Know English and how to use a computer?

A slightly jeering expression in Georgia when speaking about employment prospects suggests that to get a job, you need to know English and how to use computers. Data from Caucasus Barometer 2019 shows there’s a bit of truth in the jest.

Overall, 40% of people on the survey reported having a job. A logistic regression including basic demographic variables, like settlement type, age, gender, minority status and education, suggests that people between the ages of 35 and 54, men, and those with higher education have higher chances of being employed, controlling for other factors. Other demographic factors do not show statistically significant differences.



Aside from the above demographic characteristics, knowledge of English and of computers was also looked at to test the anecdote.  People who report knowing English at a basic level or higher are eight percentage points more likely to be employed, controlling for other factors. Knowing how to use a computer at even a basic level has an even larger effect for 19 percentage points, controlling for other factors. The social and demographic characteristics described above remain significant after controlling for knowledge of English.



Note: Two different logistic regression models were used to generate chart above: (a) self-reported employment in relation to the knowledge of English and (b) self-reported employment in relation to the knowledge of computer. The knowledge question were recoded. Options:  “Beginner”, “Intermediate”, and “Advanced” were coded as ”Beginner or higher”. “No basic knowledge” stayed the same. The regression model for both cases also included the following demographic co-variates: age; gender; ethnicity, education and settlement type. 

In general, these findings align with perceptions of what factors are most important for getting a good job in Georgia. People name education as one of the most important factors for getting a good job in Georgia.

Age, sex, knowledge of English and how to use a computer, and education, are associated with employment in Georgia. This confirms the anecdotal evidence. However knowledge of using a computer in comparison to the knowledge of English appears to be a more important factor for getting a job in Georgia.

To explore more the Caucasus Barometer 2019 survey findings for Georgia, visit CRRC’s Online Data Analysis portal. Replication code for the data analysis is available at CRRC’s GitHub repository here.

Young people are learning English in Georgia

A common sentiment when discussing foreign languages in Georgia is that young people know some English, older people know Russian, and those in between are mixed. Previous CRRC Georgia analysis from 2014 supported this claim, showing that knowledge of English was on the rise among young people. The 2019 survey on Knowledge and Attitudes towards the European Union in Georgia which CRRC Georgia carried out for Europe Foundation suggests that this trend is continuing in Georgia.

Since 2009 when the survey asked respondents to assess their knowledge of English, the share reporting they have no basic knowledge of English has declined from 73% to 58% in 2019, a 15 percentage point decline. When broken down by age, young people (18-35) have experienced the largest drop and older people (56+) the smallest in reporting no knowledge of English. Compared with 2009, young people are 22 percentage points less likely to report they have no basic knowledge of English. By comparison, people between the ages of 36 and 55 are 16 percentage points less likely to report no knowledge of English and people 56+ are 9 percentage points less likely to report no basic knowledge of English.


When it comes to Russian, the share of people who have no basic knowledge of Russian is much smaller – around 10% of adults in Georgia report no basic knowledge of Russian and this has been static over the years. However, the share of young people reporting either intermediate or advanced Russian knowledge has declined since 2009. While 70% of young people (18-35) reported intermediate or advanced knowledge of Russian in 2009, 54% did in 2019.



In Georgia, English language knowledge appears to be on the rise among young people. Although a lack of basic knowledge of Russian has remained low in Georgia over the last decade, people’s self-assessed fluency has declined, particularly among the young.

The data used in this blog post is available here.

Second Languages in the South Caucasus and Georgian Education Policy

In his widely read 1983 book, Imagined Communities, Benedict Anderson wrote that English now serves “as a kind of global-hegemonic, post-clerical Latin.” In Georgia, knowledge of the English language is often important for educational opportunities as well as employment. In 2010, the Georgian government began an English teaching program called Teach and Learn with Georgia (TLG) which brought English teachers to Georgia in order to improve the level of English in the country. TLG continued with fewer teachers after the change in government in 2012. Additionally, only native English speaking teachers are now accepted for TLG, whereas non-native speakers of English had previously been accepted as teachers. With this background in mind, this blog examines which languages Georgians think should be mandatory in schools, as well as the perceived level of Russian and English knowledge in the South Caucasus, and how age relates to knowledge of Russian and English.

Survey data from the Caucasus Barometer (CB) shows that when the English language teaching program began in 2010, the majority of Georgians (75%) thought that English should be mandatory in school. The level of support for English and Russian as mandatory languages remained similar until 2011 to 2012 when support for Russian increased and support for English decreased. During this time period, a deal for Russia to join the WTO, which Georgia had been blocking, was worked out. This implied that the Russian embargo that had existed on Georgian products would be lifted in the future, as it slowly has been over the course of the last year. Furthermore, a change in government occurred in 2012, which was perceived by some international observers and Georgians as a vote to ameliorate ties with Russia. Moreover, TLG was in its second year, and though the program had experienced successes, many Georgians criticized the program for not having certified teachers, and the actions of some volunteers proved irksome to many Georgians. Between 2012 and 2013, no dramatic change occurred despite what appears to be a slight uptick in English and down-tick in Russian for 2013.

A common language can facilitate business and relationships between people. It can also facilitate the effective management of relations and communication between neighboring countries. Thus, it is important to look at which languages Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan share. In the CB, respondents were asked to assess whether their level of English and Russian language was no basic knowledge (1), beginner (2), intermediate (3) or advanced (4). Throughout this blog, “knowledge” of Russian and English refers to people who felt they had at least a beginner’s level of knowledge (i.e. beginner, intermediate or advanced) of the language. The survey shows that at least a quarter of people believe they have some knowledge of English in each country, and a majority say they have knowledge of Russian—especially in Armenia and Georgia.

As the graph demonstrates, knowledge of Russian continues to be far more common than English in the South Caucasus, with more than twice as many South Caucasians reporting some knowledge of Russian in all three countries compared to English. Yet, this trend may change as knowledge of English increases, especially among young people. The percentage of 18 to 35 year olds who believe they have at least some knowledge of English is at least twice as high as older age groups in the South Caucasus. Furthermore, knowledge of Russian is lowest in the youngest age group.

What does the language that Georgians want their children to learn say about how Georgia positions itself internationally? Does it tell us anything about whether or not closer ties with its neighbors are desired? For more information, please visit the following blog post about the Georgian education system and Timothy Blauvelt’s 2013 article on language in Georgia.

Attitudes towards Europeans and Americans among Georgian Youth

On November 29, Georgia initialed an Association Agreement with the European Union at the EU-Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius, Latvia. This represents a step toward closer economic integration of Georgia into the EU. According to CRRC’s 2012 Caucasus Barometer (CB), 72% of Georgians fully or rather support Georgia’s membership to the EU, and 67% of Georgians fully or rather support membership in NATO. This would imply that Georgians have generally positive attitudes towards a political and security-based relationship with the West (i.e. EU and the United States). In addition, 59% of Georgians (especially those between 18-35 years old) agree with the statement, “I am Georgian, and therefore I am European.” Using data from the CB 2012, this blog shows that positive attitudes towards Americans and certain Europeans, such as the English and Greeks, are higher among Georgian youth.
Overall, Georgians have positive attitudes towards doing business with Americans, the English and Greeks. 79% of Georgians approve of doing business with Americans. 77% feel the same with respect to the English and 75% with Greeks. When split by age groups, approval is highest among Georgians 18-35 years old for all three nationalities. For example, doing business with Greeks has 80% approval among 18-35 year olds, 76% among 36-55 year olds, and 70% for those 56+. Approval for doing business with Americans and English follows a relatively similar trend.

Socially, approval of Georgian women marrying foreign men is relatively low (36% for Americans, 36% for the English and 35% for Greeks). However, younger Georgians are slightly more open to Georgian women marrying within these groups, than Georgians 56 years and older.

When it comes to politics, young Georgians are also more trusting of the EU, which is not surprising since 67% of Georgians between 18-35 years old see themselves as European. A caveat in these responses is that 12% of Georgians believe that Georgia is currently a member of the EU, including 17% of those aged 18-35 years old (CRRC EU Survey 2011, Georgia).

In line with their greater trust of the EU and approval of doing business with Americans, slightly more young Georgians believe that the United States is the biggest friend of Georgia, than older Georgians. In contrast, 41% of young Georgians (18-35 years old) believe that Russia is the biggest enemy of Georgia, whereas 32% of all Georgians 36 and older agree.

Younger Georgians, 18-35 years old, appear to show slightly higher approval of cooperation with the West on these specific questions. The same trends of approval exist with respect to knowledge of English and personal income. That is, in Georgia, higher levels of education, knowledge of English, and personal income are related to higher rates of approval for certain Europeans such as English and Greeks, and Americans with respect to the economic, social, and political aspects discussed above.

Go West? Perceptions of the West in the South Caucasus

The Croatian accession to the EU on July 1, 2013 has put discussions about EU-accession prospects for other countries in Eastern European and those in the South Caucasus back on the table. Aside from the high-level political debate about the future relationship between these countries and the EU, there is also an important social context that will partially determine their chances. This post examines the relationship between South Caucasus societies and those in the West (i.e. in the US and EU). The blog analyzes openness for doing business with certain people from the West, desire to affiliate with Western political or security organizations, and knowledge of English, as well as the desire for English to be a mandatory language taught in schools in the South Caucasus. These factors are attitudes compared with attitudes towards Russia. 

With regard to economic, political and security issues, there is substantial support for NATO and EU membership in Georgia (67% and 72% respectively say they support Georgian membership in these organizations). A significantly smaller percentage in Armenia and Azerbaijan supports EU membership (54% and 48%, respectively), and NATO membership (33% and 45%, respectively). Not surprisingly, these variables (support for EU and support for NATO) are positively correlated across the three countries (Pearson’s r is 0.47 for Armenia, 0.83 for Azerbaijan, and 0.76 for Georgia). 

Within the business realm, regional interests seem more similar. In general, people in the South Caucasus are interested in expanding their contacts with the West on an economic level. For example, more than 6 out of 10 Armenians, Azerbaijanis and Georgians approve of doing business with Westerners such as Americans, English, and Greeks. At the same time, nearly 8 out of 10 people in all three countries approve of doing business with Russians.

Substantial regional differences can be seen with respect to which countries Georgians, Armenians and Azerbaijanis perceive to be the biggest friend to their respective countries. The CB 2012 asked, “Which country is the biggest friend of your country?” as an open-ended question. A category for “EU countries” was created by collapsing any EU member state mentioned by respondents (e.g. Greece, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Spain, as well as the terms “EU” and “Europe”). The identified groups of answer options were thus the “US”, “EU countries”, “Russia”, “other country in the South Caucasus” (Armenia, Azerbaijan, or Georgia), and “other countries” (e.g. Turkey, Ukraine, China, Israel, Moldova, Iran, Pakistan and Serbia). 

Among the South Caucasus countries, Georgia is the most westward looking with the US being perceived as the biggest friend of the country by 62% of the population. Armenians, on the contrary, are most likely to mention Russia as the biggest friend (86%), while the overwhelming majority of Azerbaijan’s (99%) perceive Turkey as their biggest friend. Interestingly, these results seem to confirm the hypotheses about the polarization of political influences in the South Caucasus region and the three countries being driven towards different directions: the US (Georgia), Russia (Armenia) and Turkey (Azerbaijan).

In addition to a desire to join Western organizations, conduct business with Westerners, and perceptions of inter-state friendship, attitudes towards learning English can be an indicator of the willingness to integrate with the West. Language enables direct communication with the West, and aids access to foreign resources such as media. As it turns out, the possibilities of such impact in case of English are quite limited. 60% of Armenians, 66% of Georgians and 77% of Azerbaijanis say they have no basic knowledge of English. Yet, many people throughout the region believe they have a good command of Russian (85% in Armenia, 71% in Georgia, and 38% in Azerbaijan). 

Bearing the low competency in English in mind, at least half of each population said they would like English to be a mandatory language in schools in 2010. However, data from 2010-2012 shows a slight decrease in support for English as a mandatory language for schools in Armenia and Georgia, and an increase in support for Russian being the language that students should learn.

Based on the results of these analyses, there is no overwhelming trajectory towards the West or East for the South Caucasus as a whole, and there are substantial differences between the countries that might become more meaningful in the future. There is openness towards the West, especially in terms of doing business, and a rather varying level of social approval for membership in NATO and the EU (significantly higher in Georgia). Yet, this support exists with a growing interest in Russian as a mandatory language in schools, as well as a perception of the importance of friendship between Georgia and the US, Russia and Armenia, and Turkey and Azerbaijan. These disparities draw the South Caucasus countries towards different directions and therefore the international context also has a substantial impact on the relations within the region.

For more information on Armenians, Azerbaijanis and Georgians in the international context please see our online database.

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