On 14 December 2012, the Indonesian Parliament approved the establishment of a new East Kolaka Regency (Kabupaten Kolaka Timur), and on 11 January 2013, under Law No.

8 of 2013, the nine eastern kecamatan were removed to form the new East Kolaka Regency, leaving the eleven western kecamatan in Kolaka Regency.

The twelve districts are tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 Census[2] and the 2020 Census,[3] together with the official estimates as at mid 2023.<[1] The table also includes the location of the district headquarters, the number of administrative villages in each district (totaling 100 rural desa and 35 urban kelurahan), and their post codes.

Kolaka Regency has a tropical rainforest climate (Af) with moderate rainfall from August to October and heavy rainfall from November to July.

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