Community
How Many Georgians Live in Czechia? The Numbers, the History, the Community
GCC Editorial ·
As of 1 January 2025, 1,618 Georgian citizens were living in the Czech Republic. In 2000 the figure was 299 — the community has more than quintupled in a quarter of a century, and it has grown every year since 2021.
Precise numbers are surprisingly hard to find. This article gathers them in one place: the official statistics and how they have moved, the difference between citizenship and declared nationality, the history of Georgian migration to the Czech lands, and the organisations that make up the community today.
How many Georgians live in Czechia
The figures below come from the Eurostat database (dataset migr_pop1ctz, population on 1 January by citizenship). This is official European statistics, not community or media estimates.
- 2000: 299
- 2005: 289
- 2010: 691
- 2015: 786
- 2018: 818
- 2019: 1,118
- 2020: 1,635
- 2021: 1,234
- 2023: 1,409
- 2024: 1,518
- 2025: 1,618
Two things deserve comment. First, the jump between 2018 and 2020 followed by a drop is largely a pandemic artefact — changes in how residence was recorded, not a thousand people leaving. Second, the steady growth since 2021, which continues today.
In absolute terms this is a small community — Georgians sit around twentieth among third-country nationals resident in Czechia. Its mark on everyday life in Czech cities is larger than the numbers alone suggest: from associations and a choir to the restaurants Czechs have taken to so quickly.
Citizenship is not the same as nationality
The 2021 census recorded 963 residents who declared Georgian nationality. On the same date, 1,234 Georgian citizens were living in Czechia. The gap is not a data error.
The census asks about declared nationality — what a person identifies as, answered voluntarily. Population statistics record citizenship as documented. Someone holding a Georgian passport may declare a different nationality; someone who has since acquired Czech citizenship may still feel Georgian but no longer appears in the count of Georgian citizens. The real number of people with Georgian roots in Czechia is almost certainly higher than either figure.
Residence permits: 2019 stands out
First residence permits issued by Czechia to Georgian citizens (Eurostat, migr_resfirst) show the dynamic even more clearly:
- 2015: 311
- 2018: 474
- 2019: 1,262
- 2021: 214
- 2022: 493
- 2024: 377
- 2025: 543
The 2019 figure is such an outlier that it demands an explanation — and it is a simple one. That was the first full year after visa liberalisation, when travelling to Europe became substantially easier for Georgians. The collapse in 2020 and 2021 matches closed borders during the pandemic.
Visa-free travel since March 2017
Georgian citizens holding biometric passports have been able to enter the Schengen area without a visa since 28 March 2017, for 90 days in any 180-day period, for purposes other than work. The Council of the European Union adopted the regulation on 27 February 2017.
Stays longer than 90 days, employment and study still require a residence permit — and those permits are what the statistics above capture.
The Georgian trace in the Czech lands is centuries old
Today's community is not the first contact between the two countries. According to the Czech Government Council for National Minorities, the first documented links reach back to the 16th and 17th centuries, when Czech Catholics encountered Georgian Orthodox monks at monasteries on Mount Athos and in Palestine. In the early 17th century, diplomats from the Prague court of Rudolf II were active in trade and politics in the Caucasus.
Relations intensified in the 19th century, partly through Czech emigrants heading to Georgian lands. The decisive turn came after 1918: once Georgia declared independence, the first immigrants arrived in Czechoslovakia and Prague became one of the significant centres of Georgian emigration. A further wave followed in 1924 after the fall of the Georgian Republic. The last major wave came in the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Each of these waves left something behind in Czechia — and today's community builds on all of them.
Associations, a school, a church, a choir
The Georgian community in Czechia has its own organisational structure. Among the oldest associations are:
- Samshoblo ("Homeland") — founded in 2005, published a journal of the same name
- Iveria — founded in 2014, focused on bringing Georgians together and on cultural integration
Alongside them are a Georgian student association, the Georgian Orthodox Church in Prague, and the women's choir Haeri. The community marks ten significant days through the year — from Orthodox Christmas to Georgian Independence Day on 26 May.
Official contact
The Embassy of Georgia in the Czech Republic is at Mlýnská 22/4, 160 00 Prague 6 – Bubeneč, telephone +420 233 311 749. The Czech Embassy in Tbilisi is run by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Behind the numbers are people
The statistic says 1,618. Behind that figure are families, students, entrepreneurs and artists who have made a second home between Georgia and Czechia. Each of them binds the two countries a little more closely together — which is exactly why they are worth counting.
A note on sources
All figures in this article come from the Eurostat database (dataset as of 9 July 2026), the 2021 Czech Census, and materials of the Czech Government Council for National Minorities. The statistics are updated annually; the date each figure refers to is given alongside it.