Meranti Islands Regency

Meranti Islands is an archipelago, most of which forms a regency of Riau Province and lies off the eastern coast of the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. It was created on 19 December 2008 by the separating of these large islands from the mainly mainland regency of Bengkalis. The regency comprises the islands of Tebing Tinggi, Rangsang, Padang, and Merbau, together with minor offshore islands, but does not include Bengkalis Island to the north, which is geographically part of the archipelago but remains within Bengkalis Regency. The principal town is Selat Panjang on Tebing Tinggi Island. The regency covers a land area of 3,144.18 km² and had a population of 176,290 at the 2010 Census and 206,116 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as of mid-2024 was 212,000.

Administrative districts

When created in 2008, the regency was divided into five districts, listed below with their populations at the 2010 Census:

Name of District	English name	Pop'n Census 2010
Tebing Tinggi Barat	Western Tebing Tinggi Island	15,260
Tebing Tinggi	Tebing Tinggi Island	65,748
Rangsang	Rangsang Island	26,526
Rangsang Barat	Western Rangsang Island	24,926
Merbau	Merbau and Padang Islands	44,030

On 26 January 2011, the regency was re-divided into nine districts. The additional four districts are Tebing Tinggi Timur, Rangsang Pesisir, Pulau Merbau and Tasik Putri Puyu. The areas and the populations of the nine districts at the 2020 Census, together with the official estimates as of mid-2024, are as follows. The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the number of administrative villages in each district, and its postcode.

Kode Wilayah	Name of District	Area in km²	Pop'n 2020 Census	Pop'n mid 2024 Estimate	Admin centre	No. of villages	Post code
14.10.04	Tebing Tinggi Barat	489.87	18,382	19,650	Alai	14	28758
14.10.01	Tebing Tinggi	89.45	67,219	66,320	Selat Panjang	9	28753
14.10.07	Tebing Tinggi Timur	637.61	13,293	14,250	Sungai Tohor	10	28754
	Sub-totals for Tebing Tinggi Island	1,216.93	99,851	100,220		33
14.10.03	Rangsang	319.77	20,123	20,740	Tanjung Samak	14	28755
14.10.09	Rangsang Pesisir	198.12	18,853	19,780	Telesung	11	28757
14.10.02	Rangsang Barat	95.65	19,488	20,210	Bantar	12	28756
	Sub-totals for Rangsang Island	613.54	58,464	60,430		37
14.10.05	Merbau	534.04	15,305	16,030	Teluk Belitung	10	28752
14.10.06	Pulau Merbau	216.07	15,824	17,060	Semukut	11	28750
14.10.08	Tasik Putri Puyu	563.60	17,629	17,960	Bandul	10	28751
	Totals for Regency	3,144.18	206,116	212,000	Selatpanjang	101

Notes: comprising 4 kelurahan - with 42,723 inhabitants altogether in 2023 - and 5 desa.
including one kelurahan - Teluk Belitung - with 5,062 inhabitants in 2023.
The island of Tebing Tinggi comprises three districts - Tebing Tinggi itself in the centre of its north coast, Tebing Tinggi Barat in the west of the island and Tebing Tinggi Timur in the east. The island of Rangsang is also composed of three districts - Rangsang Barat in the west, Rangsang Pesisir in the centre and Rangsang in the east. Padang Island is composed of two districts - Tasik Putri Puyu in the north and Merbau in the south. Merbau Island is identical with the district of that name.