Adigeni ( ka, ადიგენის მუნიციპალიტეტი) is a municipality in Georgia's southern region of Samtskhe-Javakheti. Covering an area of about . As of 2021 it had a

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 16,092 people. The borough (''daba'') Adigeni is its administrative centre.

Administrative divisions

Adigeni municipality is administratively divided into two boroughs ( Adigeni and Abastumani), 18 communities (თემი, temi), and 55 villages (სოფელი, sopeli).

Politics

Adigeni Municipal Assembly ( Georgian: ადიგენის საკრებულო) is the representative body in Adigeni Municipality, consisting of 33 members which is elected every four years. The last election was held in October 2021. Gocha Qimadze of

Georgian Dream Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia (GD), also colloquially known as the Kotsebi, is a Conservatism, conservative and populism, populist List of political parties in Georgia (country), political party in Georgia (country), Georgia, which has ...

was elected mayor and the ruling Georgian Dream remained a dominant force in Adigeni.

Population

By the start of 2021 the population was determined at 16,092 people, a slight decrease compared to the 2014 census. The population density of the municipality is . The population of Adigeni is practically monoethnic Georgian. By far the largest ethnic minority are the Armenians (almost 400, 2.2%) who mainly live in Abastumani and make up 18% of the population there. Other minorities are several dozen Russians and a few

Azerbaijanis Azerbaijanis (; , ), Azeris (, ), or Azerbaijani Turks (, ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group living mainly in the Azerbaijan (Iran), Azerbaijan region of northwestern Iran and the Azerbaijan, Republic of Azerbaijan. They are predomin ...

, Ossetes,

Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

Abkhazians The Abkhazians or Abkhazes are a Northwest Caucasian languages, Northwest Caucasian ethnic group, mainly living in Abkhazia, a disputed region on the northeastern coast of the Black Sea. A large Abkhaz diaspora population resides in Turkey, th ...

and

Pontic Greeks The Pontic Greeks (; or ; , , ), also Pontian Greeks or simply Pontians, are an ethnically Greek group indigenous to the region of Pontus, in northeastern Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). They share a common Pontic Greek culture that is di ...

. Furthermore, 67.7% of the population consists of followers of the

Georgian Orthodox Church The Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სამოციქულო ავტოკეფალური მართლმადიდებელი ეკლესია, tr), commonl ...

and 20.1% is

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

. Another large group by Georgian standards are the

Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

(10%). Furthermore, there are small numbers of followers of the

Armenian Apostolic Church The Armenian Apostolic Church () is the Autocephaly, autocephalous national church of Armenia. Part of Oriental Orthodoxy, it is one of the most ancient Christianity, Christian churches. The Armenian Apostolic Church, like the Armenian Catholic ...

and

Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co-fou ...

. In November 1944, the

Meskhetian Turks Meskhetian Turks, also referred to as Turkish Meskhetians, Ahiska Turks, and Turkish Ahiskans, (; ka, მესხეთის თურქები ''Meskhetis turk'ebi'') are a subgroup of ethnic Turkish people formerly inhabiting the Mes ...

, a Turkish-speaking ethnic group of predominantly Muslim faith living in this area, were deported to Soviet Central Asian republics as part of a Stalinist resettlement operation. At that time, the Meskhetians constituted three quarters of the population of the rajon Adigeni (1939: 32,923 of the 41,314 inhabitants). Attempts to return them to independent Georgia have failed, with local resistance.

External links

Website Municipality

Explanatory notes

References