Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has linked declining birth rates in various countries, including Georgia, to what he described as the spread of ‘so-called liberal ideology’ and ‘LGBT propaganda’, framing current state policies as efforts to ‘liberate’ the country from their influence.
He made the remarks while addressing parliament on Wednesday, claiming that Georgia has positive indicators ‘across all areas’, including the economy. He then went on to argue that declining birth rates were barely driven by social factors, whether in Georgia or elsewhere in the world.
‘If you look at which continents are experiencing the highest population growth, the leaders are Africa and Asia, where the level of economic wellbeing is the lowest’, he said, adding that Europe has the ‘most severe statistics’ despite its higher level of prosperity compared to other continents.
Focusing on Georgia, Kobakhidze mentioned a ‘sharp and dramatic decline’ in rates amongst first and second births in families, adding that 26,355 first children were born in 2014, compared to 14,156 in 2024. As for children born second in the family, Kobakhidze has said the number dropped from 23,171 in 2014 to 13,323 in 2024. He added, by contrast, that birth rates for third and fourth children have increased since 2014.
Addressing the statistics, Kobakhidze stated the country was facing a ‘worldview challenge’, including a declining interest in marriage, before going on to attack ‘so-called liberal, in reality, pseudo-liberal ideology’:
‘The trend is very serious, though this is not unique to Georgia [...] Everywhere the so-called liberal ideology has been intensively spread, there are problems’, he noted, adding:
‘You remember the so-called gender policy, LGBT propaganda, and so on’.
Kobakhidze has additionally claimed that Georgia was ‘liberated’ from these ‘severe worldview and ideological processes’ only last year, despite ‘extreme external pressure’. 2025 saw the ruling Georgian Dream party pass a series of restrictive laws targeting dissent and worsen its relations with the West. Throughout the year, the government has repeatedly claimed that the EU was being stripped of its traditional values.
Kobakhidze cited his party’s adoption of homophobic legislation in 2024 as an instrument used to deter this ‘pseudo-liberal ideology’. The legislative package banned what the authorities call ‘LGBT propaganda’, as well as same-sex marriage — which has never been legal in the country — and gender-affirming medical treatment.
‘You remember that there was a storm: an external storm and a storm from inside the country by the radical opposition’, Kobakhidze said, criticising Georgian Dream’s critics, both domestically and internationally, for not supporting the law.
Kobakhidze also expressed a desire to address low birth rates in a ‘positive sense’ and underlined the need to ‘change people’s worldview’, citing ‘raising the patriotic spirit of society’ as one of the government’s concerns.
Mikheil Gvadzabia
