It covers an area of 4,237.74 km2 and had a population of 264,587 at the 2010 Census[2] and of 308,524 at the 2020 Census;[3] the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 322,946 - comprising 165,487 males and 157,459 females.<[1] The administrative centre is in the town of Andoolo.

At the time of the 2010 Census, the South Konawe Regency was divided into twenty-two districts (kecamatan), but subsequently three additional districts were created in 2014 by the division of existing districts - Andoolo Barat, Kolono Timur and Sabulakoa.

[1] The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the number of administrative villages in each district (totaling 336 rural desa and 15 urban kelurahan), and its postal code.

South Konawe has a tropical rainforest climate (Af) with moderate rainfall from August to November and heavy rainfall from December to July.

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