More than half of all Georgians struggle to put food on the table

Note: This article first appeared on the Caucasus Data Blog, a joint effort of CRRC-Georgia and OC Media. This article was written by Zachary Fabos, a Researcher at CRRC Georgia. The views presented in the article are the author’s alone and do not necessarily represent the views of CRRC Georgia or any related entity.

A significant portion of Georgia’s population experienced food insecurity in 2024, according to data from CRRC Georgia’s 2024 Caucasus Barometer, with over half respondents indicating they could not afford food or had to borrow money to purchase it at least once in the past 12 months.

Although the frequency of food insecurity has steadily decreased since 2015, alarmingly, over half (53%) of Georgians in 2024 still reported either not being able to afford food or needing to borrow money to purchase food at least once in the past 12 months.

Those not having enough money to buy food at least once in the past 12 months (45%) is slightly higher than those borrowing money to purchase food, at least once in the past six months (36%). Importantly, as the survey specifically asked respondents to indicate if they borrowed money for food, it potentially undercounts the frequency in which the public faces food insecurity, as a common means of purchasing food is to request it on loan from a shop, with the promise of paying for it later.

Although widespread, food insecurity is especially concentrated among particular demographic groups.

A regression analysis, which combines not being able to afford food in the past 12 months and borrowing money to purchase food in the last six months, to represent food insecurity, demonstrates that those living outside of the capital, ethnic minorities, and those with one or more children are most likely to experience this form of poverty.

For example, ethnic minorities are 17 points more likely than ethnic Georgians to report not being able to afford food or borrowing money to purchase it.

Likewise, those living in rural and urban communities are 19 and 16 percentage points more likely, respectively, to report food insecurity in the past year, compared to inhabitants of Tbilisi, while those with one or more children are 13 percentage points more likely to experience food insecurity, compared to those without a child.

Though still a decrease from 10 years ago, the Caucasus Barometer data demonstrates there remains an alarming rate of food insecurity across all populations of Georgia, especially among ethnic minorities, outside Tbilisi, and in families with children.

Note: The analysis in this article makes use of binomial regression analysis. The analysis included gender (male, female), age group (18-34, 35-54, and 55+), settlement type (capital, urban, rural), ethnicity (Georgian, ethnic minority), and has child(ren) (has a child, does not have a child) as predictor variables.

The data used in this article can be found here.

Most households in Georgia report limiting food consumption, despite economic growth

According to the World Bank, GDP in Georgia increased from USD 10.1 billion to USD 13.9 billion between 2009 and 2015. Despite this growth, according to CRRC’s Caucasus Barometer survey (CB), the share of those who reported not having enough money to buy food on at least a weekly basis did not decrease between 2011 and 2015. This blog post shows how this finding differs by settlement type and reported household income.

As the chart below shows, the general picture did not change between 2011 and 2015. Only about one third of the population claims it never happened during the 12 month prior to the survey that they did not have enough money to buy food they or their family needed. More than one third report encountering such difficulties periodically and about a quarter monthly or more often.

Note: Answer options “Every day” and “Every week” have been combined for the charts in this blog post.

Taking into account the margin of error, the share of people who reported not having enough money to buy food every week or more often is approximately the same in different settlement types. Importantly, the most common response in Tbilisi and the second most common response in other urban settlements is “Never”. This answer is, however, reported by less than half of the population of these settlement types.

Note: Answer options “Don’t know” and “Refuse to answer” were excluded from the analysis.

                       
A lack of money for food logically suggests a low income. The chart below shows that the higher the reported household income, the higher the share of the population reporting never being in a situation when they did not have enough money for food. According to CB 2015, 61% of the population reported their household income was less than USD 250 the month prior to the survey.

CB data show that a large share of households in Georgia have financial difficulties supporting their families’ primary needs and a majority struggle with not having enough money for food at least some of the time.

To have a closer look at the Caucasus Barometer data, visit CRRC’s Online Data Analysis tool.