The subdivisions of
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
are
autonomous republics ( ka, ავტონომიური რესპუბლიკა, ''avtonomiuri respublika''), regions (მხარე, ''
mkhare
A ''mkhare'' ( ka, მხარე, ''mxare'') is a type of administrative division in the country of Georgia. It is usually translated as "region".
According to presidential decrees in 1994 and 1996, Georgia's division into regions is on a pr ...
''), and
municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
(მუნიციპალიტეტი, ''munits'ipaliteti'').
Georgia is a
unitary state
A unitary state is a sovereign state governed as a single entity in which the central government is the supreme authority. The central government may create (or abolish) administrative divisions (sub-national units). Such units exercise only ...
, whose borders are defined by the law as corresponding to the situation of 21 December 1991. It includes two
autonomous republics ( ka, ავტონომიური რესპუბლიკა, ''avtonomiuri respublika''), those of
Adjara and
Abkhazia, the latter being outside Georgia's effective control. The former
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
-era autonomous entity of
South Ossetia
South Ossetia, ka, სამხრეთი ოსეთი, ( , ), officially the Republic of South Ossetia – the State of Alania, is a partially recognised landlocked state in the South Caucasus. It has an officially stated populat ...
is also not currently under Georgia's ''
de facto
''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
'' jurisdiction, and has no final defined constitutional status in Georgia's territorial arrangement.
The territory of Georgia is currently subdivided into a total of 69 municipalities of which 5 are
self-governing
__NOTOC__
Self-governance, self-government, or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of ...
cities
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
(ქალაქი, ''k'alak'i''), including the nation's capital of
Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...
, and 64 municipalities consisting of multiple urban or rural settlements which are grouped in administrative
communities (თემი, t'emi) within the municipality. The municipalities outside the two autonomous republics and Tbilisi are grouped, on a provisional basis, into nine regions (''mkhare''):
Guria
Guria ( ka, გურია) is a region (''mkhare'') in Georgia, in the western part of the country, bordered by the eastern end of the Black Sea. The region has a population of 113,000 (2016), with Ozurgeti as the regional capital.
Geography ...
,
Imereti
Imereti ( Georgian: იმერეთი) is a region of Georgia situated in the central-western part of the republic along the middle and upper reaches of the Rioni River. Imereti is the most populous region in Georgia. It consists of 11 munic ...
,
Kakheti,
Kvemo Kartli
Kvemo Kartli ( ka, ქვემო ქართლი, az, Aşağı Kartli) or "Lower Kartli", is a historic province and current administrative region ( mkhare) in southeastern Georgia. The city of Rustavi is the regional capital.
Location
K ...
,
Mtskheta-Mtianeti
Mtskheta-Mtianeti ( ka, მცხეთა-მთიანეთი, literally "Mtskheta-Mountain Area") is a region (Mkhare) in eastern Georgia comprising the town of Mtskheta, which serves as a regional capital, together with its district and th ...
,
Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti
Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti ( ka, რაჭა-ლეჩხუმი და ქვემო სვანეთი, ''Rach’a-Lechkhumi da Kvemo Svaneti'') is a region (Mkhare) in northwestern Georgia with a population of 28,500 (2021), mak ...
,
Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti
Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti ( Georgian: სამეგრელო-ზემო სვანეთი) is a region (Mkhare) in western Georgia with a population of 308,358 (2021) and a surface of . The region has Zugdidi as its administrative center, ...
,
Samtskhe-Javakheti, and
Shida Kartli
Shida Kartli ( ka, შიდა ქართლი, , ; "Inner Kartli") is a landlocked administrative region (''Mkhare'') in eastern Georgia. It comprises a central part of the historical-geographic province of Shida Kartli. With an area of , S ...
. Tbilisi itself is divided into ten districts (რაიონი, ''
raioni
A raion (also spelt rayon) is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type of subnational entity and a division of a city. The word is from the French (meaning 'honeycomb, department'), and is co ...
'').
[
]
Autonomous republics
The two autonomous republics
An autonomous republic is a type of administrative division similar to a province or state. A significant number of autonomous republics can be found within the successor states of the Soviet Union, but the majority are located within Russia. Man ...
, Abkhazia and Adjara, were established during the Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
era and are recognized by the modern Constitution of Georgia adopted in 1995.[
]
Adjara
Adjara is subdivided into 6 municipalities:
# The self-governing city of Batumi
Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ) is the second largest city of Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia's southwest. It is situated in a subtropical zone at the foot of t ...
, which is the entity's capital;
# The self-governing municipality of Keda;
# The self-governing municipality of Kobuleti
Kobuleti ( ka, ქობულეთი ) is a town in Adjara, western Georgia, situated on the eastern coast of the Black Sea. It is the seat of Kobuleti Municipality and a seaside resort, visited annually by Georgians and many former Soviet Union ...
;
# The self-governing municipality of Khelvachauri;
# The self-governing municipality of Shuakhevi
Shuakhevi ( ka, შუახევი ) is a small town in Georgia's Autonomous Republic of Adjara, 67 km east to the regional capital Batumi. Situated on the right bank of the Adjaristsqali River, it is an administrative center of Shuakhevi ...
;
# The self-governing municipality of Khulo
Khulo ( ka, ხულო ) is a townlet ('' daba'') in Adjara, an autonomous republic in southwest Georgia, 88 km east of the regional capital Batumi, in the upper valley of the Adjaristsqali River. The town and adjoining 78 villages form the ...
.
Abkhazia
As a result of the military conflicts in 1992–1993 and 2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
, Georgia has no effective control over Abkhazia, whose declaration of independence is recognized by Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
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 , ab, Кәыдырҭа
, photo =
, photo_caption =
, map = Caucasus mountains#Georgia#Abkhazia
, map_image =
, map_caption =
, location =
, country_type = International ...
, which had been under Georgia's control prior to the Russo–Georgian War of 2008, is ''de jure'' the self-governing community of Azhara.[ 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 present-day Georgian regions (established only after 1994): the eastern tip of Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti
Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti ( ka, რაჭა-ლეჩხუმი და ქვემო სვანეთი, ''Rach’a-Lechkhumi da Kvemo Svaneti'') is a region (Mkhare) in northwestern Georgia with a population of 28,500 (2021), mak ...
, the north-east part of Imereti
Imereti ( Georgian: იმერეთი) is a region of Georgia situated in the central-western part of the republic along the middle and upper reaches of the Rioni River. Imereti is the most populous region in Georgia. It consists of 11 munic ...
, the northern half of Shida Kartli
Shida Kartli ( ka, შიდა ქართლი, , ; "Inner Kartli") is a landlocked administrative region (''Mkhare'') in eastern Georgia. It comprises a central part of the historical-geographic province of Shida Kartli. With an area of , S ...
, and the western part of Mtskheta-Mtianeti
Mtskheta-Mtianeti ( ka, მცხეთა-მთიანეთი, literally "Mtskheta-Mountain Area") is a region (Mkhare) in eastern Georgia comprising the town of Mtskheta, which serves as a regional capital, together with its district and th ...
.
After the military conflicts in 1991–1992 and 2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
, 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
The Provisional Administration of South Ossetia ( ka, სამხრეთ ოსეთის დროებითი ადმინისტრაცია, ''Samxret Osetis droebiti administ’racia'') is an administrative body that Georgi ...
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.[ 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.]
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
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
, the State Commissioner (), informally known as "governor" ().[
]
Municipalities
According to the Georgian law, a municipality is a settlement or a group of settlement with defined borders and self-government. 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).
See also
* List of cities and towns in Georgia
* List of municipalities in Georgia (country)
A municipality ( ka, მუნიციპალიტეტი, tr) is a subdivision of Georgia, consisting of a settlement or a group of settlements (community, თემი, ''temi''), which enjoy local self-government. A total of 69 municipal ...
* List of Georgian regions by Human Development Index
This is a list of Georgian administrative divisions (''mkhare'') by Human Development Index as of 2019. This also includes Adjara, a historical, geographic and political-administrative region of Georgia, and Tbilisi, the capital and largest city. ...
* ISO 3166-2 codes for regions and autonomous republics of Georgia
References
{{Georgia (country) topics
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
Georgia (country) geography-related lists