Central Tapanuli Regency (Tapanuli Tengah in Indonesia) is a regency in North Sumatra province, Sumatra, Indonesia. The seat of the regency government is at Pandan. The regency covers an area of 2,194.98 km² and consists of a long extent of land along the western coast of North Sumatra, together with offshore islands of which the largest is Mursala Island; it had a population of 311,232 at the 2010 census^[2] and 365,177 at the 2020 Census;^[3] the official estimate as at mid-2023 was 386,895 (comprising 195,086 males and 191,809 females).^[1] The regency surrounds the landward side of the city of Sibolga, which is administratively separate from the regency.

The regency is divided into twenty districts (kecamatan), tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 Census ^[2] and the 2020 Census,^[3] together with the official estimates as of mid-2023.^[1] The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the number of administrative villages in each district (totaling 160 rural desa and 55 urban kelurahan), and its postcode.

Note: (a) includes Mursala Island and 18 smaller islands off the coast.

Central Tapanuli's beaches are ideal for surfing, although they are not as well known as those of Nias Island. The regency has 30 offshore islands; one of the biggest is Mursala Island with 8,000 hectares (1 hour by motorboat from Sibolga), which has a waterfall that directly drops to the sea; around 100 metres from the waterfall the water still tastes plain and the corals are unique and beautiful.^[4] In 1933, the first King Kong film has taken pictures here.^[5]