As of 1897, 860,021 people populated the oblast. Uzbeks constituted the majority of the population. Significant minorities consisted of Tajiks and Kazakhs. The Turkic speaking population amounted to 609,204 (70,8%) people.
On April 30, 1918, the region became a part of Turkestan ASSR. On October 27, 1924 as a result of the national-territorial reorganisation of Central Asia, the Samarkand region became a part of the Uzbek SSR of the Soviet Union.
¹ Italics indicates renamed or abolished governorates, oblasts, etc on 1 January 1914. ² An asterisk (*) indicates governorates formed or created with renaming after 1 January 1914. ³ Ostsee or Baltic general-governorship was abolished in 1876.