| Autonomous Republics, Regions, Municipalities | |
|---|---|
| Category | Unitary state |
| Location | Georgia |
| Number | 9 regions 2 autonomous republics 76 municipalities |
| Populations | (Regions only): 51,000 (Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti) – 487,000 (Imereti) |
| Areas | (Regions only): 2,030 km2 (785 sq mi) (Guria) – 11,380 km2 (4,393 sq mi) (Kakheti) |
| Government |
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Legislature |
Judiciary |
 Georgia portal |
Thesubdivisions ofGeorgia areautonomous republics (Georgian:ავტონომიური რესპუბლიკა,avt’onomiuri resp’ublik’a), regions (მხარე,mkhare), andmunicipalities (Georgian:მუნიციპალიტეტი,munitsip’alit’et’i).[1]
Georgia is aunitary state, whose borders are defined by the law as corresponding to the situation of 21 December 1991. It includes twoautonomous republics (Georgian:ავტონომიური რესპუბლიკა,avt’onomiuri resp’ublik’a), those ofAdjara andAbkhazia, the latter being outside Georgia's effective control. The formerSoviet-era autonomous entity ofSouth Ossetia is also not currently under Georgia'sde facto jurisdiction, and has no final defined constitutional status in Georgia's territorial arrangement.[2]
The territory of Georgia is currently subdivided into a total of 69 municipalities of which 5 areself-governingcities (ქალაქი,kalaki), including the nation's capital ofTbilisi, and 64 municipalities consisting of multiple urban or rural settlements which are grouped in administrativecommunities (თემი, temi) within the municipality. 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, andShida Kartli. Tbilisi itself is divided into ten districts (რაიონი,raioni).[2]
The twoautonomous republics,Abkhazia andAdjara, were established during theSoviet era and are recognized by the modernConstitution of Georgia adopted in 1995.[2]
Adjara is subdivided into 6 municipalities:
As a result of the military conflicts in1992–1993 and2008, Georgia has no effective control over Abkhazia, whose declaration of independence is recognized byRussia and three otherUN member states. Georgia considers Abkhazia as its autonomous republic, whose government sits in exile in Tbilisi, and currently anoccupied territory. Abkhazia's territory, in theKodori Valley, which had been under Georgia's control prior to the Russo–Georgian War of 2008, isde jure the self-governing community ofAzhara.[2] Abkhazia's secessionist government divides the entity's territory into seven districts (raion).
South Ossetia enjoyed the status of anautonomous oblast in the Soviet era. When Georgia became independent, South Ossetia covered four municipalities that arede jure in separate present-day Georgian regions (established only after 1994): the eastern tip ofRacha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti, the north-east part ofImereti, the northern half ofShida Kartli, and the western part ofMtskheta-Mtianeti.
After the military conflicts in1991–1992 and2008, Georgia considers the former Autonomous Oblast of South Ossetia an occupied territory. Its status is not constitutionally defined by Georgia, but there is anAdministration 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 theirde jure status.[2] 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.[2][3]
Regions (mkhare) were established bypresidential 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 byPrime Minister, the State Commissioner (სახელმწიფო რწმუნებული), informally known as "governor" (გუბერნატორი).[2]
| Region | Population | Population Density (/km2) | Area of Region (km2) | Zone | Additional Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tbilisi | 1,241,700 | 3,194.38 | 504.2 | East | |
| Imereti | 463,100 | 83 | 6,475 | West | Small partde facto part ofSouth Ossetia, consideredoccupied by Russia by Georgia |
| Adjara | 361,400 | 166.72 | 2,880 | West | |
| Kvemo Kartli | 442,800 | 70 | 6,072 | East | |
| Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti | 299,300 | 45 | 7,440 | West | |
| Kakheti | 306,200 | 28 | 11,311 | East | |
| Shida Kartli | 249,800 | 46.2 | 5,729 | East | Partiallyde facto part ofSouth Ossetia, consideredoccupied by Russia by Georgia |
| Abkhazia | 240,705 | 28 | 8,660 | West | De factoindependent. Consideredoccupied by Russia by Georgia. |
| Samtskhe-Javakheti | 147,400 | 25 | 6,413 | East | |
| Guria | 104,300 | 56 | 2,033 | West | |
| Mtskheta-Mtianeti | 93,300 | 14 | 6,786 | East | Small partde facto part ofSouth Ossetia, consideredoccupied by Russia by Georgia. |
| Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti | 27,100 | 6.4 | 4,990 | West | Small partde facto part ofSouth Ossetia, consideredoccupied by Russia by Georgia. |
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According to the Georgian law, a municipality is a settlement or a group of settlements with defined borders and self-government.[3] 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 asraioni (district).[2][4]
| Autonomous republics | .svg) | |
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