East Kutai Regency (Indonesian: Kabupaten Kutai Timur; pronounced [kabuˌpat̪ɛn ˌkut̪ai̯ ˈt̪imʊr], abbreviated as Kutim) is a regency of East Kalimantan province, Indonesia. It has an area of 31,819.79 km2 and had a population of 253,904 at the 2010 census and 434,459 at the 2020 census; the official estimate as at mid 2025 was 464,294 people (comprising 248,235 males and 216,059 females), The town of Sangatta is the capital of the regency.
There are several coal mining companies with concessions around this regency, including Kaltim Prima Coal, one of the largest coal mining companies in Indonesia. The regency also contains one of the largest coal mines in Asia - the East Kutai coal mine.
East Kutai is home to the world's oldest known figurative art at Lubang Jeriji Saléh.
Administrative districts
East Kutai Regency is divided into eighteen districts (kecamatan), tabulated below with their areas and their 2010 and 2020 census populations, together with the official estimates as at mid 2025. The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the number of administrative villages in each district (a total of 139 rural desa and 2 urban kelurahan), and its postal codes.
The districts are grouped for convenience into three geographical sectors (non-administrative), reflecting proposals which have been considered for dividing the present regency into three new regencies:
(i) The western sector is entirely inland, and equates to what was proposed as a new North Kutai Regency (Indonesian: Kabupaten Kutai Utara), with its proposed capital at Muara Wahau. The district of Muara Kaman (in Kutai Kartanegara Regency) is situated immediately south of this area and is effectively a continuation of it.
(ii) The southeastern sector includes all of the districts along the southeast coast of the regency, including the most heavily populated areas around the town of Sangatta and the independent city of Bontang.
(iii) Finally, the last five districts listed in the table below form the northeast corner of the regency, comprising the southern slopes of the Sambaliung Mountains (Pegunungan Sambaliung), which here creates a large peninsula (whose northern half is in Berau Regency) projecting eastwards into the Makassar Strait, and drained by the Karengen River, which reaches at sea at the main town of Sangkulirang; here the proposal was to separate off these five districts to create a new Sangkulirang Regency (Indonesian: Kabupaten Sangkulirang) with its proposed capital at Sangkulirang.
Notes: (a) except the village of Kelinjau Ulu (which has a postcode of 75556). (b) includes the kelurahan of Teluk Lingga. (c) the most southern district within the regency, Teluk Pandan District largely surrounds the independent city of Bentong on its landward side. (d) includes the kelurahan of Singa Geweh. (e) includes 16 islands off the coast of Kalimantan. (f) includes 8 islands off the coast of Kalimantan.
Climate
Sangatta, the seat of the regency has a tropical rainforest climate (Af) with moderate rainfall from July to October and heavy rainfall from November to June.