A recent public opinion poll shows that 70 percent of the respondents in Georgia support their country's membership in NATO, a U.S.-based institute said on Wednesday.

The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) announced the poll results at a presentation, saying that 59 percent of the respondents did not know when their country would join the military alliance while 23 percent thought it would be in 2014 or later.

The poll also found that 74 percent of the respondents in the South Caucasus country supported Georgia in joining the European Union.

Around 53 percent of the respondents support the government's request to the United States of increasing Georgia's defense capabilities, according the NDI survey.

The survey, conducted between February 22 and March 5, interviewed 3,161 Georgians.

Forty-nine percent of the respondents thought there was democracy in Georgia whereas 34 percent did not agree.

Luis Navaro, director of the NDI Office in Tbilisi, said at the presentation that the recent survey showed slightly increased support compared with a previous survey conducted last year.

Eighty-eight percent of the respondents did not like their country's current relations with Russia.

About 49 percent thought Russia was currently a real threat to Georgia, whereas 30 percent thought the threat has been exaggerated.