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Malinau Regency is a regency of North Kalimantan Province in Indonesia. It was created on 4 October 1999 from the western districts of Bulungan Regency. The administrative centre is the town of Malinau. The regency is home to the Kayan Mentarang National Park. It covers an area of 38,973.56 km2, and had a population of 62,423 at the 2010 Census and 82,510 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2024 was 87,582. It is the regency with the largest area in the province (containing over 55% of the provincial area), as well as the least densely populated. Other than that, Malinau is the only regency in North Kalimantan that is predominantly Protestant and the second most-developed region in North Kalimantan after Tarakan in terms of Human Development Index.

Suku asli yang mendiami Kabupaten Malinau adalah suku Dayak. Ada sekitar sebelas suku bangsa asli yang mendiami Kabupaten Malinau yakni Lun Bawang atau dikenal juga dengan Lundayeh, kemudian Dayak Kenyah, Dayak Kayan, Tahol, Dayak Tingalan, Dayak Punan, Abai, Dayak Berusu, Sa’ben, Tidung, dan Bulungan. Dan ada juga suku lainnya seperti Suku Iban, Dayak Murut Tagal dan suku pendatang lainnya seperti suku Jawa, Suku Makassar, Toraja, NTT, Batak, Bali, dll.

Sebuah festival diadakan di kabupaten Malinau, yang melibatkan setidaknya sebelas suku asli di Malinau. Pada tahun 2018, festival tersebut disebut Irau Malinau 2018. Irau artinya pesta rakyat. Irau Malinau merupakan acara tahunan berupa Pesta Budaya yang diadakan memperingati Hari Ulang Tahun kabupaten Malinau, dengan menampilkan budaya-budaya Suku asli Dayak. serta suku- suku Pendatang yang ada di Kabupaten Malinau.

Malinau was originally a residential area inhabited by the Tidung ethnic group. Based on information from Tidung community leaders, the name Malinau originated when the Dutch settled an area formerly known as Selamban. At the time Selamban was inhabited by the Tidung Tribe, while across the Kabiran river the village Pelita Canaan was inhabited by the Dayak Abai tribe. When the Dutch arrived in Selamban they met a group of Abai who were harvesting sago from the sago palm, and asked the name of the river that ran between the two villages. The Abai did not understand the questions, and assumed the Dutch wanted to know what they were working on. One of the Abai said "Mal Inau" which means harvesting sago in the local Abai language; "mal" meaning making, while "inau" means tree. Thus the name Malinau was born. A map of the area made during the colonial period called the local river "the Malinau", and the area has been known as Malinau since.

As people migrated into Selamban, it eventually grew much larger and became a town, renamed Malinau. When Bulungan Regency was divided on 4 October 1999, Malinau became the administrative centre of the newly formed Malinau Regency. In December 2012, Malinau Regency became part of the new province of North Kalimantan.

Malinau borders Nunukan Regency in the north, Tana Tidung, Bulungan, and Berau regencies in the east, East Kutai, Kutai Kartanegara, and West Kutai regencies in the south, and the Malaysian state of Sabah in the west. From its 38,973.56 square kilometres of area, Kayan Mentarang National Park consists of 24.88% of the total area of the regency. Other than that, another 16.97% of the regency is protected forest, and 49.69% is production forest. Altitude in Malinau varies between altitude of 0 to 2,000 metres above sea level with slope between 0% to 40%. Human settlement and ricefields are mostly found across the regency with a gradient of 3% to 15%. The regency is considered located at a relatively high altitude compared to its neighbouring regions.

Soil composition in the region is mostly ultisol, inceptisol, entisol, and podzol and most of them are of old formation. The majority of soil composition in the region is considered infertile and unsuitable for large-scale farming. However, there is also a significant area dominated by alluvium soil which is mostly found at lower altitudes between 15 and 25 metres above sea level.

As with most region in Indonesia, the climate is tropical with high humidity. Annual rainfall is between 2,500 and more than 4,000 millimeters. Average temperature sits on 26 Celsius with slight variation, between 5 and 7 degrees, between day and night temperature. The coldest period is between November and January while highest average temperature is on April.