| Verified against primary record | |
| Private share of hospital beds | About 80 per cent[1] |
|---|---|
| Public health spending (2022) | 3.1 per cent of GDP, described as still low in international terms[1] |
| Out-of-pocket share | Fell from over 80 per cent in 2011 to about 30 per cent in 2022[1] |
| Regulation of private for-profit providers | Described as very light in the 2017 health system review[2] |
| Hospital accreditation | The hospital association never took on its planned accreditation role[2] |
| Medical tourism in the WHO health system profiles | Not mentioned in either the 2024 profile or the 2017 review[1][2] |
| Independently reported | |
| Surrogate births | About 2,000 a year, roughly doubled in five years[3] |
| Foreign share of prospective parents (2020) | 98 per cent, reported by the health ministry[3] |
| Proposed restriction | A draft law to ban commercial surrogacy and surrogacy for foreigners, proposed to take effect 1 January 2024[3] |
| Bands apply only to the rows beneath them. Whether the proposed surrogacy restriction was enacted, and in what form, could not be confirmed from any official Georgian source for this article. The sources asserting that surrogacy for foreigners remains lawful are commercial providers and advisers with a direct interest in that claim, and none is relied on here. The regulatory characterisation is from a 2017 review and may no longer hold. No typical cost range is given beyond the surrogacy figures reported below, because no official Georgian source publishes prices paid by foreign patients. | |
Medical tourism in Georgia rests on one of the most privatised hospital systems in Europe, with about 80 per cent of hospital beds in private hands, operating under what the WHO European Observatory described in 2017 as very light regulation and without a functioning hospital accreditation body. The country’s most significant documented medical travel activity is international surrogacy, which a Georgian government draft law proposed to prohibit for foreign prospective parents from the start of 2024. Whether that prohibition took effect could not be established from any official Georgian source.
A privatised system, lightly regulated
The WHO European Observatory’s 2024 profile of Georgia records that most providers are private for-profit, accounting for about 80 per cent of hospital beds and most urban primary care, while rural areas are underserved and rely on state-funded primary care from solo practitioners. Public health spending stood at 3.1 per cent of GDP in 2022, which the profile describes as still low in international terms, and the out-of-pocket share of health spending fell from over 80 per cent in 2011 to about 30 per cent in 2022. The profile also notes that the private sector tends to resist central government planning and regulation.[1]
The Observatory’s fuller 2017 health system review sets out how that structure arose. Georgia was extensively privatised and decentralised between 2007 and 2012, most facilities having been autonomous state-owned companies since 1997 rather than under local government or the health ministry. Private for-profit providers predominate and are often vertically integrated with private insurers and pharmaceutical companies, which the authors describe as unusual in the European context.[2]
On oversight, the 2017 review records that the state regulation agency for medical activities licenses facilities and pharmacies and regulates professionals, pharmaceuticals and devices, but that its role is constrained by the lack of a clear legal framework and limited resources. It characterises private for-profit providers as facing very light regulation, states that financial incentives to improve quality are weak, and records that the Georgian hospital association never took on its planned accreditation role.[2]
For a country that attracts foreign patients to private clinics, the absence of a functioning hospital accreditation body is the single most consequential fact in these documents. International accreditation is the usual proxy by which medical travellers judge a facility, and the public health authorities that warn about medical travel abroad consistently note that accreditation does not guarantee a good outcome but that its absence removes even that signal.
Neither document discusses medical tourism, health tourism, foreign patients or Georgians seeking treatment abroad. The 2017 review does record, in a table of patient choices, that choice to have treatment abroad is available, adding that much of this choice is made possible because such a high proportion of spending is out of pocket.[2]
Surrogacy, and a proposed ban
Georgia introduced surrogacy in the late 2000s and became a significant international destination for it. Reporting by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting in August 2023 recorded that surrogate births had roughly doubled in five years to about 2,000 a year, and that in 2020 the health ministry reported 98 per cent of prospective parents were foreigners. It gave the cost in Georgia as about 25,000 to 50,000 United States dollars, against over 100,000 dollars in the few American states where the practice is lawful.[3]
A 98 per cent foreign share is among the sharpest concentration figures recorded anywhere in this series. It describes an activity conducted almost entirely for non-residents, which is the definition of medical travel in its strictest sense, and it is attributed to the health ministry rather than to an industry body.[3]
The same report recorded a government draft law to ban commercial surrogacy, permitting the practice only on a principle of altruism, restricting eligibility to Georgian couples, limiting any compensation to inconveniences such as medical examination costs or lost earnings, and prohibiting advertising of surrogacy services. The proposed commencement date was 1 January 2024. The health minister was reported as calling the existing framework vague and as allowing unethical and bad practices, with the prime minister and a deputy health minister raising ethical, legal and medical quality concerns, and an obligation under the European Union Association Agreement to regulate the sector cited among the reasons. Earlier restrictions introduced in 2020 had limited services to heterosexual couples married or cohabiting for at least a year.[3]
An unresolved legal position
At the time of the report the measure was a draft under discussion and had not been approved. No official Georgian source confirming whether it was enacted, amended or abandoned was located for this article.[3]
That gap matters more here than in most entries on this site. Several sources encountered while preparing it assert that surrogacy for foreign parents remains lawful in Georgia, but each is a clinic, agency or legal adviser selling the service, and every one of them has a direct commercial interest in that conclusion. None has been used, and no statement about the present legal position is made here.
Anyone relying on the legality of surrogacy in Georgia should verify it against the Georgian legislative register or the health ministry rather than against a provider, because a change of this kind can strand intending parents and surrogates mid-process.
What the comparative profiles omit
Georgia’s 2024 profile belongs to the Health Systems in Action insight series, produced by WHO Europe with the European Observatory for 15 countries in the WHO European Region outside the European Union. The series is built on a common template to ensure consistency and support cross-country comparison, is updated every two years, and draws on WHO country offices, WHO Europe technical programmes, the WHO Barcelona Office for Health Systems Financing and the Observatory’s country monitoring.[4]
Because a common template is used, the absence of medical tourism from the Georgian profile is not an isolated editorial choice. The same silence appears in the profiles for Armenia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, which indicates that inbound patient care is not among the dimensions these comparative health system assessments measure at all.[4]
Limits of the evidence
No official Georgian count of foreign patients, of medical tourism revenue, or of fertility patients by nationality was located, and none has been estimated. The surrogacy figures come from journalism citing ministry statements rather than from a published ministry series, and they are three years old. The regulatory characterisation is from a 2017 review and may have been superseded. The current legal status of surrogacy for foreigners is unresolved in this entry and is flagged rather than guessed.
See also
- Surrogacy abroad, the activity that dominates Georgian medical travel
- Fertility tourism, the wider field it sits within
- Medical tourism and health equity, relevant where 98 per cent of a service serves non-residents
- Medical tourism in Armenia, assessed on the same comparative template
- Clinical outcomes in medical tourism, which accreditation is normally used to signal
References
- European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and WHO Regional Office for Europe. Health systems in action 2024: Georgia. 4 December 2024. Verified against primary record: the publication entry was opened and the predominance of private for-profit providers at about 80 per cent of hospital beds, the reliance of rural areas on state-funded solo practitioners, public health spending at 3.1 per cent of GDP in 2022 described as still low in international terms, the fall in the out-of-pocket share from over 80 per cent in 2011 to about 30 per cent in 2022, the concentration of doctors in Tbilisi and the acute nurse shortage, the observation that the private sector resists central planning and regulation, and the absence of any reference to medical tourism or foreign patients were read directly. Retrieved 23 October 2026.
- Richardson, E. and Berdzuli, N. Georgia: Health System Review. Health Systems in Transition, volume 19 number 4, 2017. European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. Verified against primary record: the review was opened and the extensive privatisation and decentralisation between 2007 and 2012, the status of facilities as autonomous state-owned companies since 1997, the predominance of private for-profit providers and their vertical integration with insurers and pharmaceutical companies, the constrained role of the state regulation agency, the characterisation of private for-profit providers as facing very light regulation, the weak financial incentives for quality, the statement that the hospital association never took on its planned accreditation role, the out-of-pocket shares for 2000, 2010 and 2015, and the table entry recording that choice to have treatment abroad is available because so high a proportion is paid out of pocket were read directly. Retrieved 23 October 2026.
- Seturidze, G. Georgia Set to Ban Commercial Surrogacy. Institute for War and Peace Reporting, 8 August 2023, republished by ecoi.net. Independently reported: the report was opened and the status of the measure as a draft not yet approved, the terms of the proposed ban including the altruism principle, the restriction to Georgian couples, the limits on compensation and the advertising prohibition, the proposed commencement date of 1 January 2024, the statements attributed to the health minister, prime minister and deputy health minister, the European Union Association Agreement obligation among the stated reasons, the figure of about 2,000 surrogate births a year having roughly doubled in five years, the ministry’s 2020 report that 98 per cent of prospective parents were foreigners, the cost comparison with the United States, the introduction of surrogacy in the late 2000s and the 2020 restrictions were read directly. Retrieved 23 October 2026.
- WHO Regional Office for Europe. WHO Europe and European Observatory launch Health Systems in Action insights for non-EU countries. 28 January 2025. Verified against primary record: the page was opened and the identity and producers of the Health Systems in Action insight series, its coverage of 15 non-EU countries in the WHO European Region with the correction removing two, the named countries including Georgia, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the stated purpose of providing a concise health system overview and a baseline for tracking change, the use of a common template to support cross-country comparison, the two-yearly update cycle and the sources the series draws on were read directly. Retrieved 23 October 2026.
Sourcing note: this entry makes no statement about whether surrogacy for foreign parents is currently lawful in Georgia, because no official Georgian source settling the question was located. Commercial clinics, agencies and legal advisers asserting that it remains lawful were deliberately excluded, since each has a direct interest in that conclusion. The surrogacy figures are attributed to journalism citing health ministry statements and are reported as such rather than as a published official series. The regulatory characterisation is dated to the 2017 review it comes from.