The municipalities were first established in 2006. Most of them were successors to the earlier subdivisions, known as
raioni (რაიონი), 'districts'. In addition, new municipalities were formed to govern those settlements in the disputed entities of
Abkhazia and
South Ossetia that at the time remained under Georgia's control. After the
Russo-Georgian War of 2008, Georgia treats these municipalities as parts of its
occupied territories. The former districts not under Georgia's effective sovereignty at the moment of the local government reform of 2006 were not transformed into municipalities. Rather, the laws of Georgia include a notion that the final mode of subdivision and system of local self-government should be established after the restoration of the state jurisdiction over the occupied territories. Each municipality is divided into administrative units (ადმინისტრაციული ერთეული), which can comprise one or several settlements. The municipalities outside the two
autonomous republics of
Adjara and of
Abkhazia and the capital city of
Tbilisi are grouped, on a provisional basis, into nine
regions:
Guria,
Imereti,
Kakheti,
Kvemo Kartli,
Mtskheta-Mtianeti,
Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti,
Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti,
Samtskhe-Javakheti, and
Shida Kartli. == List of municipalities as of 2019 ==