Georgia is a country located in the Caucasus, at the intersection of eastern Europe and western Asia. The country is bordered by Russia, Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan and is bounded by the Black sea. The population of Georgia is approximately 3.7 million people excluding Russian-occupied territories (20% of Georgia is occupied by Russia).

The history of Georgia in the history of struggling for freedom. Nearly all the largest empires in the world attempted to possess this land. But after all, we amazingly managed to survive and preserve our independence. There were times when several huge invaders at the same time struggled for having influence over Georgia. The reason for all these wars was the strategic location of Georgia between Europe and Asia on the major trade artery - the Silk Road.

Georgian culture evolved over thousands of years from its foundations in the Iberian and Colchian civilizations. Georgian culture enjoyed a renaissance and golden age of classical literature, arts, philosophy, architecture, and science in the 11th century. Georgian culture was influenced by Classical Greece, the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the various Iranian empires, and later, from the 19th century, by the Russian Empire.

It is impossible to visit Georgia and not get charmed by its traditional architecture, which counts more than 1300 years. On the streets of the city, river canyons, and mountain peaks you will see ancient unique domed temples painted with frescoes created based on Bible.

The majority of the population is Christian orthodox. Georgia is one of the few countries where orthodox and catholic churches, synagogues, and mosques are built side by side. In all regions of Georgia, you will see ancient Christian churches stretched high in the sky that counts thousands of years, and some of them are on a list of UNESCO world heritage sites.

For much of the 20th century, Georgia's economy was within the Soviet model of the command economy. Since the fall of the USSR in 1991, Georgia embarked on a major structural reform designed to transition to a free-market economy. As with all other post-Soviet states, Georgia faced a severe economic collapse. The civil war and military conflicts in South Ossetia and Abkhazia aggravated the crisis.

Since the early 21st-century visible positive developments have been observed in the economy of Georgia. In 2007, Georgia's real GDP growth rate reached 12 percent, making Georgia one of the fastest-growing economies in Eastern Europe

The 2006 ban on imports of Georgian wine to Russia, one of Georgia's biggest trading partners, and the break of financial links was described by the IMF Mission as an "external shock".

Georgia is developing into an international transport corridor through Batumi and Poti ports, Baku–Tbilisi–Kars Railway line, an oil pipeline from Baku through Tbilisi to Ceyhan, the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline (BTC), and a parallel gas pipeline, the South Caucasus Pipeline

As of 2001, 54 percent of the population lived below the national poverty line but by 2006 poverty decreased to 34 percent and by 2015 to 10.1 percent

Like most native Caucasian peoples, the Georgians do not fit into any of the main ethnic categories of Europe or Asia. The Georgian language, the most pervasive of the Kartvelian languages, is not Indo-European, Turkic, or Semitic. The present-day Georgian or Kartvelian nation is thought to have resulted from the fusion of aboriginal, autochthonous inhabitants with immigrants who moved into the South Caucasus from the direction of Anatolia in remote antiquity.

Ethnic Georgians form about 86.8 percent of the population, while the remainder includes ethnic groups such as Abkhazians, Armenians, Assyrians, Azerbaijanis, Greeks, Jews, Kists, Ossetians, Russians, Ukrainians, Yezidis, and others. The Georgian Jews are one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world. Georgia was once home to significant ethnic German communities, but most Germans were deported during World War II

The breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 gave a major boost to the independent media in Georgia. 

The Georgian people put high value on the freedom of expression and press. Post-Soviet governments chose to allow independent media. 

Pending research on Georgia’s place in the taxonomy of media systems, the country clearly belongs to the system described as “television-centric.” In Georgia, newspaper readership is meager, while TV captures 72 percent of the population, according to the latest poll by the National Democratic Institute (NDI). Most nationally broadcasting TV stations are owned by businesses with strong political ties, resulting in a high degree of political parallelism. 

Print press, with its limited circulation, targets the political elites and activists. Print press is independent, as are smaller TV and radio stations. The Internet is free.

Regional media have practiced greater independence and ethical standards. But they have been struggling on the business side. Regional media do not reach large audiences, and their share in advertising incomes is meager. Some 15 percent of Georgia’s non-ethnic Georgian population is unable to read Georgian-language press and lacks minority-language media of its own.  

The media are one of the most influential institutions in Georgia, despite its uneven distribution and the audience’s awareness of its political alliances, editorial control and bias (NDI, 2017). Its influence on the political process is presumed to be substantial, and takes many forms. However, the trust in media is dwindling, while ambivalence and skepticism are building up, as shown by time – data from a series of analysis of the Caucasus Barometer for 2011-17. The lack of trust in media does not necessarily translate in more critical use of media sources and verification of facts. NDI polls show that nearly one third of Georgians relies only on one source for public affairs information.