The big island Simeulue and 56 other islands form together the Simeulue Regency. Pulau Simeulue is 100 km long, 8-28 km wide and 198.021 Ha big. With surrounding smaller islands a total of 212.512 Ha. Highest mountain is 600m. It rains 2.824 mm per year. The Eastern monsoon season is normally between March and August and the Western monsoon season between September and February. The main harbor, Sinabang, is 105 nautical miles from Meulaboh and 85 nautical miles from Tapaktuan.

The regency Simeulue was established in 1996. It has 10 Sub-regencies and 135 villages.

The majority of the 84.000 inhabitants (18.800 families) are Muslems. There are several ethnic groups: Dagang, Lanteng, Abon, Pamuncak dan Painang plus later arrivals of Acehnese, Batak, Minangkabau, Buginese and Javanese. They speak several local languages such as Aneuk Jame (same as in Singkil), Devayan, Sigulai dan Leukon. The major income originates from farming and fishing.

Tsunami on 26 of December 2004 and Nias Earthquake on 28 March 2005 caused a lot of physical damages. The whole island raised about one meter and the number of islands increased by 35%.