Indonesia Population, Main Cities and Geography

By | January 27, 2023

Indonesia: population and cities

Population

According to Countryaah website, Indonesia has around 240 million residents.

Ethnic composition

Javanese 45%, Sundanese 14%, Madurese 7.5%, Malaysians 7.5%, others 26%

Religious affiliation

Muslim 88%, Protestants 5%, Catholics 3%, Hindus 2%, Buddhists 1%, other 1%

National language

The national language is ” Bahasa Indonesia “. This is a Malay language written using Latin letters. English as a commercial and business language, Dutch and local dialects such as Javanese are also spoken.

Capital and other cities

The capital of Indonesia is Jakarta on the island of Java with a population of around 10 million – in the metropolitan area even around 28 million. According to Abbreviation Finder, INA stands for Indonesia in English. Click to see other meanings of this 3-letter acronym.

Other larger cities are:

On Java,

Surabaja with around 2.5 million residents, Bandung with around 2 million residents, Tangerang with approx. 1 million residents and Semarang with approx. 1.1 million residents.

On Sumatra

Medan with around 1.8 million residents and Palembang with around 1.2 million residents.

On Sulawesi

Ujungpandang with approx. 1 million residents.

On Bali

Denpassar with around 450,000 residents.

Indonesia: geography, map, provinces

Indonesia covers a total land area of 1,919,440 km² – this also includes territorial waters with an area of around 3.3 million km². Politically and administratively, the country is currently divided into 31 provinces, two special regions and the capital district Jakarta. It is to be expected that there will be some further changes in the administrative structure of the country in the next few years. It is worth noting that there are around 120 active volcanoes in the state. Check topmbadirectory for politics, flags, famous people, animals and plants of Indonesia.

Some interesting provinces

Papua

The province of Papua covers an area of 421,981 km² – with around 2.7 million residents and is located in the west of the island of New Guinea, in the east is the state of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital is Jayapura with around 257,000 residents. The highest mountain in the province and the whole country is the 4,884 m high Puncak Jaya (Carstensz Pyramid).

Moluccas

The province of the Moluccas (Maluku) – the former Spice Islands – extends over the southern part of the Moluccas archipelago. The main islands are Ambon, Seram, Buru, the Banda Islands, the Barat Daya Islands, the Kei Islands, the Aru Islands and the Tanimbar Islands. The province covers an area of 42,853. km² – with around 1.5 million residents. The provincial capital is Ambon with around 277,000 residents. The highest mountain in the province is the 3,027 m high Gunung Binaya.

Northern Moluccas

The province of Northern Moluccas (Maluku Utara) was founded in 1999 and comprises the northern part of the Moluccas archipelago. The main islands of the province are the Bacan Islands, Halmahera, Morotai, the Obi Islands, the Sula Islands, as well as Ternate and Tidore. The province covers an area of 31,652 km² – with around 1.1 million residents. The provincial capital is Soffi with around 250,000 residents.

North Sumatra

The province North West Sumatra – Sumetera Utara – is one of the 10 provinces of Sumatra and covers an area of 70,787 square kilometers – around 13 million residents. The province is located in the north of the island of Sumatra. The Barisan Mountains run through the province. The provincial capital is Medan with around 2.1 million residents. The highest mountain in the province is the 3,805 m high Gunung Kerinci. Worth mentioning is the approx. 1,175 km² local Lake Toba, which was formed as a result of the eruption of the volcano of the same name around 74,000 years ago.

Around 51 million people live in the ten provinces of Sumatra – including the associated islands – with a total area of 473,481 km².

Sulawesi Tengah

The province of Sulawesi Tengah (central Sulawesi) comprises the southern part of the northern peninsula and the eastern peninsula. The province covers an area of 69,726 km² – with around 2.7 million residents.

The provincial capital is Palu with around 380,000 million residents. The highest mountain on the island is the 3,440 m high Gunung Rantemario, which is located in the Sulawesi Selatan province

– earthquake, tsunami

At the end of August 2018, Sulawesi was hit by an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.3 on the Richter scale. As a result of the quake, a tsunami occurred, which caused severe devastation, especially in the city of Palu and the surrounding area, and probably killed over 2,000 people.

Sulawesi Selatan

The province of Sulawesi Selatan (South Sulawesi) comprises the southern peninsula of Sulawesi between the Makassar Strait and the Gulf of Bone. The province covers an area of 55,983 km² with around 8 million residents. The provincial capital is Makassar with around 1.4 million residents. The highest mountain in the province and the whole island is the 3,440 m high Gunung Rantemario

Kalimatan (Borneo)

The province of Kalimatan (Borneo) covers an area of 529,460 km² – with around 10.7 million residents. The provincial capital is Banjarmasin with around residents. The highest mountain is the 2,278 m high Bukit Raya.

Bali

The province of Bali covers an area of 5,632 km² – with around 4.3 million residents.

In addition to the island of Bali, 85 islands, some of them unnamed, belong to the province, including Nusa Penida, NusaLembongan and Nusa Ceningan. The provincial capital is Denpassar with around 630,000 residents. Most of the mountains are of volcanic origin and take up about three quarters of the island’s area.

The highest mountain is the 3,142 m high Gunung Agung. Without a doubt, Bali is Indonesia’s most popular island for vacationers from the US, Australia and Europe. The vacation ended fatally on October 12, 2002 for 202 people who had been killed in bomb attacks on two discos in Kuta. On October 1, 2005, three explosive devices exploded, killing 26 people and injuring 126 people.

Java Tengah

The province of Java Tengah (Central Java) is one of the six provinces of Java and covers an area of 32,548 km² with around 32.5 million residents. The city of Jakarta and its residents are directly subordinate to the central government. The capital of the province is Semarang with around 1.6 million residents. The highest mountain in the province is the 3,371 m high stratovolcano Gunung Sumbing and the highest mountain on the island of Java is the 3,676 m high stratovolcano Gunung Semeru.

Lesser Sunda Islands

The province of the Lesser Sunda Islands (Nusa Tenggara) cover an area of 68,053 km², which is distributed over 148 islands. Around 7.5 million people live here. The capital is Mataram with around residents. The highest mountain is the 3,726 m high Gunung Rinjani.

Islands that make up the country

The country consists of 17,000 islands. Indonesia itself has an allusion to the numerous islands in its name. The Latin word Indus stands for India and the second part comes from the Greek word Nesos = island.

Indonesia is made up of islands that are among the largest in the world:

  • New Guinea with an area of 771,900 km² is the second largest island in the world. Of this, 421,981 km² belong to the Indonesian province of Papua, the remaining area belongs to the state of Papua New Guinea.
  • Borneo, with a total area of 751,936 km², is the third largest island in the world. Indonesia shares the island with Malaysia and the small state of Brunei.
  • Kalimantan (Borneo) is the third largest island in the world with an area of 746.00 km², of which 529.460 km² belong to Indonesia, the remaining area belongs to Brunei and Malaysia.
  • Sumatra with an area of 443,550 km² is the sixth largest island in the world.
  • Java with an area of 132,007 km²
  • Sulawesi with an area of 189,035 km²
  • Bali with an area of 5,561 km²

National borders, length of coast

With a total of three states Indonesia has a common border:

East Timor km with a length of around 228,

Malaysia with a length of around 1,782 kilometers and

to Papua New Guinea km with a length of around 820th

The islands of Indonesia encompass a sea coast with a length of around 60,000 km.

Tidal range in Jakarta

At Jakarta the mean tidal range is around 1.5 m.

For detailed explanations of ebb and flow, see Tides, Ebb and Flow.

Compare

The world’s highest tidal range can be found in the Bay of Fundy in Canada, where it is up to 16 meters, and at spring tide even over 20 meters. The Bay of Fundy is located on the Atlantic between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, which is called Nova Scotia in German and whose capital is Halifax.

On the German North Sea coast it varies between one and three meters. In the western Baltic Sea, on the other hand, the tidal range is only 0.3 meters, while it is barely noticeable in the eastern Baltic Sea.

Longitude and latitude

Indonesia extends over the following latitude (abbreviation Δφ) and geographical longitude (abbreviation Δλ):

Δφ = from around 06 ° north latitude to 11 ° south latitude Δλ = from around 095 ° to 140 ° east longitude

You can find detailed information on this subject under Longitude and Latitude.

Legal time

For Indonesia, the following value applies to Central European Time (CET), i.e. the time (without summer time) in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. A minus sign means that it is earlier there, a plus sign that it is later than CET:

West Indonesian Time + 6 h: Java, Sumatra, West and Central KaslimantanCentral Indonesian Time + 7 h: Bali, Nusa, Tenggera, South-East Kalimantan

East Indonesian Time + 8 h: Papua, Moluccas

Further and detailed explanations of the time can be found under Time zones, time.

The highest point of the sun in Jakarta

Jakarta is located at a southern latitude of around φ = 06 ° and thus in the middle of the tropics.

If the declination of the sun has a value of 06 ° south and the sun’s image point is exactly above the city, the sun is perpendicular to the city. This happens exactly twice a year, roughly 23 days before March 21st and 23 days after September 21st.

Attention

If the image point of the sun and thus its declination is north of the latitude of Jakarta, the sun is not in the south at noon, as in our latitudes, but in the north. In this case, the sun moves from east to north to west, where, like us, it sets.

Mountains, volcanoes

Puncak Jaya

The highest mountain in the country is the Puncak Jaya in the central mountains of Papua with a height of 5,030 m.

It should be noted that there are around 120 active volcanoes in the country, 65 of which are considered dangerous.

Other high mountains or volcanoes are:

  • Gunung Binaya with a height of 3,027 m. It is located on the 17,100 km² Moluccan island of Seram (Ceram)
  • Gunung Kerinci (Kerinchi) with a height of 3,805 m. It is located on the 443,550 km² island of Sumatra.
  • Gunung Rantemario with an altitude of 3,440 m. It is located on the 189,035 km² island of Sulawesi.
  • Gunung Agung with an altitude of 3,142 m, it is located on the 5,561 km² island of Bali. For the Balinese, the gods have their seat here.
  • Gunung Semeru with a height of 3,676 m. It is located on the km² island of Java and is the highest mountain on the Indonesian island. The diameter of its crater is around 500 m.It is located in the Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park and is one of the most active and dangerous volcanoes in the world.
  • Gunung Rinjani with a height of 3,726 m. It is located on the 4,725 km² island of Lombok
  • Gunung Merapiwith a height of approx. 2,914. The Merapi is located on the island of Java and is not only one of the most active, but also one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world. 68 eruptions have been documented since 1548. The very dense settlement up to high slopes makes the mountain particularly dangerous. Around 3.2 million people live in the immediate vicinity of the volcano and around 70,000 in the forbidden zone on its slopes – there are villages at around 2,000 m altitude. The Merapi is one of the stratovolcanoes, these volcanoes, which include St. Helens, Vesuvius and Etna, have a high potential for explosion. The mountain had last exploded in 1930, killing 1,370 people. The last momentous outbreak occurred in 1994, with 66 dead and hundreds injured.There are numerous myths about the mountain. It is believed that there is an invisible kingdom on the mountain, whose ruler grants protection to the people who live on or around the mountain. The huge temple complex “Borobudur”, which is one of the main attractions for tourists on Java, is located near the volcano.
  • Bukit Raya with a height of 2,278 m. It is located on the total of 751,936 km² island of Borneo, the Indonesian part of which is known as Kalimantan.

Rivers

Kapuas

The longest river in the country is the Kapuas with a length of 1,150 km. The river is on Kalimantan (Borneo).

Other rivers in the country are:

  • Mamberamo and Digul in Papua
  • Barito and Mahakam on Kalimantan
  • Musi, Batangari, Indragiri and Kapar in Sumatra
  • Bengawan Solo, Brantas and Citarum on Java.

Lakes on the islands

Danube Toba

The country includes numerous smaller and larger lakes. The largest lake is the Danube Toba (Lake Toba), with an area of around 1,700 km².

The volcanic crater lake is also the largest lake in Southeast Asia. It is located in the north of Sumatra at an altitude of 900 m. In the middle of the lake is the approximately 530 km² island of Samosir.

Other larger lakes are:

  • Danube Batur in Bali
  • Danube Poso on Sulawesi.

Andaman Sea, Arafura Sea, Banda Sea

Andaman Sea

The Andaman Sea – also Andaman Sea – is a marginal sea of the Indian Ocean. The Andaman Sea extends roughly from the Irrawaddy river delta in Myanmar in the north over a length of around 1,200 km to the start of the Strait of Malacca. In the west it is bounded by the Cocos Islands, the Andamans and the Nicobar Islands. It covers an area of around km² with a maximum depth of around 4,180 m. The water temperature on the surface of the sea fluctuates between 27.5 °C and 30 °C.

The Andaman Sea became famous not least because of the tsunami of December 26, 2004, which resulted in numerous deaths in Thailand, Malaysia, the offshore western islands (Andamans and Nicobar Islands) and Sumatra. In all affected countries – also outside the Andaman Sea – together probably over 230,000.

Arafurasee

The Arafurasee lies between the Australian continent in the south and the island of New Guinea in the north. The southeastern part of the island belongs to the independent state of Papua New Guinea, while the northwestern part belongs to Indonesia. The Arufa Sea is a tributary of the Pacific Ocean – but here and there it is also regarded as part of the Indian Ocean. The Arufa Sea covers an area of around 650,000 km², with an average depth of only around 150 m.

Banda Sea

The Banda Sea is located in the middle of the Indonesian islands. The sea has a length of about 1,200 km in west-east direction and a width of about 600 km in north-south direction.

The deepest part of the lake is the Webertief in the east of the lake with a depth of 7,440 m. Around the Banda Sea are the Great Sunda Islands in the west, the Lesser Sunda Islands in the south and the Moluccas in the north and east. In the north the Banda Sea merges into the Molucca Sea, in the east into the Arafura Sea, in the south into the Timor Sea and the Sawu Sea, in the southwest into the Flores Sea and in the west into the Java Sea.

The islands of Buru, Flores, Seram, Sulawesi, Timor and Yamdena are located on the Banda Sea. The Banda Islands lie within the Banda Sea.

Celebesee, Floresee, Java Sea

Java Sea

The Java Sea covers an area of around 310,000 km². The sea is bounded or framed by Borneo in the north, Java in the south, Sumatra in the west and Sulawesi in the east.

In the southwest, the Sunda Strait connects the Java Sea with the Indian Ocean, while in the northwest it connects the Karimata Strait with the South China Connected to the sea. In the northeast, the Makassar Strait is the connection to the Celebes Sea. In the south – north of the island of Bali – is the Bali Sea and in the far east – north of Flores – is the Floresee. South China Sea

Indonesia borders the South China Sea to the north and northwest of Borneo and to the east of Sumatra

The South China Sea is part of the China Sea and one of the marginal seas of the Pacific Ocean. The sea includes the Gulf of Thailand and the Gulf of Tonkin. It covers an area of around 2,975,000 km “- with a maximum Tife of 5,025 m.

The following states are located on the South China Sea in addition to Indonesia: Brunei, Hong Kong (People’s Republic of China), Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Celebes

Sea The Celebes Sea is bounded in the west by Borneo and in the east by In the southwest the Celebessee is connected by the Makassar Strait with the Java Sea.

Floresee

The Floresee lies in the east of the Java Sea and north of the island Flores

Straits of Malacca, Karimata Straits

Strait of Malacca

The Strait of Malacca is one of the busiest waterways in the world and is notorious for its pirate raids. It is located at a length of around 800 km – with a width of around 55 km near the city of Malaka (Malacca) – between the Indonesian island of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. The strait connects the Andaman Sea with the South China Sea and the Java Sea, and ships to and from Malacca and Singapore use it.

Karimata Strait

The Karimata Strait is up to 500 km wide in some places and connects the Java Sea with the South China Sea. It is located between the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. It is interesting that the equator runs in the northern part of the street.

South China Sea, Pacific

South China Sea

The South China Sea is part of the China Sea and one of the marginal seas of the Pacific Ocean. The sea includes the Gulf of Thailand and the Gulf of Tonkin. It covers an area of around 2,975,000 km “- with a maximum depth of 5,025 m.

In addition to Indonesia, there are also the following countries on the South China Sea: Brunei, Hong Kong (People’s Republic of China), Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam:

A detailed description of the South China Sea can be found here >>>

Pacific

Indonesia borders in the southwest of Sumatra, and in the south of Java and Bali on the Pacific Ocean – the largest and deepest ocean in the world. The Pacific Ocean is also known as the Pacific, Pacific, or Great Ocean. It stretches between the Arctic, North, Central and South America as well as the Antarctic, Australia, Oceania and Asia. It has a gigantic area of 166.24 million km² (not including secondary seas) and therefore covers around 35% of the entire surface of the earth. The ocean, which is larger than all the continents combined, goes at its deepest point in the Mariana Trench down to 11,034 meters below sea level.

Indonesia Population