Tbilisi, March 31 : Georgia witnessed a negative population increase in 2022, according to a report released by the country's statistics authority. The report, issued by the National Statistics Office on Thursday, indicated that the number of the new-born population was about 42,300 in 2022, a decrease of 7.9 per cent year on year, Xinhua news agency reported. Among the new born, 21,800 were male while 20,400 were female, said the report. According to the data, the mortality rate of infants stood at 7.6 per thousand in the year of 2022 across the country. Meanwhile, the report revealed that the death toll reached 49,100 in 2022, a decline of 18 per cent from the previous year. According to the National Statistics Office, this was the third consecutive year of negative population growth in Georgia since 2020. By the end of 2022, the total population of Georgia was 3,688,600. /IANS