Over 54,000 people in Georgia identify Russian as their native language

Russian is the native language of 54,460 residents of Georgia, accounting for 1.39% of the country’s population, according to the results of Georgia’s 2024 national census, as reported by Sputnik Georgia.

The census recorded Georgia’s population at 3,929,581 people. Of those who identified Russian as their native language, 11,128 said they do not speak Georgian, the country’s official language.

According to the census data, 22,918 native Russian speakers are fully proficient in Georgian, while 13,088 reported partial knowledge of the language. Information on Georgian-language proficiency was unavailable for 7,326 respondents.

Most Russian-speaking residents live in Georgia’s major urban centers, with more than half residing in Tbilisi. The largest number of native Russian speakers who do not know Georgian is found in Batumi, followed by Tbilisi.

The results were published by Geostat as part of the main findings of the population and agricultural census conducted across Georgia in November and December 2024. Preliminary results had previously been released in June 2025 and April 2026.

By Jeyhun Aghazada