[5][6] Later, the region became part of Kewedanan Barito Hilir, which the new Indonesian government inherited after independence.

Soil mostly consist of alluvium sediments from rivers and peat in swamp regions, with little to no volcanic material.

[9] The regency's economy is dominated by agriculture and fishery which consist of 19.34% of its gross regional product as of 2020.

Mining is rapidly declining with decrease of 15.55% in 2020, while the fastest growing sector is social service and communication with increase of 21.37% and 17.69% respectively.

[10] Due to growing reliance on service and restaurant sector especially in town of Buntok, the region has been hard hit by pandemic and restrictions it follows.

[11][10] However, the recent increase of information and communication sector according to Statistics Indonesia was credited to the pandemic.

According to Statistics Indonesia, in 2020, livestock population in the regency is dominated by pigs with figure of 14,259 followed by water buffalo with 9,794.

Life expectancy was 67 years which is lower than national average, and literacy rate was 99.75%.

[12] Sex ratio on the regency was 105, which means there are on average 105 men per 100 female population.

[12] As with most of regions in Indonesia, the population is dominated by youth on reproductive age above 15 years, consist of 66,812 people out of 131,100 in the regency.

Buntok has a tropical rainforest climate (Af) with heavy rainfall year-round.

Head of districts are appointed directly by the regent with the recommendation of the regency secretary.

In addition, there are two higher education institutions in the regency, both of them located in South Dusun district.

[21] On healthcare, there is one hospital located in town of Buntok, two polyclinics, 64 puskesmas, and six registered pharmacies in the regency.

[12] Despite being located inland, the regency have passenger ports utilizing Barito River such as in Buntok and Jelapat.

[23][24] The regency is served by Sanggu Airport, located in town of Buntok, with regular flights to major cities in Kalimantan such as Palangka Raya and Banjarmasin.