Georgia occupies an area of about 70 000 sq km (population 5,5 million) and is thus twice the size of Belgium and nearly twice as large as Switzerland. It takes up the central and Western pairs of Transcaucasia. In the West it is open the Black sea. Georgia is a mountainous country. In the North rises the greater Caucasus system of mountain ranges and is situated at the boundary of two climatic zones - moderate and subtropical. There are many rivers and they flow into the Black and Caspian seas.