Every month, for three children, we need an average of more than 3,500 GEL, and even in a condition where the grandparents send us basic products from the village. We are talking only about basic needs, and not about cases when a child may need medication, a visit to the dentist, help from a doctor of another profile, a psychologist, etc.
Mariam Gaprindashvili, who shares her experience with us, is an orientalist by profession, but currently works in the IT field. She has three children — 16, 18 and 19 years old. She is raising her children together with her ex-husband and they share responsibilities equally. However, there are a number of systemic problems that make motherhood extremely difficult in Georgia, be it indifference, social inequality or threats. Aprili Media spoke to Mariam about these issues.
“I Have Never Felt Support from the State” — Mariam Gaprindashvili’s Story
“In my experience, being a mother in Georgia means living in constant fear and anxiety, denying yourself and your passions, carrying immense responsibility alone, with zero support from the state and society,” says Mariam.
She was 24 when she became a mother for the first time. At the time, she was finishing her master’s degree and wanted to pursue a career in science, but it proved difficult amid sleepless nights and exhausting days. Nevertheless, if she could turn back time, she wouldn’t change a thing.
In her experience, maintaining professional and financial stability while being a mother is particularly difficult in Georgia, as support mechanisms for parents are virtually non-existent.
“I never felt any support from the state, only a few free consultations during pregnancy […], which did not meet my real needs, especially since I had difficult pregnancies and needed medication. I did not have any other benefits, nor did I have any expectations. There was mostly indifference or pressure from my employers. I have never, anywhere, had any benefits or emotional support. The only thing that mothers have in their current job is benefits in the form of days off, especially if they have infants.”
In addition to the lack of state support programs for parents, Mariam is also constantly concerned about the education and development of her children. Many families do not have access to quality education and additional activities.
“What we haven’t been able to afford to this day is swimming. I really wanted to take all three of my children to swimming classes, but it was so expensive that it was physically impossible. In addition, it is very expensive to give them an education that would be competitive when planning a career. Taking three children to a private school was a fantasy for us. Therefore, public school was the only option, where there is a rather unhealthy environment and a low level of education.”
Another important issue is the well-being and safety of children in the urban environment. Mariam believes that Tbilisi’s infrastructure is not safe for children: “Children are not loved and cared for in our city. Worse, children are the least protected — be it in the squares, the street, the school, or public transport.”
This feeling of vulnerability is also reinforced by specific experiences.
“There was a time when my son was thrown out of a bus by a conductor in a completely unknown place because he could not buy a ticket on a crowded bus. At that time, he was 12 years old and anything could happen to him, absolutely anything. In this city, we never know if we will be electrocuted, hit on the head by a falling part of a building, fall into a well, or be killed. In fact, arriving home safely at the end of each day is a happy coincidence, not a logical consequence.”
Demoralized and in self-preservation mode, Mariam thinks only about how to get her children out of the country so they have a chance at a normal life in a normal society.
What Causes Low Birth Rate?
If Mariam leaves the country with her children, this will not be just the story of one family — in the statistical data, this will be 4 more citizens who will travel abroad.
In 2025, 114,374 people left Georgia. The number of people leaving the country began to increase in 2021 and reached a maximum in 2023 — 245,064 citizens. Although the statistical data in 2024-2025 is decreasing, the main problem remains unchanged: the working-age, demographically most active population is leaving the country.
For example, according to Geostat, 98,227 people who left in 2025 were between the ages of 15 and 64, 11,158 were children, and 4,989 were elderly, aged 65+. Since the country is mostly left by the generation that can have and raise children, this may be one of the reasons why natural increase in Georgia is negative. This means that more people die each year than are born.
Minimal support programs, stalled careers, constant anxiety, emotional burnout, indifference to the labor market, overpriced products and healthcare, unorganized and dangerous urban infrastructure for children, mismatch of labor market conditions with the needs of working parents — these are the real barriers that many parents in Georgia face today.
Nevertheless, the Georgian Dream claims that the declining birth rate and demographic crisis have no social causes and links the fact that more people die each year than are born to abstract concepts such as “liberal worldview” and “gender politics.” The experiences of mothers and families, human rights statistics, and international reports indicate the opposite.
According to human rights and gender researcher Lika Jalaghania, despite the attempts of global anti-gender and anti-democratic forces to ideologically frame low birth rates and blame them on gender justice, one of the reasons for low birth rates is not gender equality, but rather the absence of this equality.
“In fact, in the current global capitalist society, where housing, food, education, and healthcare have become luxuries, and the bulk of the burden of domestic labor still falls on women’s shoulders, young people are increasingly postponing parenthood precisely because they lack the proper environment, their own home, stable employment, affordable healthcare, and a partner who will take equal responsibility for caring for their child.”
Birth rates are declining globally. In fact, it is estimated that the world population will peak this century and then begin to decline.
Economic conditions, high housing and food prices, precarious working conditions, gender discrimination, lack of support from partners and communities, poor sexual and reproductive health, lack of access to childcare or education, fear of the future, war and other environmental factors, gender stereotypes and sexist norms — a large-scale study by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) lists many reasons that hinder family planning and increase fertility rates globally.
“I want children, but as time goes by, it’s getting harder and harder. You can’t buy a house in my city, and rent is already unaffordable. I don’t want to have a child when there’s war all around and the situation on the planet is getting worse — if it means the child will suffer because of it all.”
“I have one child, but I don’t plan on having more. I can’t afford it due to financial instability, employment risks, unaffordable housing, and the high costs of childcare and education.”
These excerpts are from the UNFPA report, but the problems and concerns are similar here. For example, in Georgia, everyday life is becoming increasingly expensive, as official statistics confirm. According to the latest data from Geostat, in April 2026, compared to the same period last year, prices increased by an average of 5.9%, and in just one month, products and services became more expensive by 1.7%.
In April, the price increase was most reflected in three main areas: housing and utilities costs increased by 5.8%, clothing and footwear by 5.3%, and transportation by 4.9%. At the same time, prices for primary consumption products, healthcare, food and entertainment services are also steadily increasing.
As the cost of goods and services increases, wages are not growing at the same pace. As a result, people are having to pay more and more each month for the same necessities that they used to spend much less on months or years ago. Financial instability and a sense of hopelessness about the future often directly affect whether people decide to become parents.
Lika Jalaghania cites data from a study by the United Nations Population Fund and clarifies that people around the world are having fewer children than they would like. According to the study, 39% of respondents cited financial challenges as the reason for not having the desired number of children, while 21% cited unemployment and job/employment instability.
“The above data indicate that indeed, both in Georgia and in the world, the decline in the birth rate has an ideological determinant, but not the “ideology” of belief in equality or sexual autonomy, but the ideology by which the wealthy class in the hierarchy gets rich at the expense of seizing and exploiting state and public resources while impoverishing the people. This is the ideology that robs people, makes them poor, deprives them of the opportunity to have children, and blames them for their current situation. It is a very big political mistake to blame the declining birth rate on working women living in Georgia and those who have emigrated, when the state and its anti-social policies are responsible for this,” says Lika.
The Prime Minister of the Georgian Dream, Irakli Kobakhidze, while talking about the demographic crisis, also cited the example of the 1990s in the context that even in the conditions of the serious crisis in Georgia, the birth rate was higher than today. Lika explains that this argument is built on a significant methodological error. She calls the assumption that the 1990s are directly comparable to 2026 fundamentally wrong and explains that behind this are a number of social, economic, cultural, technological and political transformations, which make these two times incomparable.
“In fact, already in the 1990s, the birth rate was characterized by a low trend and was proceeding with post-Soviet inertia. It increases slightly in the first period of the United National Movement coming to power, but soon begins to decline; it increases again after the change of government, but also soon begins to decline. The above data should be an indication to the state that these changes are always related to environmental factors, politics, vision of the future, hope and hopelessness. That is why the increase is visible in the first years of the change of government and decreases after it disappoints hopes.”
In contrast, Lika names the real factors that have led to a decrease or postponement of the birth rate both in Georgia and around the world:
- Social and economic situation and vulnerability;
- Job instability and uncertainty about the future;
- Political instability, nihilism, and constant geopolitical crises;
- Climate change and ecological disasters;
- Gender inequality, barriers to women’s economic participation, unrecognized and under-distributed care work;
- Fertility-related challenges (infertility) and lack of a supportive environment/system.
“Not Having Children Is not the Fault of Changing Worldviews, But the Result of Bitter Reality”
Another respondent, 35-year-old Mari, shares her experience with Aprili Media. She lives in Tbilisi with her 8-year-old son and says that for her, healthcare is the most unpredictable expense of raising a child:
“Since my child’s age is already beyond the scope of universal insurance funding, we have to cover medical expenses in full. A standard outpatient or dental visit costs an average of 100-150 GEL, to which medications often cost about 100 GEL. Due to the catastrophic prices of vitamins and care products on the local market, I often order them from abroad. Given the current prices in the country, it is difficult to imagine the financial challenge of raising children with specific needs (allergies, special diets).”
According to her, it takes superhero abilities to be a working mother in Georgia, raising a child alone and, at the same time, maintaining a healthy balance between work, motherhood, and personal life. One example she cites is that the working day is from 09:00 to 18:00, and school ends at 13:00. According to Mari, it is as if the state is giving you a choice — if you are employed, you either have to have a nanny who is financially stable, or you have to shift the entire burden to the elderly members of the family.
“The system does not help you to be both a fulfilled employee and a calm, “quality” parent. There is some sympathy at the public level, but this support is often only moral and cannot be translated into practice. The only social support is still the unconditional love and help of the closest people (for example, a mother). However, as soon as you use this help, internal discomfort and a constant feeling of guilt arise that you are burdening someone else with your own responsibilities.”
She says that the strongest and most effective support, besides her parents, is her employer. From the state, she feels the least support.
Many single mothers are also not eligible for employment and have to make a choice because the parents’ work hours and their children’s educational hours conflict. This is also noted in the Public Defender’s report:
“In terms of women’s equality, cases where single mothers requested a modification of their work schedule and were faced with the choice of quitting their jobs due to the request not being met deserve special attention.”
Mari wants to have more children, but this desire fades away as soon as she remembers the high prices for baby food, care products, and medications, as well as how difficult the psychological state of a woman during pregnancy and after childbirth is, for which the state has no support services to overcome.
“Not having children is not the fault of a changing worldview, but a result of the bitter reality that today we do not have even minimal guarantees of economic stability, quality healthcare, accessible education, and a safe environment in our country.”
She wants to live in a country where the infrastructure, healthcare, and social environment will support parents and give them the opportunity to raise their children in an atmosphere of peace and enjoyment of motherhood, not fear and constant stress.
“A Child Should not Have to Worry about not Having Food”
Monthly assistance for socially vulnerable children, financial support programs for families with three or more children, monthly assistance for each newborn for families living in regions with low birth rates and mountainous settlements, services for the protection of mothers and children, and a universal healthcare program — this is a list of programs that the Georgian Dream’s Minister of Health, Mikheil Sarjveladze, mentions during his participation in international summits and forums supporting families , as programs implemented in the country to strengthen families.
However, according to the families’ experience, the programs are insufficient, and the financial and social problems are tangible and unsolvable. This is clearly illustrated by both individual stories and citizens’ responses to thematic posts:
“Look at the prices in pharmacies, how much the prices of baby food, diapers, and medications have increased. Also, no one likes people with children in the workplace.”
“A child should not worry about not having food, and should not cry about being hungry and cold.”
“To feed 2 children, I emphasize — feed!!! Not even to give them a life, the parent has so many expenses, faces so many problems, I don’t even know which one point to highlight.”
When talking about the demographic crisis, we should take into account that there are many couples in Georgia who really want to have a child, but do not have the finances to investigate and treat the cause of their failed or aborted pregnancy, Melano Makharadze tells us. She is a psychologist by profession, lives in Batumi and is raising an 11-month-old child.
“Often, the costs of pregnancy/childbirth are exceeded by reproductive research and treatment of this problem, which is not covered by universal healthcare, nor even by private insurance. Also, vitamin therapy and hormonal therapy, which are the basic grounds for a successful pregnancy and the maintenance, growth and development of the fetus, are not reimbursed.”
For Melano, pregnancy/childbirth was free with state funding. In addition, a free screening program for heavy metals is being implemented in the Adjara region for specific groups, including pregnant women, and she also benefited from this program. She says that medical screening and vaccination of the child are also funded, which is a benefit, but insufficient, since medications or specific, unscheduled research are not funded.
“After giving birth, a mother needs special support, including training in newborn care, which is a practice accepted in European countries and significantly helps both the child and the mother. In addition, after childbirth and during lactation, a woman’s body weakens significantly and needs vitamins, which are quite expensive. Along with providing for the baby’s needs, the mother can no longer support herself financially and is often left with an exhausted body and a destroyed nervous system.”
She would like the state to provide first aid courses and a functional parenting school. She recalls her own experience when she struggled for two months to fully transition to lactation. In this process, the Facebook group “Lactation and Development”, which was created by other women on a volunteer basis, helped her. It was in this space that she received relevant professional and practical advice.
“Motherhood in Georgia means simultaneously taking care of the well-being of the family, productive work at work, active communication in the social circle, and proper budgeting of monthly expenses. And, what is most difficult, you have to protect your personal boundaries, like a mother, because everyone “knows better” than you what your child needs — what to feed them, what to buy them, how to talk to them, whether they have enough milk, etc. Which, for me personally, is the biggest red line.”
In addition, Melano emphasizes that mothers of her generation are expected to be constantly available to their children, since gadgets remain an alternative. She was lucky in terms of support from family members and her employer — after maternity leave, the child’s grandmother took over the responsibility of caring for the child, and Melano was able to actively continue her professional activities. In addition, her employer also takes into account planned and unplanned cases.
“There are probably very few mothers who have the “luxury” that I have. I mean, I have helpers who support us morally and often financially. Also, my child, fortunately, has no health problems, is breastfed, and we are lucky in that he has older aunts and cousins, from whom he received many necessary things.
“The most expensive thing is the time and nerves I spend choosing safe food or baby items. At this point, my son is 11 months old and I don’t have many challenges, but since he started eating solid food, it’s become a constant headache for me to know where to buy and which products will be safe.”
How Do Children Live in Georgia?
The socio-economic status of children is closely linked to their health, well-being, development opportunities, and, in general, the full realization of fundamental rights. Let’s see, according to various public surveys and data, how children already born in Georgia are living.
While working on the article, parents of children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy have been protesting for the 44th night at the government administration in Tbilisi demanding medicine. About 100 children and adolescents in Georgia live with this serious, life-threatening disease. For more than a year, parents have been demanding that the state import new medicines to prolong the lives of their children. According to Mikheil Sarjveladze, they are collecting information about medicines from various leading specialists in the world, while Kobakhidze believes that for tangible results, a rational decision on the issue is acceptable, not an emotional one.
Poverty — 77% of students surveyed in Georgia say they sometimes (42%) or always (35%) feel hungry when they come to school, which directly impacts students’ low literacy performance. Poverty remains one of the most pressing challenges in the country, which in turn negatively impacts the realization of all human rights and further exacerbates the situation of specific groups.
For example, in Georgia, poverty pushes children to engage in child labor, especially in informal sectors such as agriculture and waste collection.
Education — Georgia’s performance in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is about half the average for OECD member and partner countries, indicating that the quality of education in Georgia remains a challenge. Socio-economic status, geographical location, and the language of instruction of ethnic minorities have a significant impact on learning outcomes.
The number and infrastructure of educational institutions still remain a problem. For example, in 297 public schools across the country, the educational process is carried out in two or more shifts, including, in the case of 22 schools, in three shifts, which is mostly due to the large contingent of students. The Public Defender’s report states: “It is noteworthy that the number of shifts, especially the three-shift regime, negatively affects the ability of children to engage in extracurricular and informal activities and their development.”
Overcrowding in kindergartens, infrastructure deficiencies, nutrition issues, and lack of human resources have been highlighted in various reports of the Ombudsman for years. Despite the fact that a nationwide kindergarten construction program has been underway since 2023, a large part of the planned projects have not yet been implemented, as is also noted in the latest report of the Public Defender.
Health — According to a study by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 99.8% of children are exposed to air pollution, and 24.9% of households rely on polluted water sources. In cities, especially in Tbilisi, children face increased risks from air pollution, while rural populations face problems with inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene.
According to the results of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS 2018) , 41% of children were found to have high levels of lead in their blood.
In 2025 alone, 1,151 children and adolescents were injured and 27 died in traffic accidents.
Along with other systemic flaws, the realization of the right to health of persons with disabilities is problematic. For example, in 2025, there was a case when the mother of an 18-year-old disabled boy was not admitted to three clinics in Tbilisi, but was admitted to the fourth clinic after a wait of several hours.
Violence and early marriage – In 2025, a total of 1,560 cases of various forms of violence against children were identified. According to the Ombudsman, the statistics are fragmentary and incomplete. 329 children were victims of physical violence, 594 children of psychological violence, 170 children of sexual violence, and 381 children of neglect.
Child marriage remains a problem — according to 2024 data, 6.9 percent of women aged 20-24 were married before the age of 18.
Myths and Reality
Scandinavian countries, where gender equality is high, have the highest birth rates among European Union countries.
South Korea and Japan, which are not centers of "liberal ideology," have some of the lowest birth rates in the world.
As for Poland and Hungary, data show that despite their conservative demographic policies, the birth rate in these countries is not characterized by an increasing trend.
The issue of fertility, in general, is characterized by paradoxes and is quite complex, but these paradoxes are subject to explanation, and Kobakhidze is using these paradoxes to try to convince the public of the harmful effects of “ideology,” says Lika Jalaghania:
“The fact that the birth rate is low in developed countries is, of course, also a result of creating a more equal environment for women, but this is neither the only nor the main explanation. The main explanation is still the existing global economic model, in which raising a child is a very high cost. In poor countries, the birth rate is indeed relatively high, but the reason for this is not ideology, but the value of the “child” (in such countries and societies, the child is a resource for labor and social protection, and therefore, protection from future poverty), low information about and low access to contraceptives, the absence of sex education, and so on.”
Lika emphasizes that women are not only mothers, but also workers, politicians, scientists, engineers, housewives, teachers, and most importantly, citizens. The issue of fertility policy is an important issue for any country, but it cannot be solved by restricting rights and limiting women’s role to only one identity – motherhood.
“What do those women who wanted to have children but couldn’t have them do? Aren’t they people? Citizens? Are they contributing less to public life than anyone else?”
“The desire to have children is personal and intimate, but also political and social. The call to have many children will never bear fruit if the state only needs these children as cheap labor, capital, or a geopolitical resource, to which it neither provides adequate education, nor offers proper healthcare, nor a healthy and clean environment, nor freedom.”
Encouraging parenthood requires complex policy interventions and mechanisms — from urban and rural planning, to the composition of lunch rations in kindergartens and the provision of school meals, to the promotion of healthy lifestyles.
According to Lika, the state should offer support programs to those who want to have children — “financial and social assistance to all new parents, regardless of employment status; paid leave for employed mothers and fathers due to pregnancy, childbirth and childcare; encouraging fathers to take parental leave; equipping workplaces with policies that support childcare; creating a physically and socially accessible care infrastructure that is of high quality; adapting the living environment — adapting it to the needs of people, children and families and ensuring its safety.”
“However, the Georgian Dream sees the only way to solve the birth rate problem through forceful legal methods, because this is the simplest and, most importantly, the most ineffective method. And they know this very well. However, on their agenda, this is the only method that will ensure their propaganda goals without any financial losses, by which they will blame the West for the decrease in birth rate.”
According to Lika, if this were not just for the sake of propaganda and power-building, the state would take appropriate measures not only to transform the environment where families have the opportunity to raise their children in a healthy environment, but would also support couples and individuals who have fertility challenges and, despite their efforts, are unable to have children.
Lika also focuses on repressive, restrictive policies and legislation, clarifying that such an approach is never a solution.
“On the contrary, the experience of countries shows that restrictive legislation has the opposite effect. People are rational and, therefore, they want to raise their children in a healthy environment. An autocratic, freedom-stifling environment, on the contrary, encourages women and families to postpone or completely abandon the decision to become parents, as well as, in not infrequent cases, emigration, which in turn is one of the factors in the decline in birth rates.”