It was created from the bifurcation of the original Hulu Sungai Regency and formerly covered a much larger area in the north of the province, but on 14 July 1965 the northern districts were split off to create a separate Tabalong Regency, and on 25 February 2003 the eastern districts were split off to create a separate Balangan Regency.

North Hulu Sungai Regency is divided into ten districts (kecamatan), listed below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 Census[2] and 2020 Census,[3] together with the official estimates as of mid-2023.

[1] The table includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the number of administrative villages in each district (a total of 214 rural desa and 5 urban kelurahan - the latter all in Amuntai Tengah District), and its postcode.

Note: (a) including the 5 kelurahan of Antasari, Kebun Sari, Murung Sari, Paliwara and Sungai Malang.

Amuntai has a tropical rainforest climate (Af) with moderate rainfall from July to September and heavy rainfall in the remaining months.