In Georgia, the number of subsistence allowance recipients continues to decline. According to the Social Services Agency, payments were terminated for 7,235 people in a single month alone.
Specifically, in June 2026, the number of subsistence allowance recipients stood at 584,137, while in July this figure dropped to 576,902. As for the annual trend, 130,915 people stopped receiving the allowance over this period. By comparison, in July 2025, 707,817 socially vulnerable citizens were receiving financial aid from the state.
Number of subsistence allowance recipients continues to shrink
Looking at monthly data for the current year, a decline in the number of benefit recipients was recorded every month from January through June.
More specifically, Businesspressnews presents the number of social assistance recipients for the January–July period of the current year:
- January — 710,226 people;
- February — 709,458 people;
- March — 667,793 people;
- April — 645,920 people;
- May — 605,033 people;
- June — 584,137 people;
- July — 576,902 people.
As a reminder, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze first raised the issue of the so-called “inflated” number of individuals registered in the database of socially vulnerable families on November 26, 2025. At the time, the Prime Minister stated that “currently in Georgia, more people receive social assistance than are actually poor, which is why this metric needs to be reviewed.”
At the beginning of this year, the authorities announced audits of families receiving poverty benefits and revisions to eligibility criteria. As Minister of Health Mikheil Sarjveladze stated at the time, the goal was to ensure that only those genuinely entitled to state financial assistance remain in the database.
Later, the government modified the registration rules for the database of socially vulnerable families. Under the new government decree, a strict income threshold was introduced, automatically disqualifying higher-income individuals from receiving aid.