Human Geography: Population, Settlement and Economy of Georgia
The Human Geography domain tests population structure and distribution, settlement patterns, economic sectors and transport in Georgia. Questions typically require you to interpret data - density, natural increase, employment shares - rather than only recall place names.
Population
- About 3.7 million people on 69,700 km², roughly 53 per km², but distribution is very uneven: Tbilisi holds about 1.2 million, while several mountain districts have fewer than 15 per km².
- The 2014 census recorded Georgians at about 87%, Azerbaijanis about 6% (concentrated in Kvemo Kartli) and Armenians about 4.5% (concentrated in Samtskhe-Javakheti).
- Natural increase is near zero or negative; emigration since the 1990s and an ageing profile leave many villages with more pensioners than children. Urbanization is about 60%.
Economy
- Services and tourism dominate GDP. Agriculture employs roughly 35–40% of workers but contributes under 10% of GDP - a productivity gap caused by small fragmented plots, weak mechanization and inadequate irrigation.
- Industry: manganese at Chiatura, ferroalloys at Zestaponi, copper-gold and cement near Kazreti and Madneuli, steel at Rustavi. Hydropower supplies most electricity, with the Enguri plant the largest unit.
- Exports include ferroalloys, copper ores and concentrates, wine, hazelnuts, mineral water and nitrogen fertilizers; tourism receipts and remittances are major sources of foreign currency.
Transport and corridors
Poti and Batumi are the main Black Sea ports. The Baku–Tbilisi–Kars railway and the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline make Georgia a transit state on an east–west axis. The Georgian Military Road links Tbilisi with Kazbegi and Russia; the East–West highway links Tbilisi, Kutaisi and the coast.
Worked example
Question: a district has 48,000 people, 6,000 km² and a natural increase of −2.5 per 1,000. Calculate its density and annual natural change. Reasoning: density = 48,000 ÷ 6,000 = 8 people per km². Natural change = −2.5 × 48,000 ÷ 1,000 = −120 people per year, i.e. about 120 more deaths than births. Always state units; a bare "8" or "120" loses the mark.
Traps that cost marks
- Quoting agriculture's employment share as if it were its GDP share.
- Confusing natural increase with total population change - migration is a separate component.
- Misplacing the ports or the BTC pipeline route on a sketch map.
- Treating the 3.7 million figure as covering only government-controlled territory without saying so.