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Central Halmahera Regency is a regency of North Maluku Province, Indonesia. The regency was originally formed on 15 August 1990 from part of the former North Maluku Regency, but on 25 February 2003 more than three-quarters of the land area of the regency were split off to form a separate East Halmahera Regency and the city of Kota Tidore Kepulauan.

The residual Central Halmahera Regency now comprises just the southern half of the southeastern peninsula of Halmahera Island, together with part (the northeastern corner) of the southern peninsula of that island. It is bordered to the north by the East Halmahera Regency, to the west by the city of Kota Tidore Kepulauan, and to the south by South Halmahera Regency and Wedu Bay (the latter being a vast inlet of the Halmahera Sea between the southeastern and southern peninsulas of Halmahera island. To the east it includes islands in the Halmahera Sea (notably the Gebe Islands), and has a maritime border with the Raja Ampat Regency of Southwest Papua Province.

The regency can be divided geographically into a western sector (the five "Weda" districts) and an eastern sector (the four "Patani" districts plus the outlying island group - Pulau Gebe - to the southeast). These two sectors have no official status. The western sector covers a land area of 1,630.78 km2 with a population of 81,386 in mid 2025. The eastern sector covers a land area of 565.38 km2 with a population of 33,697 in mid 2025.

The regency altogether covers a land area of 2,196.16 km2, together with a related sea area of 6,104.65 km2, to give a total of 8,300.81 km2; thus about 73% of the regency's area is sea. It had a population of 42,815 at the 2010 Census and 56,802 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2022 was 59,096, but the official estimate for mid 2023 produced a massive and as yet unexplained rise to 96,977 persons (comprising 59,884 males and 37,093 females), and this rose again to 106,500 as of mid-2024 (comprising 67,500 males and 39,000 females), and to 115,083 as at mid 2025 (comprising 74,713 males and 40,370 females). The capital lies at the town of Weda in the southwest of the regency.

Kabupaten Halmahera Tengah terletak di Pulau Halmahera yang merupakan pulau terbesar di Provinsi Maluku Utara, dengan beberapa pulau/kepulauan di samping Halmahera sebagai pulau utama. Kabupaten Halmahera Tengah juga memiliki 37 pulau kecil, di mana hanya ada dua pulau yang berpenduduk yaitu Pulau Gebe dan Pulau Yoi.

Kabupaten Halmahera Tengah berdiri sejak tahun 1968 sesuai dengan kebijaksanaan Gubernur Provinsi Maluku No. Odes 258 tahun 1968 dengan maksud dikembangkan untuk menjadi daerah tingkat II yang otonom. Kemudian direstui dengan Surat keputusan Mendagri tanggal 15 April 1969 No Pemda 233. Dengan demikian secara de facto sejak tahun 1969, Kabupaten Halmahera Tengah telah mengatur dan mengurus rumah tangganya sendiri sejajar dengan daerah tingkat II di Provinsi Maluku.

Pada tahun 1990 daerah Kabupaten Halmahera Tengah dinyatakan sebagai daerah kabupaten penuh. Dengan menyesuaikan pada perkembangan waktu dan tuntutan kondisi sosial masyarakat, maka pada tahun 2003 dengan UU RI No, 1 tahun 2003 kabupaten Halmahera Tengah dimekarkan menjadi tiga kabupaten/kota, yaitu Kabupaten Halmahera Tengah sebagai kabupaten induk, kemudian Kabupaten Halmahera Timur dan Kota Tidore Kepulauan.

Wilayah Kabupaten Halmahera Tengah berbatasan dengan: