Georgia’s non-profit Demographic Development Fund (DDF) believes that a drop in the rate of marriages and births has brought the small post-Soviet nation to the cusp of a “demographic catastrophe”.

They say apps such as Tinder won’t adequately tackle the problem, and that a government-backed dating service is needed instead.

“We will take a census of all singles, widows, widowers, the divorced and enter their details in a database,” Davit Khizanishvili, the fund’s president, announced.

The DDF has already started to profile Georgia’s singletons, taking note of personal details such as “weight, height and zodiac sign” and adding them to the database, which they say will be administered by a special agency.

But government data suggests the DDF’s prediction of impending catastrophe may be a little alarmist: though the population dropped from 4.5m in 2015 to 3.7m in 2016, the birth rate has merely slowed back down to the 2013 average, after a brief rise in 2014.

Scepticism
Like elsewhere in the South Caucasus, many Georgians view marriage and having children as a serious duty, but many residents aren’t keen on the idea of a nationalised matchmaking service.

The daily newspaper Rezonansi rounded up the concerns voiced by readers on social media, who feared they many now be taxed more if single, that the service would become a “national breeding programme”, and that government would “force [people] to get married”.

So far, the project has carried none of the fun of Denmark’s “Do it for Denmark, Do it for Mum” campaign, which encouraged couples to go on holiday to conceive, opting instead for more somber slogans.

The public’s criticism is also linked to the man perceived to be behind the project, businessman and supposed matchmaker-in-chief Levan Vasadze, who is better known for his crusade against gay rights and abortion.

Though the DDF has denied that the businessman is behind its campaign, many Georgians are apprehensive about links to Vasadze’s right-wing rhetoric.

Though confirmation of whether the government will back the project is yet to come, the database has so far secured the support of the Georgian Orthodox Church, the country’s most influential public institution.

More about: