It borders Iran to the south and Armenia to the west, as well as the economic regions of Karabakh, and Ganja-Dashkasan.

The region consists of the districts of Kalbajar, Lachin, Qubadli, Zangilan, and Jabrayil.

Its population (the refugees and IDPs living outside the economic region in Azerbaijan) was estimated to be at 343.5 thousand people in January 2021.

[4] According to researcher Laurence Broers, the region's new name, East Zangezur, is motivated by Azerbaijani irredentism; it borders Armenia's Syunik province, implying that there is a "Western Zangezur"—that is, Syunik itself.

[5] A few days after the Eastern Zangezur Economic region was created, Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev announced in a speech: "Western Zangezur is our ancestral land … we must return there, and we will return.