Editing Rustavi (section)

== Demographics ==
[[File:Megobroba avenue.JPG|thumb|270px|Rapid expansion under Soviet rule]]
At the beginning of 2021, Rustavi had more than 130,072 inhabitants,<ref name="geostatpop">{{Cite web | url=https://www.geostat.ge/en/modules/categories/41/population | title=Population and Demography - Population by cities and boroughs (daba), as of 1 January | date=2021-01-01 | accessdate=2022-03-31 | work=National Statistics Office of Georgia, Geostat | language=en}}</ref> an increase of 4% since the 2014 census.<ref name=census2014detail>{{Cite web |url=http://census.ge/files/pdf/2014-wlis-aRweris-ZiriTadi-Sedegebi.pdf |title=Main Results of the 2014 Census (Publication) |work=Census.ge, National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat) |pages=316–317 |date=2016-04-28 |accessdate=2022-03-31 |language=ka |archive-date=2020-02-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200213232229/http://census.ge/files/pdf/2014-wlis-aRweris-ZiriTadi-Sedegebi.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> This increase makes Rustavi the [[List of cities and towns in Georgia (country)|fourth most populous]] city in Georgia, just behind [[Kutaisi]], which is suffering from ongoing contraction. Rustavi experienced rapid growth due to [[Industrialization in the Soviet Union|industrialization]] under [[Jozef Stalin|Stalin]]. Following Georgian independence in 1991, and the years of civil war and crisis that followed, many residents emigrated due to unemployment. The low point was reached around 2002, with growth picking up in the 2010s while industrial activities and employment have resumed. 

In 2014, the '''ethnic composition''' of Rustavi was almost 92% [[Georgians|Georgian]], with minority communities of [[Azerbaijanis in Georgia|Azerbaijanis]] (3.7%), [[Armenians]] (1.6%) and [[Russians]] (1.2%). More than 500 [[Ossetians]] (0.4%) lived in the city. Other ethnic minorities included 315 [[Ukrainians]], 239 [[Yazidis]], 166 [[Pontic Greeks|Greeks]], 55 [[Assyrians in Georgia|Assyrians]] and smaller numbers of [[Kist people|Kists]], [[Jews]], [[Abkhazians|Abkhazian]] and [[Lom people|Bosha]].

The proportions of the ethnic minorities in the city has not always been this way. Especially in the Soviet period these were completely different, with striking numbers of Russians. The city also had a substantial Ossetian community. Migration during and after the fall of the Soviet Union and due to civil conflicts has made the city much more mono-ethnic, i.e. Georgian.
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right"
! colspan=19 | Historical ethnic composition Rustavi
|-
! Year 
! colspan=2 | 1959<ref name="etn59">{{Cite web | url=http://www.ethno-kavkaz.narod.ru/rngeorgia.html | title=Population of Georgia | accessdate=2022-03-31 | work=Etno Kaukasus | language=ru }}</ref> 
! colspan=2 | 1970<ref name="etn70">{{Cite web | url=http://pop-stat.mashke.org/georgia-ethnic1970.htm | title=Ethnic composition of Georgia 1970 | accessdate=2022-03-03 | work=Population Statistics Eastern Europe and former USSR | language=en }}</ref> 
! colspan=2 | 1979<ref name="etn79">{{Cite web | url=http://pop-stat.mashke.org/georgia-ethnic1979.htm | title=Ethnic composition of Georgia 1979 | accessdate=2022-03-03 | work=Population Statistics Eastern Europe and former USSR | language=en }}</ref> 
! colspan=2 |1989<ref name="etn89">{{Cite web | url=http://pop-stat.mashke.org/georgia-ethnic1989.htm | title=Ethnic composition of Georgia 1989 | accessdate=2022-03-03 | work=Population Statistics Eastern Europe and former USSR | language=en }}</ref> 
! colspan=2 | 2002<ref name="notecensus2002"/><ref name="etn02">{{Cite web | url=http://pop-stat.mashke.org/georgia-ethnic2002.htm | title=Ethnic composition of Georgia 2002 | accessdate=2022-03-03 | work=Population Statistics Eastern Europe and former USSR | language=en }}</ref> 
! colspan=2 | 2014<ref name="etn14">{{Cite web | url=http://pop-stat.mashke.org/georgia-ethnic-loc2014.htm | title=Ethnic composition of Georgia 2014 | accessdate=2022-03-30 | work=Population Statistics Eastern Europe and former USSR | language=en}}</ref> 
! 2021<ref name="geostatpop"/>  
|-
! Rustavi City<ref name="popcities">{{Cite web | url=http://pop-stat.mashke.org/georgia-cities.htm | title=Population cities & towns of Georgia | accessdate=2022-03-31 | work=Population Statistics Eastern Europe and former USSR | language=en }}</ref> 
! colspan=2 | 62,395 || colspan=2 | {{increase}} 98,210 || colspan=2 | {{increase}} 129,084 || colspan=2 | {{increase}} 158,661 || colspan=2 | {{decrease}} 116,384 || colspan=2 | {{increase}} 125,103 || colspan=2 | {{increase}} 130,072 
|-
| [[Georgians]] || 27,680 || 44.4% || 55,158 || {{increase}} 56.2% || 79,820 || {{increase}} 61.8% || 103,523 || {{increase}} 65.2% || 102,151 || {{increase}} 87.8% || 114,819 || {{increase}} 91.8% ||
|-
| [[Azerbaijanis in Georgia|Azerbaijanis]] || 3,693 || 5.9% || 5,765 || {{decrease}} 5.9% || 7,443 || {{increase}} 5.8% || 11,576 || {{increase}} 7.3% || 4,993 || {{decrease}} 4.3% || 4,661 || {{decrease}} 3.7% ||
|-
| [[Armenians]] || 4,367 || 7.0% || 5,943 || {{decrease}} 6.1% || 6,707 || {{decrease}} 5.2% || 6,872 || {{decrease}} 4.3% || 2,809 || {{decrease}} 2.4% || 1,965 || {{decrease}} 1.6% ||
|-
| [[Russians]] || 19,724 || 31.6% || 21,610 || {{decrease}} 22.0% || 23,060 || {{decrease}} 17.9% || 21,267 || {{decrease}} 13.4% || 3,563 || {{decrease}} 3.1% || 1,459 || {{decrease}} 1.2% ||
|-
| [[Ossetians]] || 1,601 || 2.6% || 3,224 || {{increase}} 3.3% || 4,493 || {{increase}} 3.5% || 5,613 || {{increase}} 3.5% || 1,410 || {{decrease}} 1.2% || 545 || {{decrease}} 0.4% ||
|-
| colspan=15 class="wikitable" style="align:left;text-align:left;background-color:#eaecf0"|Note:{{refn|name="notecensus2002"|The 2014 census found an inexplicable gap with the data from the national statistical office Geostat. UN-assisted research has found the 2002 census was inflated by about 8-9 percent. See,<ref name=retro2017>{{Cite web | url=https://geostat.ge/media/20624/3.-Population-Dynamics_ENGL-_print_F.pdf | title=Population Dynamics in Georgia - An Overview Based on the 2014 General Population Census Data | date=2017-11-29 | access-date=2022-03-30 | work=National Statistics Office of Georgia, Geostat | language=en }}</ref> "1. Introduction", Page 1.}}
|}