UNITED NATIONS GIRLS EDUCATION INITIATIVE

INFORMATION BY COUNTRY

Georgia: Background

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This map does not reflect a position by UNICEF on the legal status of any country or territory or the delimitation of any frontiers.
Georgia has seen progress on key child issues including protection (registration and child welfare systems) and nutrition (especially in addressing iodine deficiency). Unresolved civil conflict seriously impacts the welfare of children in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Issues facing children in Georgia

  • Poverty is a serious and growing problem among families in Georgia.
  • Immunization rates are only around 75 per cent for polio and diphtheria; less than half of children are immunized against hepatitis B.
  • Ongoing conflicts in the Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions have displaced a thousand women and children. In these regions, health services are scant, immunization rates are lower than elsewhere in the country, schools are deteriorating and malnutrition is a serious problem. Overall, Georgia has approximately 180,000 internally displaced persons.
  • The quality of public education suffers due to inadequate expenditures. Teacher salaries are very low. Many schools are in poor physical condition; fixing them would be prohibitively expensive.
  • The total number of preschools has dropped by more than half since 1990, and enrolment rates are low.