Georgia

Economy & income

Currency

• Georgian Lari (GEL, ₾)
• ~2.63 ₾ per USD (Jul 14, 2026; 1 ₾ ≈ $0.38)

GDP per capita

• ~$10,300 nominal (2025, IMF est.)
• ~$30,700 PPP (2025, IMF WEO) — World Bank ~$8,120 nominal (2023)

Average salary

• ~$560 net/mo (Numbeo, Jul 2026; ₾1,474)
• gross avg ~$900/mo (Geostat nominal ₾2,363.8, Q1 2026; ₾2,466 in Q4 2025)

Median salary

• n/a — Geostat publishes mean nominal earnings (₾2,364/mo, Q1 2026, ~$900), not a public monthly median
• mean is skewed upward by ICT (₾4,373) & finance sectors, so typical pay is materially lower

Minimum wage

• ₾20/mo statutory (~$7.60) — set by a 1999 presidential decree, never updated and functionally void
• de-facto formal-market floor ~₾1,000–1,200/mo (~$380–455)

Cost of living

• Low — Numbeo (Jul 2026): single person ~₾1,575/$599 per month excl. rent
• family of four ~₾5,805/$2,205
• overall ~48.5% below Germany
• Tbilisi cheap by European standards

Digital landscape

Population

• 3.81 million (Jan 2025, DataReportal)
• 61.4% urban, median age 37.3

Internet users

81.9% (~3.12M users; 690K offline)

Social media users

78.8% (~3.00M identities; 96.2% of internet users)

Mobile connections

6.21M cellular connections = 163% of population (95.1% broadband-capable)

Devices

mobile ~50.1% / desktop ~47.4% / tablet ~2.5% (StatCounter, Jun 2026) — unusually high desktop share for the region

Ad spend

• DataReportal reports no GE ad-spend figure
• Statista Digital Advertising ~$79.7M (2024) → ~$85M+ (2025 est.), Search largest segment (~$29.6M 2024), forecast ~$101.6M by 2028

Top social platforms

Facebook ~3.00M, 78.8% — dominant

TikTok ~2.31M adults 18+, 80.5% of adults

Messenger ~2.50M ad reach, 65.7%

Instagram ~1.70M, 44.6%

LinkedIn ~770K, 20.2%

X/Twitter ~268K, 7.0%

• YouTube — near-universal reach; DataReportal publishes no GE ad-reach figure

Messengers

• Facebook Messenger (~2.50M reach)
• WhatsApp (widely used)
• Viber (traditionally popular in Georgia/CIS)
• Telegram (growing, news & channels)

Payments & behaviour

Payment methods

• Visa / Mastercard debit & credit cards (dominant online)
• Bank mobile apps & transfers (TBC, Bank of Georgia)
• Digital wallets (TBC Pay, BoG/Space)
• Cash (still significant offline & on marketplaces)
• Apple Pay / Google Pay

E-wallets

• TBC Pay (large terminal + app network)
• Bank of Georgia / Space app
• Liberty Pay
• Apple Pay
• Google Pay

Cash on delivery

Moderate — cash-on-delivery still common on classifieds/marketplaces (MyMarket), but card & wallet share is rising fast

E-commerce

• Growing — e-shoppers up from ~600K (2018) to >1M (2025)
• online retail ~+30% YoY
• ~75% of TBC clients pay on Georgian e-commerce sites

Notes

• Duopoly of TBC Bank and Bank of Georgia drives banking, cards and PSP rails
• card-heavy but cash persists
• strong remittance inflows support consumer spend

Audience & culture

Languages

• Georgian (official, ~87.6%)
• Azerbaijani (~6.2%)
• Armenian (~3.9%)
• Russian (~1.2% native, but widely understood as a second language for business/tourism)
• English (growing among urban youth)

Religion

• Georgian Orthodox Christian ~82%
• Muslim ~11.1%
• Armenian Apostolic ~2.6%
• Catholic/Protestant <1% (2024 census)

Median age

37.3 years (DataReportal, 2025)

Key seasons

• New Year (Dec 31–Jan 1 — main gift-giving/spend peak)
• Orthodox Christmas (Jan 7)
• Orthodox Easter (spring)
• Independence Day (May 26)
• Summer Black Sea tourism (Jun–Sep, Batumi)
• Mariamoba / Assumption (Aug 28)
• Rtveli grape harvest (autumn)
• Black Friday & back-to-school (Sep) — imported

Cultural notes

• Orthodox calendar shapes holidays
• strong hospitality (supra feast) and family/wine culture
• Russian is understood but sensitive after the 2008 war and 2024–25 EU-accession protests
• audiences respond best to Georgian-language, locally-rooted creative

Where to find creators

• Instagram
• TikTok
• YouTube
• Facebook

Media landscape

Creators & public figures

Top creators

Celebrities

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ~9M Instagram

Footballer — winger for Paris Saint-Germain & Georgia captain; greatest Georgian footballer

Merab Dvalishvili ~3M Instagram

MMA — UFC Bantamweight Champion, first Georgian-born UFC champion

Giorgi Mamardashvili ~826K Instagram

Footballer — goalkeeper for Liverpool & Georgia national team

Khatia Buniatishvili ~359K Instagram

World-touring classical concert pianist

Lasha Talakhadze ~210K Instagram

Weightlifter — Olympic & multiple world super-heavyweight champion, world-record holder

Sandro Mamukelashvili ~117K Instagram

Basketball — Georgian NBA player (Toronto Raptors)

Katie Melua ~115K Instagram

Georgian-British singer-songwriter, international recording artist

Affiliate & traffic

Hot verticals

• iGaming / sports betting (huge locally, but citizen-restricted)
• Crypto & trading
• Nutra / supplements
• Dating & sweepstakes
• Finance / microloans
• eCommerce (cross-border)
• Tourism / travel

Active networks

• Admitad (strong across CIS)
• Adsterra (native/push ad network with CIS roots)
• Local iGaming affiliate programs (Adjarabet, Europebet, Crystalbet)
• Global CPA networks (crypto, nutra, gambling, dating)
• Salesdoubler / CIS lead networks

Payouts

• Tier-2 payouts: betting/casino CPA ~$30–150 per FTD, crypto/trading higher, nutra often COD, dating CPL low
• deals typically in USD/EUR

Competition

• Moderate — smaller Tier-2 market with cheaper CPMs than Tier-1
• local betting brands buy heavily
• Georgian-language creative wins, Russian is a usable but sensitive fallback

Seasonality

• Peaks around New Year holidays (Dec–Jan), summer tourism (Jun–Sep) and major football fixtures (betting)
• slower mid-winter

Traffic sources

• Facebook / Instagram Ads
• TikTok
• Google Search & Display
• Push & native (Adsterra / PropellerAds)
• Telegram & Viber channels
• Influencer / creator collabs

Good to know

Capital

Tbilisi

Major cities

• Tbilisi
• Batumi
• Kutaisi
• Rustavi
• Gori
• Zugdidi
• Poti
• Telavi

Time zones

Single zone — Georgia Standard Time (UTC+4), no daylight saving

Android vs iOS

68% 33%

Android 68% iOS 33%

Phone brands

• Apple (~32.5%)
• Samsung (~31.9%)
• Xiaomi (~14.0%)
• Realme (~2.1%)
• Google (~1.8%)

Top e-commerce

• MyMarket.ge (largest classifieds/marketplace, 'Avito' equivalent)
• Extra.ge
• Veli.store
• Zoommer.ge (electronics)
• AliExpress
• Temu
• Amazon (cross-border)
• Wolt / Glovo (delivery)

Peak activity

Weekday evenings ~20:00–23:00 local (UTC+4); lunchtime secondary bump; heavier weekend browsing

Creative taboos

• Russia and the 2008 war / occupied Abkhazia & South Ossetia
• sharp domestic polarisation (Georgian Dream vs opposition, 2024–25 EU-accession protests)
• Orthodox religious sensitivities and socially conservative attitudes to LGBTQ+ themes — handle carefully

Also worth knowing

• Betting/iGaming is a major domestic industry but legally fenced off from most citizens (age 25+, ~40% of adults banned) — target it carefully
• Crypto-friendly, low-tax 'digital nomad' hub with an unusually high desktop-usage share for the region
• Russian is widely understood yet politically sensitive, so Georgian-language localisation performs best.