Formerly, the regency included the town of Banjar, which was separated out to become an independent city on 11 December 2002; it also included areas bordering the Indian Ocean, but these southern districts were cut off to form a separate Pangandaran Regency on 25 October 2012.

The regency now covers 1,597.67 km2, and had a 2020 census population of 1,229,069,[2]> but the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 1,251,544 (comprising 625,771 males and 625,773 females).

[4] A number of artistic and tourist attractions are located in the town of Ciamis Regency.

Six of these districts (Baregbeg, Lumbung, Mangunjaya, Purwadadi, Sindangkasih and Sukamantri) had been created between the censuses of 2000 and 2010.

The first seven of the districts listed below, with a combined area of 483.46 km2 and 310,330 inhabitants in mid 2023, lie to the south and west of Banjar city, whose area (not being administered by the regency) nearly separates these southern districts geographically from the rest of the regency to the north.