Toma Gugushvili, a Georgian expert on migration, told Interfax that Georgia has entered into a new phase of demographic catastrophe. Over the last decade, he said, the population of his country had declined by 20 percent. Most of the decline reflects the departure of working-age people, Gugushvili said. He said that emigration is increasing this year and that the population, which now stands at 4.6 million, will decline by another 300,000. (Interfax)