Paser Regency

On 26 June 1959, Pasir was first established as a regency in East Kalimantan, after being separated from Kotabaru in South Kalimantan, for "historic and social-economic reasons". At the time of its formation, it originally consisted of four districts as mentioned: Central Pasir, North Pasir (not to be confused with Penajam North Paser), Pasir Hulu, and South Pasir.^[5] Meanwhile, it largely inherited the borders from Onderafdeeling Pasir [id], with the exception of parts south of modern East Kalimantan–South Kalimantan border (still part of Kotabaru till this day). Little are known the archives relating to its separation from South Kalimantan.^[6]

Twenty-eight years later, on 13 October 1987, Pasir annexed the district of Penajam, then known as Balikpapan Seberang.^[7] Four northeastern districts, namely Penajam, Sepaku (created in 1996), Waru, and Babulu (also created in 1996), were later separated on 10 April 2002 to form Penajam North Paser.^[8] On 22 August 2007, Pasir was officially renamed to Paser by the regional government.^[2]

• North : West Kutai Regency and Penajam North Paser Regency
• East : Makassar Strait
• South : Kota Baru Regency
• West : Balangan Regency, Tabalong Regency, and North Barito Regency

Following the separation of the districts in the northeast to form the new Penajam North Paser Regency on 10 April 2002, the residual Paser Regency is now divided into ten districts (kecamatan), tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 Census^[3] and the 2020 Census,^[4] together with the official estimates as of mid-2024.^[1] The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the number of administrative villages in each district (totalling 5 urban kelurahan and 139 rural desa), and its postal codes.

Note: (a) including the offshore islands of Pulau Batukapal, Pulau Burung and Pulau Merayap.
(b) including the offshore islands of Pulau Rantau Besar and Pulau Rantau Kecil ("Great and Little Rantau Islands").
(c) includes one urban kelurahan - the district admin centre (the rest being desa). (d) including the offshore island of Pulau Bansik.

Tana Paser has a tropical rainforest climate (Af) with moderate rainfall in August and September and heavy to very heavy rainfall in the remaining months.