Indonesia
Name
| Official name | Republic of Indonesia — Republik Indonesia |
|---|---|
| Former names | The Dutch East Indies — Nederlands-Indië (1800–1949); the United States of Indonesia (1949–1950) |
| Demonym | Indonesian |
| Meaning of the name | From the Greek Indos and nesos, "the Indian islands," coined in the 1850s; Nusantara, the archipelago, from the Old Javanese |
| Motto | "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika" — unity in diversity, from the Old Javanese poem of the 14th century; on the arms |
Quick facts
| Capital | Jakarta — Batavia until 1942; about 10.6 million in the province, 41.9 million in the urban area by the UN, the largest city on earth since 2025; the capital by law, confirmed by the Constitutional Court's ruling 71/PUU-XXIV/2026 |
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| Future capital | Nusantara, in East Kalimantan on Borneo, 1,200 km from Jakarta — built since 2022 on the site of a plantation, the presidential palace of 2024 in the shape of the Garuda; the "political capital" by 2028 under the regulation of 2025, the transfer awaiting a presidential decree; about US$32 billion planned, the 2026 budget halved to Rp6 trillion; some 4,100 more civil servants moved in 2026 |
| Largest cities | Jakarta; Surabaya, about 3 million; Bandung; Medan; Bekasi; Depok; Tangerang; Semarang; Palembang; Makassar; Denpasar of Bali |
| Official language | Indonesian — Bahasa Indonesia, a form of Malay chosen by the nationalists in 1928, the mother tongue of few and the language of all; some 700 languages, Javanese the largest with 80 million speakers, Sundanese, Madurese, Minangkabau, Buginese, Balinese |
| Currency | Indonesian rupiah — ISO code IDR, Rp; about 16,500 to the U.S. dollar |
| Time zones | Three — WIB, UTC+7, for Java, Sumatra and West Kalimantan; WITA, UTC+8, for Bali, Sulawesi and the rest of Borneo; WIT, UTC+9, for the Moluccas and Papua |
| Calling code | +62 |
| Internet domain | .id |
| ISO 3166 codes | ID · IDN · 360 |
| Vehicle registration code | RI |
| Driving side | Left |
| Electricity | 230 V, 50 Hz; plug types C and F |
| Independence | Proclaimed 17 August 1945 — Hari Merdeka; recognized by the Netherlands 27 December 1949 |
| National days | 17 August, Independence Day, with the flag-raising at the palace and the pole-climbing; 1 June, Pancasila Day; 1 October, Pancasila Sanctity Day; 28 October, Youth Pledge Day; 21 April, Kartini Day; the Islamic, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist and Confucian feasts all holidays; Nyepi, the Balinese day of silence |
| Constitution | 18 August 1945 — the Constitution of 1945, UUD 1945, in force from the day after the proclamation, replaced in 1949 and 1950 and restored by Sukarno's decree of 5 July 1959; amended four times in 1999–2002 for direct presidential elections and the two-term limit |
| Population | 270,203,917 at the census of 2020; about 285 million (BPS, mid-2025 est.) — the fourth in the world; about 56% on Java |
| Area | 1,904,569 km² (735,358 sq mi) — land 1,811,569 km², water 93,000 km²; the sea territory about 5.8 million km² more |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | Sang Saka Merah Putih — two horizontal bands of red over white, the courage of the body and the purity of the soul, the colors of the Majapahit banners of the 13th century; sewn by Fatmawati, Sukarno's wife, and raised at the proclamation of 17 August 1945; the same as Monaco's but for its proportions, and Poland's inverted.Flag of Indonesia |
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| Coat of arms | The Garuda Pancasila — the golden eagle of the myths with 17 feathers on each wing, 8 on the tail and 45 on the neck for 17 August 1945, bearing a shield of the five principles: the star of God, the chain of humanity, the banyan of unity, the bull's head of democracy and the rice and cotton of justice; the motto on the scroll in its talons; adopted 11 February 1950 |
| National anthem | "Indonesia Raya" ("Great Indonesia") — words and music by Wage Rudolf Supratman, first played at the Youth Congress of 28 October 1928; the anthem from 1945, by the Constitution since 2000 |
| National motto | "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika" |
| Pancasila | The five principles of the state, set out by Sukarno on 1 June 1945: belief in one God, a just and civilized humanity, the unity of Indonesia, democracy guided by wisdom in deliberation, and social justice for all — the foundation of the Constitution and the doctrine of the nation |
| National colors | Red and white |
| National animal | The Komodo dragon — the largest lizard on earth, of Komodo, Rinca and Flores; declared 1992 with the Javan hawk-eagle, the Garuda's living form, and the Asian arowana |
| National flowers | Three, declared 1993 — the jasmine, melati, the flower of the nation; the moon orchid, the flower of charm; the Rafflesia arnoldii of Sumatra, the largest flower in the world, the rare flower |
| National dish | Nasi goreng and rendang — the five national dishes named by the ministry in 2018: soto, rendang, satay, nasi goreng and gado-gado; tumpeng the ceremonial rice |
| National dress | Batik — the wax-resist cloth of Java, on UNESCO's list since 2009; worn on Fridays by decree |
| Symbol status | The flag, arms, anthem and Pancasila are fixed by the Constitution and the law of 2009; the animals and flowers by the decrees of 1992 and 1993; the dishes by the ministry's list; batik by UNESCO listing |
Geography
| Location | Maritime Southeast Asia and Oceania — the archipelago between the Indian and Pacific oceans and between Asia and Australia, astride the equator; transcontinental, with the western half of New Guinea |
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| Land borders | 2,958 km (1,838 mi) with three countries — Malaysia 1,881 on Borneo, Papua New Guinea 824, Timor-Leste 253 |
| Coastline | 54,720 km (34,000 mi) — the second-longest in the world after Canada's |
| Islands | 17,508 by the count of 2002, 16,671 named and registered with the UN by 2023, about 6,000 inhabited — Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan (the Indonesian three-quarters of Borneo), Sulawesi and Papua (the western half of New Guinea) the five great ones; Bali, Lombok, Flores, Timor, the Moluccas; the archipelago 5,100 km from west to east, the width of the United States |
| Highest point | Puncak Jaya, 4,884 m (16,024 ft), in Papua — the highest island peak in the world |
| Lowest point | The Indian Ocean and the Pacific, 0 m |
| Mean elevation | 367 m (1,204 ft) |
| Volcanoes | About 130 active — more than any other country, on the Ring of Fire: Krakatoa, 27 August 1883, the loudest sound in recorded history, 36,000 dead in its tsunamis, and Anak Krakatau, its child, whose collapse of December 2018 killed 430; Tambora on Sumbawa, April 1815, the largest eruption in recorded history, 71,000 dead and the year without a summer; Merapi above Yogyakarta; Semeru; Sinabung; Toba, 74,000 years ago, the largest eruption of the last 25 million years |
| Rivers and lakes | The Kapuas of Borneo, 1,143 km, the longest; the Mahakam; the Musi of Palembang; the Brantas and the Solo of Java; Lake Toba on Sumatra, 1,130 km², the largest volcanic lake in the world with the island of Samosir in it; Lake Sentani; the Danau Poso |
| Terrain | Volcanic mountain chains along Sumatra and Java; the coastal plains and swamps; the rainforest of Borneo and Papua; the snow of Papua's peaks; the coral seas of the Coral Triangle, the richest marine life on earth; the Wallace Line between Bali and Lombok dividing the fauna of Asia from Australia's |
| Climate | Equatorial — hot and humid, the wet season from November to March with the northwest monsoon, the dry from June to September; the highlands cool; Papua's mountains cold |
| Natural hazards | Earthquakes and tsunamis — the Sumatra earthquake of 26 December 2004, magnitude 9.1, and its tsunami, about 170,000 dead in Aceh and 230,000 around the ocean; Yogyakarta 2006; Palu 2018; the volcanoes; floods — Jakarta sinking 25 cm a year in its north; the forest fires and the haze of the dry years |
| Natural resources | Nickel — the largest reserves and production in the world; coal; oil and gas; tin — the second producer; copper and gold at Grasberg, the largest gold mine on earth; bauxite; timber; the palm-oil land; geothermal |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 32%; forest about 50% — the third-largest tropical forest, losing it fastest in the 2010s |
| National parks | 54 — Komodo, the dragons; Ujung Kulon, the last Javan rhinos; Lorentz in Papua, the largest in Southeast Asia, from the snow to the sea; Gunung Leuser and Kerinci Seblat of the Sumatran tigers and orangutans; Bromo Tengger Semeru; Tanjung Puting of the orangutans; Bunaken, Wakatobi and Raja Ampat of the reefs |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 10 — the Borobudur and Prambanan temples, Komodo and Ujung Kulon (1991); the Sangiran early-man site (1996); Lorentz National Park (1999); the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra (2004), on the danger list; the Subak of Bali (2012); the Ombilin coal mine of Sawahlunto (2019); the Cosmological Axis of Yogyakarta (2023); batik, the kris, the angklung, the gamelan, the pencak silat and the jamu on the intangible list |
| Administrative divisions | 38 provinces since 2022, with the four new ones of Papua — Aceh, Yogyakarta, Jakarta, Papua and West Papua with special status; 416 regencies and 98 cities; about 84,000 villages |
People
| Population | 270,203,917 (census of 2020); about 285 million (2025 est.) |
|---|---|
| Population density | About 150 per km² (390 per sq mi) overall — Java above 1,100, among the densest islands on earth; Papua under 10 |
| Population growth | About 0.8% a year |
| Median age | About 31 years |
| Life expectancy | About 72 years |
| Fertility rate | About 2.1 births per woman |
| Urban population | About 59% |
| Adult literacy | About 96% |
| Ethnic groups | Javanese about 40%; Sundanese about 16%; Malay, Batak, Madurese, Betawi, Minangkabau, Buginese, Bantenese, Banjarese, Balinese, Acehnese, Dayak, Sasak, Chinese about 1%, and the Papuans — some 1,300 ethnic groups (census of 2010) |
| Languages | Indonesian by nearly all as a second or first language; Javanese by about 80 million, Sundanese by 40 million; some 700 living languages, the second-most of any country after Papua New Guinea; English the foreign language of school; Arabic in the pesantren |
| Religion | Muslim about 87% — the largest Muslim population in the world, some 245 million, nearly all Sunni; Protestant about 7% and Catholic about 3%, in the east and among the Batak and Chinese; Hindu about 2%, the Balinese; Buddhist about 1%; Confucian; six religions recognized, and belief in God required by Pancasila |
| Human Development Index | 0.728 (2023 data, 2025 report) — high; about 113th of 193 |
| Poverty | About 9% below the national poverty line by BPS, and about 40% living on under US$3.65 a day by the World Bank's measure; the middle class shrinking since 2019 |
| Sport | Badminton — the national game, the Olympic golds of every Games since 1992 but one, Susi Susanti and Alan Budikusuma, the Thomas Cups; football, the fever of the crowds, the Kanjuruhan disaster of 2022 with 135 dead; the sepak takraw; the pencak silat; the Asian Games of 2018 hosted |
| Diaspora | About 8 million abroad — the migrant workers in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Gulf; the Netherlands, Suriname and the United States |
Government
| Form of government | Unitary presidential republic under the Constitution of 1945 — the president head of state and government, directly elected for five years, twice; the People's Consultative Assembly of the House and the Regional Council |
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| President | Prabowo Subianto (Great Indonesia Movement — Gerindra), since 20 October 2024 — the eighth; a lieutenant general of the special forces Kopassus, the former son-in-law of Suharto, dismissed from the army in 1998 for the kidnapping of pro-democracy activists and barred from the United States for two decades; defense minister 2019–2024; born 17 October 1951 in Jakarta; elected on 14 February 2024 with 58.6% in the first round at his third attempt, against Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo |
| Vice President | Gibran Rakabuming Raka (independent), since 20 October 2024 — the eldest son of President Joko Widodo, mayor of Surakarta before, at 36 the youngest in the office after the Constitutional Court, then chaired by his uncle, lowered the age limit for him in October 2023 |
| Predecessor | Joko Widodo — Jokowi — president 20 October 2014 to 20 October 2024, the furniture-maker and mayor who became the first president from outside the elite and the army; the infrastructure decade, the new capital and the nickel ban; his family's place in the succession the controversy of 2024 |
| Parliament | The House of Representatives — DPR — 580 members elected for five years by open-list proportional representation with a 4% threshold, elected 14 February 2024: the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle 110 seats, Golkar 102, Gerindra 86, the National Democrats 69, the National Awakening Party 68, the Prosperous Justice Party 53, the National Mandate Party 48, the Democrats 44; the Regional Representative Council of 152; the president's coalition with nearly all of them |
| The next election | The presidential and legislative elections due 14 February 2029; the regional heads elected together on 27 November 2024, the first such day |
| The programs | The Free Nutritious Meals — MBG — the president's promise of a meal a day for some 80 million schoolchildren and pregnant women, begun 6 January 2025, budgeted at Rp268 trillion for 2026 after a cut from 335; the head of the National Nutrition Agency arrested for corruption in June 2026; the food-poisoning outbreaks; the Danantara sovereign fund of February 2025 holding the state companies; the 3 million homes |
| The protests of 2025 | Late August 2025 — the crowds against the housing allowance of Rp50 million a month for lawmakers, the burning of the regional parliaments, the death of the motorcycle-taxi driver Affan Kurniawan under a police vehicle on 28 August; about ten dead, the allowance withdrawn, ministers dismissed |
| The past | The killings of 1965–66 after the coup attempt of 30 September 1965 — at least 500,000 members and suspected members of the Communist Party dead by the widely cited estimate, the army and the militias the killers, never judged; Suharto's New Order of 1967–1998; East Timor 1975–99; Aceh to the peace of 2005; the Papuan conflict continuing |
| Legal system | Civil law on the Dutch model with customary adat and Islamic law for Muslim family matters; sharia in Aceh; the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court; the new Criminal Code of 2023, in force January 2026, with its penalties for insulting the president and for sex outside marriage |
| Provinces | 38, each with an elected governor and council; the special regions of Aceh, Yogyakarta with its sultan-governor, Jakarta, and the Papuas |
| Papua | The western half of New Guinea, Indonesian since the "Act of Free Choice" of 1969, which 1,025 chosen delegates voted under the army's eye; the low-level insurgency of the Free Papua Movement since, the pilot held hostage in 2023–24, the migration of Javanese and the mine of Grasberg |
| United Nations | Member since 28 September 1950; withdrawn 1965–66 under Sukarno, the only country ever to leave |
| Memberships | ASEAN, founded in Bangkok in 1967 and seated in Jakarta; the G20, the only Southeast Asian member, host in 2022; BRICS since 6 January 2025, the first Southeast Asian member; the OIC; APEC; the Non-Aligned Movement of the Bandung Conference of 1955; OPEC, left 2009 and 2016; the WTO |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$1.45 trillion (2025, IMF) — the largest economy in Southeast Asia, the sixteenth in the world |
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| GDP per capita | About US$5,100 (2025) |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$17,000 (2025) |
| GDP growth | About 5% a year, the steady rate since 2000 — the target of 8% under Prabowo; the rupiah at record lows in 2025–26 and the central bank governor's resignation of 2026 |
| Economy by sector | Services about 43%, industry about 40%, agriculture about 13% — employing a quarter |
| Currency | Indonesian rupiah (IDR) |
| Nickel | The largest producer in the world, about half of the global supply — the export ban on ore since January 2020 that brought the Chinese smelters to Sulawesi and Halmahera, the Morowali park; the stainless steel and the batteries; the pollution and the deaths of the smelters the other side |
| Palm oil | The largest producer and exporter — about 50 million metric tons, 60% of the world's, from 16 million hectares, much of it once forest; the EU deforestation rule fought; the biodiesel mandate of B40 |
| Coal | The largest exporter of thermal coal in the world — about 500 million metric tons a year to China and India; the coal plants of the grid; the JETP of US$20 billion to move off it, stalled |
| Other exports | Liquefied natural gas; tin from Bangka, the second producer; copper and gold from Grasberg; rubber, coffee, cocoa; textiles and footwear; the largest exporter of instant noodles |
| Trade | Exports about US$260 billion — China a quarter, the United States, Japan, India; the U.S. tariff deal of 2025 |
| Public finances | Public debt about 40% of GDP, among the lowest of the large economies; the tax ratio about 10%; the deficit cap of 3%; the MBG and Danantara the new claims on it |
| Income classification | Upper-middle income (World Bank); the Golden Indonesia goal of 2045 — a high-income country at the centenary |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airports | Soekarno–Hatta International at Jakarta — about 65 million passengers, the busiest in Southeast Asia with Singapore and Bangkok; Ngurah Rai at Bali; Juanda at Surabaya; Kualanamu at Medan; the new Nusantara airport |
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| Airlines | Garuda Indonesia, the state carrier since 1949; Lion Air, the largest by fleet; Citilink, Batik Air, Super Air Jet; the most air crashes of any major market in the 2000s, the safety record since improved |
| Main ports | Tanjung Priok, the port of Jakarta, the largest; Tanjung Perak at Surabaya; Belawan at Medan; Makassar; Patimban, the new port of 2020; the ferries of the archipelago, Pelni's liners the lifeline of the islands |
| Railways | About 6,000 km (3,700 mi), most on Java — the Whoosh high-speed line from Jakarta to Bandung, 142 km at 350 km/h, opened 2 October 2023, the first in Southeast Asia, built with China; the Jakarta MRT of 2019 and the LRT; the Trans-Sumatra line |
| Roads | About 550,000 km (340,000 mi); the Trans-Java toll road of 1,100 km from Merak to Banyuwangi, completed 2019; the Trans-Sumatra toll under construction; the motorcycles — 130 million of them |
| The straits | The Strait of Malacca, the busiest shipping lane in the world, on the Sumatran side; the Sunda and Lombok straits; the Sunda Strait bridge dreamed of |
History in dates
| c. 1.5 million years ago | Java Man — Homo erectus at Sangiran and Trinil |
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| c. 50,000 years ago | The first modern humans reach the islands; the Flores "hobbit," Homo floresiensis |
| 7th century | Srivijaya at Palembang — the Buddhist maritime empire |
| c. 825 | Borobudur built under the Sailendras |
| 1293–1527 | The Majapahit empire — Gajah Mada and the Nusantara |
| 13th century | Islam arrives with the traders at Samudera Pasai |
| 1512 | The Portuguese in the Moluccas, the Spice Islands |
| 1602 | The Dutch East India Company; Batavia founded 1619 |
| 1815 | Tambora erupts, 10 April |
| 1825–1830 | The Java War of Diponegoro |
| 1883 | Krakatoa, 27 August |
| 1908 | Budi Utomo — the national awakening, 20 May |
| 1928 | The Youth Pledge, 28 October — one nation, one people, one language |
| 1942–1945 | The Japanese occupation |
| 1945 | Independence proclaimed, 17 August — Sukarno and Hatta |
| 1949 | The Dutch recognize independence, 27 December |
| 1955 | The Bandung Conference, 18–24 April |
| 1965 | The coup attempt of 30 September; the killings |
| 1967 | Suharto president; the New Order |
| 1975 | East Timor invaded, 7 December |
| 1998 | The Asian crisis; Suharto falls, 21 May — Reformasi |
| 2002 | The Bali bombings, 12 October — 202 dead |
| 2004 | The first direct presidential election; the tsunami, 26 December |
| 2014 | Joko Widodo president, 20 October |
| 2019 | The new capital announced, 26 August |
| 2024 | Prabowo elected, 14 February; inaugurated, 20 October |
| 2025 | BRICS, 6 January; the free meals begin; the August protests |
| 2026 | The court confirms Jakarta as capital; the new Criminal Code in force, January |
Records & firsts
| The largest island country | 17,508 islands |
|---|---|
| The largest Muslim population | About 245 million |
| The fourth-most populous country | About 285 million |
| The most active volcanoes | About 130 |
| The largest city on earth | Jakarta, 41.9 million, by the UN in 2025 |
| The second-longest coastline | 54,720 km |
| The largest producer of nickel and palm oil | And the largest coal exporter |
| The largest Buddhist temple | Borobudur |
| The largest lizard | The Komodo dragon |
| The largest flower | Rafflesia arnoldii |
| The loudest sound in recorded history | Krakatoa, 1883 |
| The largest eruption in recorded history | Tambora, 1815 |
| The most languages after Papua New Guinea | About 700 |
| The first high-speed railway in Southeast Asia | Whoosh, 2023 |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Indonesia?
The Republic of Indonesia — Republik Indonesia — proclaimed by Sukarno and Hatta on 17 August 1945, two days after Japan's surrender, and recognized by the Netherlands on 27 December 1949 after four years of war. The name was coined by European scholars in the 1850s from the Greek Indos and nesos, "the Indian islands," and taken up by the nationalists of the 1920s for the Dutch East Indies; Nusantara, "the outer islands" of the old Javanese, is the poets' name and now the new capital's.
What is the capital of Indonesia?
Jakarta, on the northwest coast of Java — the Sunda Kelapa of the Hindu kingdoms, the Dutch Batavia of 1619, the capital of the republic since 1945; about 10.6 million people in the province and, by the UN's count of November 2025, 41.9 million in its urban area, which overtook Tokyo as the largest city on earth. It remains the capital by law, as the Constitutional Court confirmed in 2026, while Nusantara, the planned city rising in the forest of East Kalimantan since 2022, is the designated future capital — the "political capital" by 2028 under the president's regulation of 2025, its transfer awaiting a decree and its budget for 2026 halved. Surabaya, Bandung, Medan, Bekasi and Makassar are the other great cities.
How big is Indonesia, and how many people live there?
About 1,904,569 km² (735,358 sq mi) of land — the fourteenth-largest country in the world and the largest island nation, three times the size of Texas — on 17,508 islands strung 5,100 km along the equator from Sumatra to New Guinea, some 6,000 of them inhabited, with a sea territory three times the land. The census of 2020 counted 270,203,917 people; BPS estimates about 285 million for 2025, the fourth-largest population in the world and the largest Muslim one, more than half of it on Java, an island the size of England.
What are the highest and lowest points of Indonesia?
Puncak Jaya — the Carstensz Pyramid — 4,884 m (16,024 ft), in the Sudirman Range of Papua, the highest island peak on earth and the highest between the Himalayas and the Andes, with the last glaciers of the tropics on it, nearly gone; and the sea. The country has about 130 active volcanoes, more than any other — Krakatoa, whose eruption of 1883 was heard 5,000 km away; Tambora, whose eruption of 1815 brought the year without a summer; Merapi above Yogyakarta; and Toba, the supervolcano whose lake is the largest volcanic lake in the world.
What currency does Indonesia use?
The Indonesian rupiah (ISO code IDR, Rp), issued by Bank Indonesia since 1953 — named for the rupee of India — at about 16,500 to the U.S. dollar, so that a meal costs tens of thousands and the largest note is 100,000. Clocks keep three time zones: Western Indonesia Time, UTC+7, for Sumatra, Java and West Kalimantan; Central, UTC+8, for Bali, Sulawesi and the rest of Borneo; Eastern, UTC+9, for the Moluccas and Papua. Indonesia drives on the left.
Who governs Indonesia?
President Prabowo Subianto of the Gerindra party, head of state and government since 20 October 2024 — a former special forces general, Suharto's son-in-law, dismissed from the army in 1998 over the kidnapping of activists and elected at the third attempt on 14 February 2024 with 58.6 percent in the first round, with Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the son of his predecessor Joko Widodo, as vice president at 36. His coalition holds most of the 580-seat House; his free school meals program for 80 million, the largest of its kind, has been cut back after the arrest of its agency's head in 2026; and the protests of August 2025 over lawmakers' allowances left ten dead. The next election is due in February 2029.
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