Guria
Guria is Georgia's smallest region, rural tea and hazelnut agriculture providing modest livelihoods while undeveloped tourism potential awaits investment.
Guria represents Georgia's smallest region by population, its rural character and agricultural base creating development challenges that national growth has not resolved. The region lacks major cities; Ozurgeti serves as administrative center for a territory where villages remain the dominant settlement pattern. This rurality concentrates poverty that urban opportunities elsewhere partially drain through migration.
Agriculture focuses on tea, citrus, and hazelnut production—crops suited to the humid subtropical climate that Black Sea proximity provides. These products serve both domestic markets and export, though quality and processing constraints limit value capture. The region historically produced much of Soviet Georgia's tea; post-independence decline left production at fractions of historic levels.
Tourism potential remains largely undeveloped. Beaches, national parks, and cultural heritage exist but lack the infrastructure and marketing that Adjara has developed. Whether Guria can convert natural assets into economic opportunity—or whether it continues functioning primarily as labor source for Batumi and Tbilisi—depends on investment that current conditions do not attract.