Administrative divisions of Georgia (country)

Autonomous Republics, Regions, Municipalities
Autonomous Republics, Regions, Municipalities
	Abkhazia AR Adjara AR Guria Imereti Kakheti Kvemo Kartli Mtskheta-; Mtianeti Racha-Lechkhumi; and Kvemo Svaneti Samegrelo-; Zemo Svaneti Samtskhe-; Javakheti Shida Kartli Tbilisi Black Sea Armenia Azerbaijan Russian Federation Turkey
Category	Unitary state
Location	Georgia
Number	9 Regions; 2 Autonomous Republics; 76 Municipalities
Populations	(Regions only): 51,000 (Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti) – 511,300 (Kvemo Kartli)
Areas	(Regions only): 2,030 km2 (785 sq mi) (Guria) – 11,380 km2 (4,393 sq mi) (Kakheti)
Government	Municipal bodies, Autonomous Republican government, National government;

The subdivisions of Georgia are autonomous republics (Georgian: ავტონომიური რესპუბლიკა, avtonomiuri respublika), regions (მხარე, mkhare), and municipalities (მუნიციპალიტეტი, munits'ipaliteti).

Georgia a unitary state, whose borders are defined by the law as corresponding to the situation of 21 December 1991. It includes two autonomous republics (Georgian: ავტონომიური რესპუბლიკა, avtonomiuri respublika), those of Adjara and Abkhazia, the latter being outside Georgia's effective control. The former, Soviet-era autonomous entity of South Ossetia, also not currently under Georgia's de facto jurisdiction, has no final defined constitutional status in Georgia's territorial arrangement.^[1]

The territory of Georgia is currently subdivided into a total of 76 municipalities—12 self-governing cities (ქალაქი, k'alak'i), including the nation's capital of Tbilisi, and 64 communities (თემი, t'emi). The municipalities outside the two autonomous republics and Tbilisi are grouped, on a provisional basis, into nine regions (mkhare): Guria, Imereti, Kakheti, Kvemo Kartli, Mtskheta-Mtianeti, Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti, Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti, Samtskhe-Javakheti, and Shida Kartli. Tbilisi itself is divided into ten districts (რაიონი, raioni).^[1]

Autonomous republics

The two autonomous republics, Abkhazia and Adjara, were established during the Soviet era and are recognized by the modern Constitution of Georgia adopted in 1995.^[1]

Adjara

Adjara is subdivided into 6 municipalities:

The self-governing city of Batumi, which is the entity's capital;
The self-governing community of Keda;
The self-governing community of Kobuleti;
The self-governing community of Khelvachauri;
The self-governing community of Shuakhevi;
The self-governing community of Khulo.

Abkhazia

As a result of the military conflicts in 1992–1993 and 2008, Georgia has no effective control over Abkhazia, whose declaration of independence is recognized by Russia and three other UN member states. Georgia considers Abkhazia as its autonomous republic, whose government sits in exile in Tbilisi, and currently an occupied territory. Abkhazia's territory, in the Kodori Valley, which had been under Georgia's control prior to the Russo–Georgian War of 2008, is de jure the self-governing community of Azhara.^[1] Abkhazia's secessionist government divides the entity's territory into seven districts (raion).

South Ossetia

South Ossetia enjoyed the status of an autonomous oblast in the Soviet era. When Georgia became independent, South Ossetia covered four municipalities that are de jure in separate today's Georgian regions (established only after 1994): the eastern tip of Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti, the north-east part of Imereti, the northern half of Shida Kartli, and the western part of Mtskheta-Mtianeti.

After the military conflicts in 1991–1992 and 2008, Georgia considers the former Autonomous Oblast of South Ossetia an occupied territory. Its status is not constitutionally defined by Georgia, but there is a Provisional Administration of South Ossetia sitting in exile in Tbilisi. The territory which had been under Georgia's control prior to the Russo–Georgian War of 2008, was organized into four municipalities, which retain their de jure status.^[1] South Ossetia's secessionist government divides the entity's territory into four districts (raion).

The laws of Georgia include a notion that the final subdivision and system of local self-government should be established after the restoration of the state's sovereignty in the occupied territories.^[1]^[2]

Regions

Regions (mkhare) were established by presidential decrees from 1994 to 1996, on a provisional basis until the secessionist conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia are resolved. They roughly correspond to the traditional principal historical and geographical areas of Georgia. A region is not a self-governing unit; its function is, rather, to coordinate communication of several municipalities (with the exception of the municipalities of Adjara and that of Tbilisi) with the central government of Georgia, which is represented in a region by an official appointed by Prime Minister, the State Commissioner (სახელმწიფო რწმუნებული), informally known as "governor" (გუბერნატორი).^[1]

Population of Regions
Region	Population	Population Density (/km²)	Area of Region (km²)	Additional Notes
Tbilisi	1,158,700	3,194.38	504.2	Metro has 1,485,293
Imereti	536,052	83	6,475
Kvemo Kartli	423,986	70	6,072
Adjara	336,077	135.32	2,880
Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti	331,145	45	7,440
Kakheti	319,144	28	11,311
Shida Kartli	264,633	46.2	5,729
Abkhazia	240,705	28	8,660
Samtskhe– Javakheti	160,262	25	6,413
Guria	113,000	56	2,033
Mtskheta-Mtianeti	94,370	14	6,786
Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti	31,927	6.4	4,990

Municipalities

According to the Georgian law, a municipality is a settlement or a group of settlement with defined borders and self-government.^[2] There are two types of municipalities—self-governing cities, five in total, and self-governing communities, 64 in total as of January 2019. The current municipalities were established between 2006 and 2017. Most of the municipalities recapitulate the boundaries and names of earlier subdivisions, known as raioni (district).^[1]^[3]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h "ტერიტორიული მოწყობა და მმართველობა [Territorial Structure and Government]". Administration of the President of Georgia. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
^ ^a ^b "ადგილობრივი თვითმმართველობის კოდექსი [Code of Local Self-Government]". Organic law No. 1958-IIს of 5 February 2014 (in Georgian). Retrieved 9 July 2015.
^ "Registry of Municipalities". National Agency of Public Registry. Retrieved 9 July 2015.

[pres-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h "ტერიტორიული მოწყობა და მმართველობა [Territorial Structure and Government]". Administration of the President of Georgia. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.

[1958-IIს-2] "ადგილობრივი თვითმმართველობის კოდექსი [Code of Local Self-Government]". Organic law No. 1958-IIს of 5 February 2014 (in Georgian). Retrieved 9 July 2015.

[mreg-3] "Registry of Municipalities". National Agency of Public Registry. Retrieved 9 July 2015.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Administrative divisions of Georgia
Autonomous republics	Abkhazia¹ Adjara
Regions	Guria Imereti Kakheti Kvemo Kartli Mtskheta-Mtianeti Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti Samtskhe–Javakheti Shida Kartli
City with special status	Tbilisi (capital)
Other	South Ossetia¹
¹ De facto independent (see Abkhazia, South Ossetia)

v t e First-level administrative divisions in European countries
Sovereign states	Albania Andorra Armenia² Austria Azerbaijan¹ Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus² Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia¹ Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kazakhstan¹ Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands North Macedonia Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia¹ San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey¹ Ukraine United Kingdom
States with limited recognition	Abkhazia² Kosovo Northern Cyprus² South Ossetia² Transnistria
Table of administrative divisions by country ¹ Spans the conventional boundary between Europe and another continent. ² Considered European for cultural, political and historical reasons but is geographically in Western Asia.

v t e Articles on first-level administrative divisions of Asian countries
Sovereign states	Afghanistan Armenia² Azerbaijan¹ Bahrain Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Cambodia China Cyprus² East Timor Egypt¹ Georgia¹ India Indonesia¹ Iran Iraq Israel Japan Jordan Kazakhstan¹ North Korea province special city South Korea province provincial-level city Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Malaysia Maldives Mongolia Myanmar Nepal Oman Pakistan Philippines Qatar Russia¹ Saudi Arabia Singapore Sri Lanka Syria Tajikistan Thailand Turkey¹ Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Vietnam Yemen¹
States with limited recognition	Abkhazia² Northern Cyprus² Palestine South Ossetia² Taiwan
Table of administrative divisions by country ¹ Spans the conventional boundary between Asia and another continent. ² Considered European for cultural, political and historical reasons but is geographically in Western Asia.