The number of beneficiaries receiving subsistence allowance increased by 67,266 within two months and hit record high for the first time in the shortest period. As of August, 2021, 622,923 citizens were registered in the list of beneficiaries receiving subsistence allowance, which is 16.7% of the Georgian population.
It is unknown whether such a sharp increase in the number of beneficiaries receiving subsistence allowance is related to the forthcoming self-government elections in the country, as social protection policies may be used for electoral purposes.
For comparison, 129,835 less citizens were dependent on subsistence allowance for the same period in 2020. According to the statistics, a total of 42,482,172 GEL was distributed as a social allowance in August, which was 68 GEL per month per beneficiary.
According to statistics, the growth of poverty is more acute in the regions, where the number of vulnerable population has increased by 3.8 percentage points to 27.5%. Absolute poverty in cities increased by 0.7 percentage points to 17.1%.
