Factbook
History of Georgia — Timeline
Key dates in the history of Georgia, from the Magna Factbook and the Universal Encyclopedia.
1918Independent for three years (1918-1921) following the Russian revolution, it was forcibly incorporated into the USSR in 1921 and regained its independence when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991.
1991Independence: 9 April 1991 (from the Soviet Union); notable earlier date: A.D.
2003In 2003, mounting public discontent over rampant corruption, ineffective government services, and a government attempt to manipulate parliamentary elections touched off widespread protests that led to the resignation of Eduard SHEVARDNADZE, who had been president since 1995.
2004In the aftermath of this "Rose Revolution," new elections in 2004 swept Mikheil SAAKASHVILI and his United National Movement (UNM) party into power.
2008Progress was further complicated when Russian support for the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia led to a five-day conflict between Russia and Georgia in August 2008, which included Russia invading large portions of Georgian territory.
2011Billionaire Bidzina IVANISHVILI's unexpected entry into politics in 2011 brought the divided opposition together under his Georgian Dream coalition, which won a majority of seats in the 2012 parliamentary elections and removed UNM from power.
2013Conceding defeat, SAAKASHVILI named IVANISHVILI as prime minister and left the country after his presidential term ended in 2013.
2014Languages: Georgian (official) 87.6%, Azeri 6.2%, Armenian 3.9%, Russian 1.2%, other 1% (including Abkhaz, the official language in Abkhazia) (2014 est.) Religions: Eastern Orthodox Christian (official) 83.4%, Muslim 10.7%, Armenian Apostolic Christian 2.9%, other 1.2% (includes Roman Catholic Christian, Jehovah's Witness, Yazidi, Protestant Christian, Jewish), none 0.5%, unspecified/no answer 1.2% (2014 est.) Urban population: 60.7% of total population (2023).
2017Georgia and the EU have a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, and since 2017, Georgian citizens have been able to travel to the Schengen area without a visa.
2021In 2021, SAAKASHVILI returned to Georgia, where he was immediately arrested to serve six years in prison on outstanding abuse-of-office convictions.
2022Joining the EU and NATO are among the country's top foreign policy goals, and Georgia applied for EU membership in 2022, becoming a candidate country in December 2023.
2023Generation mix — fossil fuels: 23.9% of total installed capacity (2023 est.); wind: 0.6% of total installed capacity (2023 est.); hydroelectricity: 75.5% of total installed capacity (2023 est.) Energy use: 56.076 million Btu/person (2023 est.).
2023Industries: steel, machine tools, electrical appliances, mining (manganese, copper, gold), chemicals, wood products, wine Agriculture: milk, grapes, potatoes, maize, wheat, tangerines/mandarins, tomatoes, barley, apples, eggs (2023) Electricity access: 100% (2022 est.).
2023Major urban areas: 1.082 million TBILISI (capital) (2023) upper-middle income, fast-growing South Caucasus economy; regionally focused exporter of cars, metal ores, and energy; financial and migrant inflows resulting from Ukraine conflict; EU accession talks suspended over disputed election and foreign influence law; low inflation but persistent high unemployment Inflation: 1.1% (2024 est.).
2024Military spending: 1.7% of GDP (2024 est.).
