Population of Georgia: 4.4 Million

The population of Georgia amounts to 4.4 million people, including 47.2 percent of men and 52.8 percent of women, according to Georgia's state statistics department which published Tuesday the results of the general census for 2002.

The department has also examined alternative sources of information which indicate that about 230,000 people reside in the runaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia not controlled by Tbilisi.

The department notes that the notably shrunk population is explained by the precarious territorial integrity, the low birth rate, the high death toll and mounting migration.

The 1989 census placed the number of Georgia's residents at 5.5 million.