In 1897, it constituted 44,607 square kilometres (17,223 sq mi) in area and had a population of 1,051,032 inhabitants.

The governorate covered areas of central and southeastern Georgia, the partially recognised state of South Ossetia, most of the Lori Province of Armenia, small parts of northwestern Azerbaijan, and a minuscule southern part of Ingushetia of Russia.

It was initially formed from uezds of Tiflis, Gori, Telavi, Signakh, Elizavetpol, Erivan, Nakhichevan and Alexandropol and the okrugs of Zakatal, Ossetian and Tushino-Pshavo-Khevsurian.

The Tiflis Governorate lasted within these boundaries for some 50 years until the Russian Revolution and subsequent founding of the Democratic Republic of Georgia in 1918.

The plurality of the population indicated Georgian to be their mother tongue, with significant Armenian, Tatar,[c] Russian, and Ossetian speaking minorities.