
Divorces include all divorces registered in Georgia, regardless of residence, while marriage statistics in annual data cover only registered marriages of Georgian residents.
3.4.2 Statistical concepts and definitions used in the statistics disseminated in the National Statistical Institute's website
Population
Usually resident population - all persons having their usual residence in Georgia:
those who have lived in their place of usual residence for a continuous period of at least 12 months before the reference time; or
those who arrived in their place of usual residence during the 12 months before the reference time with the intention of staying there for at least one year.
The reference time is the time of census conducted and population inter-census period calculated by adding the natural increase and net-migration.
Acquisitions of citizenship - granting of Georgian citizenship to a stateless person or to a citizen of another country; (First published on the NSO Geostat web page in 2024);
Loss of citizenship - renunciation of Georgian citizenship or loss of Georgian citizenship; (First published on the NSO Geostat web page in 2024).
3.4.3 Differences in statistical concepts and definitions between the statistics transmitted to Eurostat and those disseminated in the National Statistics Institute's website
Data for immigrants and emigrants are based on the 6 months + 1 day criterion of usual residence, instead of the 12-month usual residence rule.
3.5. Statistical unit
Persons, births, deaths, marriages, divorces, migrants, unit.
3.6. Statistical population
The target population in the population census conducted by the Population Census and Demographic Statistics Department is the usually resident population.
The usually resident population comprises all persons who have their usual residence in Georgia, including:
persons who have lived in their place of usual residence for a continuous period of at least 12 months before the reference time; or
persons who arrived at their place of usual residence during the 12 months before the reference time with the intention of staying there for at least one year.
The reference time is the time at which the census is conducted. During the inter-censal period, the usually resident population is calculated using the demographic balance equation: P(X+1) = P(X) + B(X) − D(X) + Imm(X) − Em(X).
Other data produced by the Population Census and Demographic Statistics Department are based on administrative data sources.
3.7. Reference area
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.
3.8. Coverage - Time
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;
Acquisition and loss of citizenship - since 2015.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Number of persons;
Number of births;
Number of deaths;
Number of marriages;
Number of divorces.
Population - as of 1 January;
Births, Deaths - the calendar year in which the events occurred;
Marriages, Divorces - the calendar year in which the events registered;
Migration - the calendar year in which the migration occurred.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
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).
Births, Deaths, Acquisition/Loss of citizenship – Public Service Development Agency (PSDA), Ministry of Justice of Georgia; and Ministry of IDPS, Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia (Births, Deaths);
Migration – Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
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:
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:
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;
Information declares as a state secret on the basis of the „Law of Georgia on State Secrets“.
Confidential data shall be used exclusively for the purposes of producing statistics in accordance with this law.
Statistical data about the administrative body cannot be considered confidential information, except for the information determined by the Law of Georgia „On State Secrets“.
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.
Confidential (individual) data may be published if there is written consent from the statistical unit regarding the publication of such data.
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.
Written undertakings by an employee of Geostat on ensuring confidentiality of gained/collected data as a result of official duties.
8.1. Release calendar
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.
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.
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).
11.2. Quality management - assessment
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 information.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
State Bodies;
Local and international experts and researchers;
Students;
NGOs;
Research Institutions and Organizations;
International Organizations (IOM, UN, EUROSTAT, WHO, etc.).
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
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
12.3. Completeness
The data is relevant with international standards.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Overall accuracy and special cases (inclusion/exclusion of asylum seekers and refugees, persons living on unauthorised or irregular basis, international students, persons who do not register/deregister, etc.)
Number of population is based on the 2014 General Population Census data and vital statistical data from PSDA and Migration data from MIA.
For migration statistics, Geostat applies the 6 months + 1 day criterion. Accordingly, asylum seekers, refugees, and other persons are classified as immigrants if they:
entered the country and accumulated a minimum of 183 days of residence in Georgia during the 12 months following entry; and
were not usual residents of Georgia upon entry, meaning they had spent a cumulative duration of at least 183 days outside Georgia during the 12 months prior to entry.
Thus, asylum seekers and refugees are normally included to population if they are usual residents of Georgia.
Persons living on an unauthorised or irregular basis, international students, and persons who do not register or deregister are included in the population in the same manner, provided that they have immigrated to Georgia.
Data on the acquisition/loss of citizenship, legally induced abortions, and divorces might cover all above-listed categories regardless of the duration of stay in the country.
13.1.1. Accuracy - unknown values
Live births - Improvement in data quality was greatly facilitated by the introduction of the online registration system. Additional controls and validations were added to the system, for example, mothers’ age (15-49 years).
Unknown values can be explained by missing values for some variables in the administrative data (f.e. employment status of the mother, mother's educational attainment, NUTS division).
The data annually disseminated by the Population Census and Demographic Statistics Department are based on administrative data sources.
Note with regards to the population census conducted in 2014: The 2014 General Population Census results revealed the necessity of re-estimation of basic demographic data of previous years.
14.1. Timeliness
Births, Deaths, Marriages, Divorces - 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;
Leading causes of deaths - The reference year is the calendar year. The final data is disseminated 180 days after the reference year. No preliminary data are released.
14.2. Punctuality
Data are always delivered and published on the pre-announced release dates.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Currently 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.
Note with regards to the historical data:
Population - Starting from 1 January, 1994 data publishing without occupied territories (Abkhazia A.R and Tskhinvali Region);
Live births and Late foetal deaths - Georgia used the Soviet definition of live births and stillbirths until 1996, which did not correspond to the WHO recommendations.
15.2. Comparability - over time
The data are comparable over time.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Information about demographic statistics is collected on the same basis, so the cross-sectoral analysis is possible.
15.4. Coherence - internal
The outputs of the statistical activity are coherent.
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.
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).
18.5. Data compilation
After data cleaning and validation and linking, the annual anonymized source files are compiled, which are used for producing of statistics.
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.
Population figure by age, sex and administrative unit, the indicators are published in absolute and/or in thousands.
Vital events - number of vital events (births, deaths, marriages and divorces) registered during the calendar year and are published in absolute and relative terms (as rates) by various demographic characteristics.
3 March 2025
3.4.1 Statistical concepts and definitions used in the statistics transmitted to Eurostat
Most core demographic events—population, live births, deaths, immigrants, emigrants, late foetal deaths, infant deaths, and marriages—are compiled based on the usually resident population concept.
Several indicators are produced using other statistical bases:
Legally induced abortions cover all abortions, irrespective of residency status.
Acquisitions of citizenship are recorded based on decisions on granting citizenship of Georgia.
Loss of citizenship is based on decisions on termination of Georgian citizenship.
Divorces include all divorces registered in Georgia, regardless of residence, while marriage statistics in annual data cover only registered marriages of Georgian residents.
3.4.2 Statistical concepts and definitions used in the statistics disseminated in the National Statistical Institute's website
Population
Usually resident population - all persons having their usual residence in Georgia:
those who have lived in their place of usual residence for a continuous period of at least 12 months before the reference time; or
those who arrived in their place of usual residence during the 12 months before the reference time with the intention of staying there for at least one year.
The reference time is the time of census conducted and population inter-census period calculated by adding the natural increase and net-migration.
Acquisitions of citizenship - granting of Georgian citizenship to a stateless person or to a citizen of another country; (First published on the NSO Geostat web page in 2024);
Loss of citizenship - renunciation of Georgian citizenship or loss of Georgian citizenship; (First published on the NSO Geostat web page in 2024).
3.4.3 Differences in statistical concepts and definitions between the statistics transmitted to Eurostat and those disseminated in the National Statistics Institute's website
Data for immigrants and emigrants are based on the 6 months + 1 day criterion of usual residence, instead of the 12-month usual residence rule.
Persons, births, deaths, marriages, divorces, migrants, unit.
The target population in the population census conducted by the Population Census and Demographic Statistics Department is the usually resident population.
The usually resident population comprises all persons who have their usual residence in Georgia, including:
persons who have lived in their place of usual residence for a continuous period of at least 12 months before the reference time; or
persons who arrived at their place of usual residence during the 12 months before the reference time with the intention of staying there for at least one year.
The reference time is the time at which the census is conducted. During the inter-censal period, the usually resident population is calculated using the demographic balance equation: P(X+1) = P(X) + B(X) − D(X) + Imm(X) − Em(X).
Other data produced by the Population Census and Demographic Statistics Department are based on administrative data sources.
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 - as of 1 January;
Births, Deaths - the calendar year in which the events occurred;
Marriages, Divorces - the calendar year in which the events registered;
Migration - the calendar year in which the migration occurred.
Overall accuracy and special cases (inclusion/exclusion of asylum seekers and refugees, persons living on unauthorised or irregular basis, international students, persons who do not register/deregister, etc.)
Number of population is based on the 2014 General Population Census data and vital statistical data from PSDA and Migration data from MIA.
For migration statistics, Geostat applies the 6 months + 1 day criterion. Accordingly, asylum seekers, refugees, and other persons are classified as immigrants if they:
entered the country and accumulated a minimum of 183 days of residence in Georgia during the 12 months following entry; and
were not usual residents of Georgia upon entry, meaning they had spent a cumulative duration of at least 183 days outside Georgia during the 12 months prior to entry.
Thus, asylum seekers and refugees are normally included to population if they are usual residents of Georgia.
Persons living on an unauthorised or irregular basis, international students, and persons who do not register or deregister are included in the population in the same manner, provided that they have immigrated to Georgia.
Data on the acquisition/loss of citizenship, legally induced abortions, and divorces might cover all above-listed categories regardless of the duration of stay in the country.
13.1.1. Accuracy - unknown values
Live births - Improvement in data quality was greatly facilitated by the introduction of the online registration system. Additional controls and validations were added to the system, for example, mothers’ age (15-49 years).
Unknown values can be explained by missing values for some variables in the administrative data (f.e. employment status of the mother, mother's educational attainment, NUTS division).
Births, Deaths, Marriages, Divorces - 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;
Leading causes of deaths - The reference year is the calendar year. The final data is disseminated 180 days after the reference year. No preliminary data are released.
Currently 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.
Note with regards to the historical data:
Population - Starting from 1 January, 1994 data publishing without occupied territories (Abkhazia A.R and Tskhinvali Region);
Live births and Late foetal deaths - Georgia used the Soviet definition of live births and stillbirths until 1996, which did not correspond to the WHO recommendations.
