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 parts of the new regency were split off to form a separate East Halmahera Regency and the city of Kota Tidore Kepulauan. It now comprises just the southern half of the southeastern peninsula of Halmahera Island, together with part of the southern peninsula of that island.

North Maluku is a province of Indonesia. It covers the northern part of the Maluku Islands, bordering the Pacific Ocean to the north, the Halmahera Sea to the east, the Molucca Sea to the west, and the Seram Sea to the south. It shares maritime borders with North Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi and Central Sulawesi to the west, Maluku to the south, Southwest Papua to the west, and Palau and the Philippines to the north. The provincial capital is Sofifi on the largest island of Halmahera, while the largest city is the island city of Ternate. The population of North Maluku was 1,038,087 in the 2010 census, making it one of the least-populous provinces in Indonesia, but by the 2020 Census the population had risen to 1,282,937, and the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 1,328,594.