Indonesia

Region: East & Southeast Asia

Official language: Bahasa Indonesia

Population: 281,562,465 (2024 est.)

Nationality: Indonesian(s) (noun), Indonesian (adjective)

Land area: 1,811,569 sq km (699,450 sq miles)

Water area: 93,000 sq km (35,907 sq miles)

Capital: Jakarta

National anthem: “Indonesia Raya” (Great Indonesia), by Wage Rudolf Soepratman

National holiday: Independence Day, August 17 (1945)

Population growth: 0.73% (2024 est.)

Time zone: Indonesia covers three time zones: UTC +7, UTC +8, and UTC +9

Flag: Indonesia’s flag consists of two equal and horizontal stripes of red (top) and white (bottom). It is commonly called the Sang Saka Merah Putih or “the Red and White.” The red represents courage and the white represents purity.

Motto: “Bhinneka Tunggal” (Unity in Diversity)

Independence: August 17, 1945 (declared)

Government type: presidential republic

Suffrage: 17 years of age; universal and married persons regardless of age

Legal system: civil law system based on the Roman-Dutch model and influenced by customary law

Indonesia is located in the Malay Archipelago that separates the Indian Ocean from the Pacific in Southeast Asia. Consisting of thousands of islands, Indonesia is also an impressive array of more than 250 distinct cultures and ethnic groups that have settled on the islands over the course of centuries, each with different languages, dialects, and histories. Following the region’s emergence from Dutch colonization in the mid-twentieth century, the effort to meld all of these cultural groups into a cohesive and stable nation has proved to be Indonesia’s greatest challenge.

Note: unless otherwise indicated, statistical data in this article is sourced from the CIA World Factbook, as cited in the bibliography.

People and Culture

Population: Javanese make up the largest ethnic group in Indonesia, accounting for about 40.1 percent of the total population at the time of the 2010 census. Another 15.5 percent of the population is ethnic Sundanese, and about 3.7 percent Malay, 3.6 percent Batak, and 3 percent Madurese. The remaining population is made up of hundreds of different ethnic groups descending from people who came from all over the South Pacific region.

An estimated 87.1 percent of Indonesians are Muslim (2015 est.). Indonesia is home to the world’s largest Muslim population. The remainder of the population adheres to Protestant or Roman Catholic Christianity, Hinduism, or other faiths, including Buddhism and Confucianism.

Indonesia’s many minority groups are generally characterized by their adherence to a religion other than those recognized by the state: Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Groups such as the Toraja of central Sulawesi, the Dayak of southern Kalimantan, and the Weyewa of Nusa Tenggara Timur Province often practice a local form of animism. In part because some, though not all, of Indonesia’s minority groups, have been associated with practices like headhunting or slavery in the past, Indonesian governments have worked to convert these populations to one of the major world religions.

The official language of Indonesia is Bahasa Indonesia, a modified form of Malay, and is spoken by most people in addition to their local language, of which there are hundreds. The most widely spoken local languages are the same as the largest ethnic groups: Javanese, Sundanese, Malay, Madurese, Minangkabau, and so on. A small minority of people in Indonesia also still speak Dutch.

Indonesia’s birth rate had declined from 49 births per 1,000 in 1968 to an estimated 14.8 births per 1,000 in 2024. Overall population growth continues at a rate of 0.73 percent according to 2024 estimates.

Average life expectancy at birth in Indonesia is 73.6 years overall—71.3 for men and 76 years for women (2024 estimate). The infant mortality rate was an estimated 18.9 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2024. By 2020, an estimated 96 percent of Indonesian adults were literate. The once-wide disparity in literacy rates between men and women has narrowed considerably in the twenty-first century; in 2020, an estimated 97.4 percent of men and 94.6 percent of women were literate.

Indonesia’s quality-of-life indicators were affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed more than 200,000 in Aceh Province and Northern Sumatra and displaced more than 400,000 people. Indonesia's HDI value for 2022 is 0.713— which put the country in the High human development category—positioning it at 112 out of 193 countries and territories.

Indigenous People: The long history of habitation in Indonesia and the complex movement of cultures into and across Indonesia make identifying an Indigenous culture impossible. However, Indonesians recognize the cultural impact of its largest ethnic groups on the national culture.

The ethnic Javanese descend from Malay people and live on the island of Java. Their influence in Indonesia dates back to the ninth through the fourteenth centuries when Hindu and Buddhist empires expanded across the region.

Also descended from Malay people, but culturally distinct, the present-day Madura live on Madura Island and in the eastern portions of neighboring Java. Unlike the Javanese, the Madura are a maritime people who subsist by fishing.

The Sundanese, also located on Java, trace their roots back to the Sunda Empire of Pajajaran, which thrived in the mountains of Java prior to the sixteenth century. The Sundanese now inhabit the mountainous region of western Java, including the capital, Jakarta. Once an agrarian culture, the Sundanese are assimilating into Jakarta’s modern urban culture except in more rural areas. The Sundanese are also known for following a more orthodox form of Islam than their other Muslim neighbors.

The islands of Bali and Lombok and the western half of Sumbawa are home to millions of Balinese people. Unlike the Javanese, the Balinese resisted the spread of Islam in the twelfth century and afterward, developing their own form of Hindu worship. Like the ethnic Javanese, they tend to maintain a caste system, though more flexibly than their counterparts in India. Building on their long history, ornate arts and rituals, and stunning tropical environment, the Balinese have successfully made their island and their culture a central part of Indonesian tourism from the West.

Sumatra lies on the Strait of Malacca, one of the world’s most important shipping lanes. Perhaps for this reason, several of Sumatra’s cultural groups have incorporated a tradition of going abroad to seek wealth. Among the people of the special region of Aceh, women are responsible for domestic chores and for agricultural production of rice and other food sources, while men are expected to leave the home in source of fortune according to the practice of merantau. Like the Acehnese, the Minangkabau of the Sumatran mainland incorporate merantau as a means for young men to gain wealth and power. However, Indonesia’s Minangkabau people, who are also predominantly Muslim, prioritize maternal lineage, and women hold elevated property and social rights.

The Batak, Sumatra’s other large ethnic group, include members of the Angkola, Karo, Mandailing, Pakpak, Simelungen, Toba, and other cultural groups who inhabit the Utara Province to the south of Aceh. The Batak are agricultural peoples who are organized into marga, familial landowning groups based on paternal descent. While immigration to urban areas and the decline of forested land in Sumatra have threatened some Batak traditions, the Batak have successfully translated marga ties into an urban lifestyle.

In spite of their differences, Indonesia’s people are increasingly united at a national level by the spread of the Bahasa Indonesian language; by adat, a form of Indonesian traditional law; and by a rapidly urbanizing culture that encourages tolerance, if not assimilation among different religious and cultural groups.

Education: School attendance is mandatory for children aged seven to sixteen in Indonesia. Although education is supposed to be free, schools often charge fees for activities or other expenses.

In 2020 the United Nations reported that in 2018, 106.4 percent of Indonesia’s primary school–aged children and 89 percent of secondary school–aged children were enrolled in school. Under the supervision of the Ministry of National Education, the public schools are non-religious. There are also private, religiously oriented schools run under the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Most private schools include Islamic teachings. Public school curricula include Indonesia’s Pancasila, a set of five principles related to nationalism, diversity, Indonesian sovereignty, and non-denominational religious belief.

Indonesia has thousands of institutions of higher education, including three major universities: Bandung Institute of Technology, the University of Indonesia in Jakarta, and Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta.

Health Care: Indonesia’s health care system has undergone substantial changes in recent decades. With little government funding or involvement during Dutch colonization, the nation began creating government health policies and the first community-based health clinics during the mid-twentieth century. This system included community health centers, mother and childcare clinics, government-run hospitals, and disease prevention programs like immunizations, sanitization of water supplies, and family planning.

In 1987, many local health care resources and responsibilities were shifted to the provincial governments. In 1992, an overhaul of laws and regulations related to national health included a requirement that employers provide health benefits to their employees. Few Indonesians who are not covered under the employer health benefit law have any sort of health insurance, and most services provided in public clinics and hospitals must be paid for by the patient. The government has been considering a law to mandate universal health insurance, funded primarily by an additional tax on employers.

A high birth rate throughout the twentieth century caused concern about overpopulation, which would in turn have significantly worsened poverty. Indonesia, therefore, has ongoing family planning programs, educational programs, and policy initiatives designed to lower birth rates.

The 2004 tsunami overwhelmed health care resources in Indonesia, particularly in the Aceh region where the tsunami hit hardest. As a result, the Indonesian government has allowed aid workers from a number of nongovernmental organizations and foreign military personnel into the country to help meet health care needs.

Food: Indonesian food is as varied as its people. However, most of the country’s ethnic groups rely on rice, fish or game, tropical fruits and vegetables, and the region’s plentiful spices in their diets.

The country’s most popular dish is nasi goring, or fried rice. Sate involves meat cooked on a skewer and served with spicy sauces like peanut sauce. Bean sprouts and other vegetables can also be served in peanut sauce as gado-gado. Fruits like custard apples, durian, mango, guavas, jackfruits, papaya, starfruit, and rambutans appear in salads, juices, or on their own.

Sumatra has its own culinary style, called Padang, which calls for unique combinations of rice, fruit, meat, and spices.

Arts & Entertainment: Indonesia is famous for its batik fabrics, produced especially in Yogyakarta. The Balinese have developed fabric, woodcarving, and furniture styles that are now marketed throughout the world.

The people of Java cherish a centuries-old tradition of puppet theatre known as wayang kulit. The musical style known as gamelan, practiced in Java and Bali, weaves together patterns created by drums and other percussion instruments.

Traditional Indonesian crafts also include kris, a form of artwork that often includes jewels, and a woven silk cloth called songket.

The best known figure in modern Indonesian literature is Pramoedya Ananta Toer, the author of Bumi Manusia (This Earth of Mankind), a series of novels exploring the country’s history. During the last decades of the twentieth century, he was considered for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Holidays: Because many of Indonesia’s holidays are religious holy days determined by lunar calendars, public days vary from year to year. Major Muslim holidays in Indonesia include Idul Fitri, marking the end of Ramadan with feasts and public celebrations; Idul Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice; and the birthday of the prophet Muhammad, celebrated with festivities, acts of charity, and meditation. The Isra Mi’raj of the Prophet Mohammed marks Mohammed’s journey by night from Mecca to Jerusalem, where he briefly ascended to heaven. Indonesian Christians celebrate Good Friday, Easter, Ascension Day, and Christmas.

Nyepi takes place in March and is celebrated by the Balinese Hindus, who fast, turn out all lights, and maintain a period of silence to mark the Balinese New Year. Vesak (or Waisak), a celebration of feasting and meditation in May, marks the birthday of Buddha. Secular holidays include New Year's Day (January 1), International Labor Day on May 1, Pancasila Day in June, and Indonesian Independence Day on August 17.

Environment and Geography

Topography: Indonesia’s five main islands (Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Irian Jaya) combined with the two primary archipelagos (Nusa Tenggara and Maluku Islands), sixty smaller archipelagos, and more than thirteen thousand smaller islands form a long curving barrier between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific.

Indonesia’s lands masses are volcanic in origin, and about one hundred of the nation’s roughly four hundred volcanoes are still active as the tectonic plates beneath Indonesia continue to shift.

Because of their volcanic origins, Indonesia’s islands and archipelagos are mountainous. In the western islands, elevations reach about 3,800 meters (almost 12,500 feet) above sea level, but the highest elevations are found in Irian Jaya, which reaches 5,039 meters (16,532 feet) above sea level at Puncak Jaya.

Natural Resources: Indonesia’s greatest natural resource may be its location at the junction of some of the world’s most important shipping zones. Indonesian waters host trade routes between Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

The island nation also has reserves of petroleum, coal, and natural gas, tin, nickel, bauxite, copper, gold, and silver. Heavily forested islands like Sumatra provide ready supplies of timber, and the rich, volcanic soil and tropical climate provide an agricultural base for Indonesia’s famous spices, tropical fruits, and hardwoods.

Plants & Animals: Indonesia’s tropical plants include thousands of species of orchids, palms, and hardwood trees like teak and mahogany. Mangrove and nipa palm trees, as well as bamboo and rattan plants, are also common. The tough grass known as alang-alang is common throughout the islands.

In its rainforests, orangutans, tigers, elephants, deer, and rhinoceros find habitats. Domesticated water buffalo, known as kerbau, are used extensively by Indonesian farmers. Lizards and snakes are common throughout Indonesia. One of the country’s best known reptiles is the Komodo dragon, which can grow as large as 3 meters (nearly 10 feet) in length.

About half of the country’s area is forested (2016 estimate); most of this land consists of rainforests. Like most of the world’s tropical rainforests, those in Indonesia are increasingly threatened by farming, pollution, and human encroachment.

Climate: Indonesia has a tropical climate, but temperatures are more moderate at higher elevations. The average temperature year-round is approximately 27 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit). The weather is typically humid, except in mountain regions, where the air tends to be cooler and drier.

Western Indonesia has a tropical climate, with a defined dry season between June and September, and a season of heavy rains between December and March. Average annual rainfall in this region is roughly 2,000 millimeters (80 inches).

Economy

Historically, Indonesia’s economy has relied on agriculture; in 2019 an estimated 29.4 percent of the country’s workforce was employed in this sector. Since the 1970s, the country’s petroleum supplies have diminished, but the potential of the natural gas industry has grown.

In 2023, Indonesia had an estimated unemployment rate of 3.42 percent. The gross domestic product (GDP; purchasing power parity) was estimated at US$3.906 trillion in 2023, with a per capita GDP of US$13,900.

Industry: Among Indonesia’s most significant industries are petroleum and natural gas production, mining, and tourism. Important manufactured products include textiles, automotive goods, electrical appliances, apparel, footwear, medical instruments and appliances, handicrafts, jewelry, cement, chemical fertilizers, and plywood.

Some of the country’s key exports include coal, palm oil, petroleum, and natural gas. The country trades mostly with other Asian nations, including China, Japan, Singapore, and India, as well as the United States.

Agriculture: Straddling the equator, Indonesia maintains a consistent, tropical climate throughout the year. About 31 percent of the land was used for agricultural purposes. Most of this land is located in Java, which produces the bulk of Indonesia’s rice and soybeans.

The temperatures and volcanic-enriched soil produce rubber, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, and copra, as well as medicinal herbs and spices. Indonesians also raise poultry and beef cattle. Fish is another important animal product.

Indonesia is one of the world’s largest producers of palm oil. Likewise, Indonesia is a major world exporter of rubber.

Tourism: With its wealth of tropical islands and dramatic volcanic landscapes, Indonesia has a well-established tourist industry. Political instability, violent conflict in some regions, and a slowing economy had a great impact on Indonesia’s tourism revenues. Likewise, the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting travel restrictions severely impacted the industry. The number of international visitors to Indonesia dropped from 18.4 billion in 2019 to just 3.5 billion in 2020, according to the World Bank, though the industry began to rebound in subsequent years.

Government

Indonesia is a republic with thirty-one provinces, one autonomous province (Aceh), one special region (Yogyakarta), and one national capital district (Jakarta Raya). The executive branch of government is run by a president and vice president with a cabinet appointed by the president. Citizens elect the president by direct vote.

The legislative branch of government, the People’s Consultative Assembly (Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat, or MPR), consists of a House of Representatives called the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (DPR), and a Regional Representative Council called the Dewan Perwakilan Daerah (DPD). Members are elected by the public to serve five-year terms. The DPD provides legislative input to DPR on issues affecting different regions. The MPR participates in the inaugurations or impeachments of presidents and in constitutional amendments. The DPR and DPD pass laws.

In 2019, the Indonesian government announced plans to build a new capital city, called Nusantara, and relocate as many as 1.9 million people from Jakarta to Nusantara by 2045. The move was an effort to reduce crowding in the current capital of Jakarta and help spread resources and economic activity throughout the country.

Interesting Facts

• The name Indonesia comes from the Greek words “indos” (India) and “nesos” (island), and refers to the 17,508 islands that make up the Indonesian nation.
• More than seven hundred languages and dialects are spoken in the 922 inhabited islands of Indonesia.
• Indonesia had the fourth largest population in the world, behind China, India, and the United States, in 2023.
• In addition to the December 2004 magnitude-9.1 earthquake that set off the tsunami, Indonesia has experienced several other high-magnitude, deadly earthquakes in the early twenty-first century, including an 8.6 in March 2005, 8.5 in September 2007, 7.7 in October 2010, 7.8 in March 2016, and 7.5 in September 2018.

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