South Halmahera Regency

South Halmahera Regency (Kabupaten Halmahera Selatan) is a regency of North Maluku Province, Indonesia. It lies partly on Halmahera Island (occupying most of the southern peninsula of that island) and partly on smaller islands to the west and south of Halmahera. It covers a land area of 8,779.32 km2, and at the 2010 Census it had a population of 198,911 people, while the 2020 Census showed that this had risen to 248,395 and the official estimate in mid 2023 was 255,384 The capital lies at the town of Labuha on Bacan Island.

Islands
Besides the southern part of Halmahera Island, the regency includes a number of archipelagoes and islands. These comprise:
 * Obi Islands, including Obira (main), Bisa, Obilatu and other small islands, comprising in all five kecamatan with 53,182 people in mid 2023.
 * Bacan Islands, including:
 * Bacan Island itself, comprising 7 kecamatan with 87,981 people (in mid 2023)
 * Bacan Lomang Island, comprising 1 kecamatan with 7,858 people
 * Mandioli, comprising 2 kecamatan with 11,117 people
 * Kasiruta, comprising 2 kecamatan with 11,030 people
 * Kayoa Group, comprising 4 kecamatan with 22,386 people
 * Makian, comprising 2 kecamatan with 12,525 people
 * Joronga Islands, comprising 1 kecamatan with 7,117 people, including the southern tip of Halmahera Island
 * the southern peninsula of Halmahera Island (the area is known as Gane), comprising 6 kecamatan with 42,198 people.

Administration
The regency is divided into thirty districts (kecamatan), tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 Census and 2020 Census, together with the official estimates for mid 2023. The table also includes the name of the administrative centre and the number of administrative villages (all classed as rural desa) and of named islands in each district and its post code.

Notes: (a) formally called Kepulauan Batanglomang; situated between Bacan and Mandioli Islands. (b) includes Lata Lata Island (27.9 km2, with 1,201 inhabitants in 2020), located to the northwest of Kasiruta Island, and comprising two desa - Lata Lata and Sidanga. (c) Kayoa Barat (essentially Pulau Muari, but also includes the four small offshore islets of Pulau Guaigo, Pulau Guaigo Kecil, Pulau Intan and Pulau Tamotamo) actually lies closer to Kasiruta Island than to the rest of the Kayoa group; it is geographically adjacent to Lata Lata Island, part of Kasiruta Barat District. (d) includes the Widi Islands off the east coast of the Gane Peninsula.

Languages
The various South Halmahera languages are a branch of Austronesian languages.

Economy
South Halmahera has been designated by provincial governor Abdul Ghani Kasuba as a region for tourism development. The Widi International Fishing Tournament was founded for this purpose. Kasuba also successfully negotiated for the China-based Jinchun Group to build a nine-trillion rupiah nickel smelter in the Obi Islands.