However, in 2014 it was divided into three regencies, with two new regencies being cut out of it; the residual area now is 1,647.87 km2, and the districts in that area contained a population of 94,388 at the 2010 Census[2] while the 2020 Census produced a total of 115,207;[3] the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 120,873[1] The capital is nominally at Pasarwajo, but the regency's administration is actually undertaken in the city of Baubau on the south-west of the island, although that city is administratively separate from the Regency.

At the time of the 2010 Census, the residual Buton Regency was divided into 21 districts (kecamatan), but in 2012 it was announced that the regency was to be further split, with the southern seven districts split off to form a new Buton Selatan Regency, and seven other districts split off to form a new Buton Tengah Regency (although the latter does not contain any part of Buton Island and is situated entirely on Muna Island and Kabaena Island).

[1] The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the number of villages in each district (totaling 83 rural desa and 12 urban kelurahan), and its post code.

(c) comprising 9 kelurahan (Awainulu, Kahulungaya, Kambula-Bulana, Kombeli, Pasarwajo, Saragi, Takimpo, Wagola and Wasaga) and 13 desa.

The following climate data is for the town of Pasarwajo, the seat of the regency.