Republic of Sakartvelos

Republic of Sakartvelos საქართველოს რესპუბლიკა
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "ძალა ერთობაში" Strength In Unity
Anthem: Dideba
Capital	Tblisi
Largest city	Tblisi
Official languages	Georgian, Russian
Recognised national languages	Abkhaz, Ossetian, Azerbaijani, Armenian
Ethnic groups	86.8% Georgians 6.3% Azerbaijanis 4.5% Armenians 0.7% Russians 0.4% Ossetians 0.3% Yazidis 0.2% Greeks 0.1% Assyrians
Religion	83.41% Georgian Orthodox Church 2.94% Armenian Apostolic Church 0.52% Catholicism 0.33% Jehovah's Witnesses 0.07% Protestantism 10.73% Islam 0.23% Yazidism 0.04% Judaism 0.04% Other Religions 0.51% No Religion
Demonym(s)	Kartvelian, Georgian
Government	Parliamentary Unitary Republic
• President	Giorgi Margvelashvili
• Prime Minister	Bidzina Ivanishvili
Legislature	Parliament
Establishment
• Independence from the USSR	9th of April 1981
• Ousting of Eduard Shevardnadze	23rd of November 2003
• Russo-Georgian War	7th-12th of August 2008
• Re-Integration of Abkhazia and South Ossetia	1st of January 2009
Area
• Total	66,820 km2 (25,800 sq mi)
Population
• 2021 estimate	3,688,647
• Density	54/km2 (139.9/sq mi) (132nd)
Currency	Lari (₾)

Etymology

The native Georgian name for the country is Sakartvelo (საქართველო). The word consists of two parts. Its root, kartvel-i (ქართველ-ი), first attested in the Old Georgian inscription of Umm Leisun in Jerusalem, originally referred to an inhabitant of the core central Georgian region of Kartli – Iberia of the Classical and Byzantine sources. By the early 9th century, the meaning of "Kartli" was expanded to other areas of medieval Georgia held together by religion, culture, and language. The Georgian circumfix sa-X-o is a standard geographic construction designating "the area where X dwell", where X is an ethnonym.