Nias Regency is a
regency in
North Sumatra
North Sumatra ( id, Sumatra Utara) is a province of Indonesia located on the northern part of the island of Sumatra. Its capital and largest city is Medan. North Sumatra is Indonesia's fourth most populous province after West Java, East Java and ...
province, Indonesia; it lies on the east side of
Nias
Nias ( id, Pulau Nias, Nias language: ''Tanö Niha'') (sometimes called Little Sumatra in English) is an island located off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Nias is also the name of the archipelago () of which the island is the centre ...
Island. The regency originally covered the entire island, but was reduced to the northern half, with an area of 3,495.39 square kilometres, following the creation of the new regency of
Nias Selatan in 2003. It was further reduced by the creation of the new regencies of
Nias Utara and
Nias Barat and the independent municipality of
Gunungsitoli
Gunungsitoli is a city located in North Sumatra province, Indonesia, on the Indian Ocean island of Nias, west of Sumatra. Gunungsitoli is the island's only city and is the main hub for the island and surrounding smaller islands. Located on the n ...
from other parts of Nias Regency on 29 October 2008. Since the separation of the new regencies and municipality, the reduced Regency now covers 853.42 km
2 of land in the eastern part of the island (partly surrounding the coastal city of Gunungsitoli), and had a population of 131,377 at the 2010 Census and 146,672 at the 2020 Census. The official estimate as at mid 2021 was 147,794.Its seat is the town of Gido.
Administration
The regency was previously divided administratively into 32
districts
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...
(''kecamatan''). However, following the creation of the new
North Nias Regency,
West Nias Regency and the newly independent city of
Gunungsitoli
Gunungsitoli is a city located in North Sumatra province, Indonesia, on the Indian Ocean island of Nias, west of Sumatra. Gunungsitoli is the island's only city and is the main hub for the island and surrounding smaller islands. Located on the n ...
, the residual Nias Regency was composed of only nine districts, although a tenth district (Sogaeadu) was created in 2012 from part of Gido district. These districts are tabulated below with their areas (in km
2) and their 2010 Census
[Biro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011.] and 2020 Census populations, together with the official estimates as at mid 2021.
[Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2022.] The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the number of administrative villages (rural ''desa'' and urban ''kelurahan'') in each district, and its postal code.
Note: (a) the population of Songaeadu in 2010 is included with the figure for Gido district (from which it was split in 2012).
References
{{coord, 0.7700, N, 97.7500, E, source:wikidata, display=title
Regencies of North Sumatra