In August, the number of social allowance recipients fell by another 6,000 to 570,000, and compared to January, the unified database has shrunk by 140,000 people, reports Netgazeti.
The number of social assistance recipients had been growing almost continuously over the past five years (with the exception of 2023); however, in January–August 2026, their numbers dropped sharply by 20%.
Social allowance is a state-established financial mechanism designed to provide material support to families living below the poverty line so they can meet basic consumer needs. The system’s beneficiaries are divided into two categories:
- Subsistence allowance recipients — citizens entitled to direct assistance due to an extremely dire economic situation;
- Participants in the state public works employment support programme — citizens whose socially vulnerable status is guaranteed for a period of four years.
Over the eight-month period, the number of direct aid recipients fell by 10%, while programme participants decreased by 38%. At the same time, in July and August, the number of direct assistance beneficiaries rose again by nearly 17,000 following a decline in previous months.
In December 2019, 427,000 people were receiving social assistance. During the pandemic, a moratorium was introduced on family means-testing reassessments, causing the database to expand with new entries while existing beneficiaries were not removed. In 2022, a four-year state programme was launched. By 2025, the number of assistance recipients surpassed 700,000. The decline began in 2026.
Additionally, starting in 2026, the so-called “fictitious” employment programme for socially vulnerable individuals—on which 407 million GEL had been spent from the state budget over four years—was scrapped. The initiative was associated with former Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili: under the scheme, payrolls for school watchmen and cemetery caretakers were artificially bloated, and in one village, hired workers were even tasked with washing a tank. In 2026, the project was phased out, and the ruling Georgian Dream party admitted that the employment had been fictitious.
Number of social assistance recipients in 2026
Source: Social Service Agency
Opposition forces frequently linked the growth in the number of benefit recipients to electoral cycles, but Georgian Dream consistently rejected such allegations.
The decline in the number of social assistance beneficiaries can be interpreted in two ways:
- Citizens have risen above the poverty line and no longer require state support;
- Citizens remain poor, but the state has ceased providing them with aid.
In January–July of this year, GDP expanded by 7.9% compared to the same period last year; however, the number of employed individuals fell in both the first and second quarters. Inflation-adjusted real wages grew by a mere 2% in the second quarter.
