Over the past seven decades, fertility decline has become one of the most significant demographic transformations worldwide. The global total fertility rate (TFR)—defined as the average number of children a woman would bear if current age-specific fertility rates prevailed throughout her reproductive life—declined from approximately five births per woman in the early 1960s to around 2.3 births per woman in the early 2020s (United Nations, 2022; Ritchie, Spooner & Roser, 2023). Although the pace and timing of fertility decline have differed across regions, the overall direction has been remarkably consistent.

Economic development of the municipalities (outside capital) is one of the key sustainable development challenges in Georgia. The capital city of Tbilisi, while accounting for nearly 1/3 of the country’s population generates 53% of GDP and keeps expanding, whereas the municipalities, with few exceptions, are losing population and suffering from high incidence of poverty, unemployment, and slow and weak economic development.

Innovation-driven growth has long been understood as a restless, uneven process. In the Schumpeterian tradition – captured formally by Aghion and Howitt’s model of creative destruction – economies progress when new, higher-quality technologies displace older ones, pushing the productivity frontier outward.

Georgia's post-pandemic recovery has been marked by strong macroeconomic performance, with real GDP surpassing pre-pandemic trends and labor market indicators showing notable improvement. However, this research note examines whether this recovery reflects genuine structural transformation or masks deeper challenges of labor market polarization.

Economic development of the municipalities (outside capital) is one of the key sustainable development challenges in Georgia. The capital city of Tbilisi, while accounting for nearly 1/3 of the country’s population generates 50% of GDP and keeps expanding, whereas the municipalities, with few exceptions, are losing population and suffering from high incidence of poverty, unemployment, and slow and weak economic development.