Indonesia is the fourth of the most populous countries in the world in 2002. It is also the largest Muslim countries in the world. The Muslim population is about 204,224,302 people or 88 % from the total 232,073,071 (2002).

Indonesia is the located in the South-East Asia. Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world. It consists of five major islands and about 30 smaller groups. The figure for the total number of islands is 17,508 according to the Indonesian Naval Hydro-Oceanographic Office. The archipelago is on a crossroad between two oceans, the Pacific and the Indian, and bridges two continents, Asia and Australia. This strategic position has always influenced the cultural, social, political, and economic life of the country. 

Map of Asia
 

Geography

Indonesia is an archipelago in Southeast Asia consisting of 17,508 islands (6,000 inhabited) and straddling the equator. The largest islands are Sumatra, Java (the most populous), Bali, Kalimantan (Indonesia's part of Borneo), Sulawesi (Celebes), the Nusa Tenggara islands, the Moluccas Islands, and Irian Jaya (also called West Papua), the western part of New Guinea. Its neighbor to the north is Malaysia and to the east is Papua New Guinea.

Indonesia, part of the “ring of fire,” has the largest number of active volcanoes in the world. Earthquakes are frequent. The “Wallace Line,” a zoological demarcation between Asian and Australian flora and fauna, divides Indonesia.

Indonesia has about 500 tribes and correspondingly, it has about 500 languages and dialects spoken in the archipelago. The population in Indonesia has now reach the fourth most populated country in the world after China, India, and the United States of America. The people of Indonesia are a mix between the native people and the newcomers that came during the Neolitic Period (3000-2000 BC) from the Asian mainland to the south through a large-scale migration. The citizenship of Indonesia is governed by the Nationality Act to distinguish the qualification of a person of being an Indonesian since the beginning of independence on August 17, 1945.

Population

According to Info Please the number of population of Indonesia in the year 2002 is 232,073,071 .The population policy is directed toward development of the population as human resources in order that the national development can be effective and valuable, while the quality of life is gradually improving. Meanwhile, the control of population growth is carried out through efforts to lower the birth and mortality rate, especially that of infants and children. These efforts in particular have been implemented through family planning programs which also have the purpose of improving the welfare of mother and child and at the same time create a small, happy, and prosperous family. 

The implementation of population policy has noted significant progress. In 1998, the life expectancy was 64.7 years, the crude death rate was 7.7 per 1.000 people, and the infant mortality rate was 50 per 1.000 live birth. Meanwhile, the crude birth rate in 1998 was 22.7 per 1.000 people and the total fertility rate was 2.59 per woman. Until June 1999, the total population is approximately 209 millions. 

Most of the Indonesian people are Muslim. The composition of Indonesian people  according to their religion are Muslims 87%, Christian 9%, Hindu 2%, other 2%.

Languages

Indonesian has a national language as an official language which is used by all of Indonesian citizens to communicate each other, called Indonesian or Bahasa Indonesia. Other languages which are used by Indonesian people are Dutch, English, and more than 583 languages and dialects all over the country.
 
 

 

Administrative Divisions

Indonesian is divided into 32 provinces (August 2002). Each province is divided into several regency (called Kabupaten) and municipality or city (called Kota). The capital city of Indonesia is Jakarta.

 Indonesia has many interesting places to visit, such as in Jakarta, Bali,Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi, and Lombok. 
 
 

Copyright @ 2002

Updated: December 4, 2002