The number of foreign students in Georgia has tripled. “The education sector in Georgia has emerged as one of the fastest-growing sectors of the economy. From 2019 to 2025, the sector's revenues doubled, reaching 4.3 billion lari, and its share in GDP increased to 6.4% in 2025 compared to 4.5% in 2019,” according to market analysis by Galt & Taggart, as reported by aliq.ge.
The study indicates that the sector encompasses four main segments: general education (2.1 billion lari), higher education (1.3 billion lari), preschool education (0.7 billion lari), and other educational services (0.2 billion lari).
Notably, the main source of revenue growth in the education sector during the reporting period has been general and higher education, although growth has also been recorded in other sub-sectors.
At the same time, the growth of general education was primarily driven by public funding, while the growth of higher education was stimulated by private expenditures, particularly from foreign students.
“The revenue of the general education sector has increased on average by 14.4% annually from 2019 to 2025, reaching 2.1 billion lari in 2025. 74.9% of the revenue in the general education sector (1.6 billion lari) comes from public schools.
Revenue from private schools has doubled from 2019 to 2025, reaching 526 million lari in 2025, driven by an increase in student numbers, rising tuition fees, and the expansion of expensive schools.
“The number of foreign students has tripled from 2019 to 2025, reaching 44,000, resulting in their share among all students increasing to 19.8%. This is one of the highest rates in the world.
“Against the backdrop of accessibility and relatively low living costs, Georgia has become a competitive destination for attracting international students,” the study states.
