It was created on 4 October 1999 from the northeastern part of Pontianak Regency.

Landak is also one of the four regencies in West Kalimantan whose population is predominantly Catholic, the others being Sanggau, Sekadau, and Sintang.

Landak Regency consists of thirteen districts (kecamatan), 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 locations of the district administrative centres, the number of administrative villages in each district (all classed as rural desa), and its post code.

Ngabang, the seat of the regency has a tropical rainforest climate (Af) with heavy rainfall year-round.