Georgia’s Unexpected Economic Champion — Education

In Georgia’s 2024 economic landscape, one particularly standout fact emerged: the country’s fastest-growing sector turned out to be education. Neither public forecasts nor private sector strategists had anticipated such an outcome. According to newly released data by the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat), the education sector experienced an annual growth rate of 29.1%, amounting to 4.6 billion GEL in absolute terms. What makes this even more compelling is not just the growth figure itself, but the underlying factors driving this dynamic — and the complex realities behind the numbers, which sometimes resemble internal tensions.

First, it’s important to note that no other sector in Georgia’s economy grew at such a pace in 2024. The main engine behind this growth was government funding: the budget of the Ministry of Education and Science reached a record 2.5 billion GEL, which is 400 million GEL more than the previous year. A significant portion of this funding was allocated to school infrastructure upgrades and salary increases for teachers, marking a large-scale state intervention in the sector.

Another key trend contributing to this surge is the increasing influx of international students into private higher education institutions. Although this process remains largely invisible to the general public, it carries substantial economic weight. Foreign students, who choose Georgia for its relatively low-cost education compared to Western alternatives, often pay several thousand GEL per semester — two to three times more than local students. This directly boosts the revenues of universities.

Moreover, the growing number of international students not only benefits the education sector directly but also stimulates parallel service industries — such as housing, food services, transportation, and entertainment — creating a broader chain effect across the economy.

In short, education, once seen as a long-term investment sector, has unexpectedly become a short-term economic driver — one that reflects both strategic public investment and Georgia’s growing role in regional and international education markets.