It includes two autonomous republics (Georgian: ავტონომიური რესპუბლიკა, avt’onomiuri resp’ublik’a), those of Adjara and Abkhazia, the latter being outside Georgia's effective control.

[2] Adjara is subdivided into 6 municipalities: 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.

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.

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 by presidential decrees from 1994 to 1996, on a provisional basis until the secessionist conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia are resolved.