Provinces of Indonesia

Buy data    Donate

Updates: 

I've revised the Postcode column, using a new data source and taking into account the new provinces.

Rif Winfield brought to my attention the official renaming of Papua Barat.

FIPS Publication Change Notice No. 10, affecting FIPS PUB 10-4, was issued on 2006-03-23. It lists new codes resulting from the creation of three provinces (Irian Jaya Barat, Kepulauan Riau, and Sulawesi Barat).

I previously stated that Batam was the capital of Kepulauan Riau province when it was created, and the intention was to move the capital to Tanjung Pinang when the infrastructure was ready. I now believe that the de jure capital was Tanjung Pinang from the start, but the government met in Batam for a while.

Meanwhile, according to this report , development of the new capital of Maluku Utara province at Sofifi was due to start in 2003-07.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter number I-7 was published on 2005-09-13. It assigns an ISO code to the new province of Sulawesi Barat.

On 2004-09-22 the DPR (Parliament) approved the creation of a new province, Sulawesi Barat (West Sulawesi). It consists of the kabupaten of Majene, Mamasa, Mamuju, Mamuju Utara, and Polewali Mandar, formerly part of Sulawesi Selatan province. Its provincial government was inaugurated on 2004-10-16. Note: sources agree that one of the kabupaten in the new province is Polewali Mandar, but my list of kabupaten before the split didn't include any named Polewali Mandar. There was one named Polewali Mamasa, and Mamasa kabupaten was divided from it in 2002. If Polewali Mamasa is the correct name of that kabupaten, then the sum of the populations (2003 estimate) and areas of the kabupaten in Sulawesi Barat are 904,288 and 15,604 km.², respectively. However, other sources give the area of the new province as 16,796 km.². It appears that the capital of Sulawesi Barat is Mamuju.

According to the Jakarta Post of 2004-07-22, there was a proposal to create a new province, North Kalimantan (Kalimantan Utara). It would be split from East Kalimantan (Kalimantan Timur) by taking the kabupaten of Bulungan, Malinau, and Nunukan, and the kotamadya of Tarakan.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter Number I-6 was published on 2004-03-08. It shows the new status of Aceh as an autonomous province, with no name change. It also shows the new province of Kepulauan Riau, with ID-KR as its ISO code.

The Indonesian statistics department, Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS), has updated its page for results of the 2001 census . Previously, my table below showed preliminary results of that census, and the newly-created provinces didn't have any population data. Now we have apparently final results of the census, including corrections for undercount. The results page also shows province areas. In many cases they differ significantly from the figures I had shown before (on the order of 10%). Kepulauan Riau was still included in Riau at the time these data were calculated.

On 2003-01-27, President Megawati Sukarnoputri signed Presidential Instruction No. 1, dividing Papua into three provinces: Central Papua (Papua Tengah), Papua (or East Papua - Papua Timur), and West Papua (Papua Barat). The capital of the original Papua province, Jayapura, would remain the capital of East Papua province. The capital of Central Papua would be Timika, and of West Papua, Manokwari. West Papua would consist of Fak-Fak, Manokwari, and Sorong regencies. Central Papua would comprise six regencies, including Mimika. The local government of West Papua province was set up on 2003-02-06. The central government approved the appointment of a governor on 2003-11-14, which makes the new province official. Central Papua was supposed to be created on 2003-08-23, but violent protests forced the government to delay the action. As of this writing, it appears that the creation of Central Papua has been shelved. Many Papuans are using the name "Port Numbay" for the capital, instead of Jayapura.

Proposals for new provinces include dividing Sumatera Utara into two provinces named Tapanuli and Sumatera Timur; splitting a new Cirebon province from Jawa Barat; splitting Madura from Jawa Timur; splitting Ketapang from Kalimantan Barat; splitting Kalimantan Utara from Kalimantan Timur; splitting Southeast Maluku from Maluku; splitting Bima from Nusa Tenggara Barat; splitting Flores from Nusa Tenggara Timur; splitting Luwu Raya from Sulawesi Selatan; splitting Sulawesi Barat from Sulawesi Selatan; splitting Sulawesi Timur from Sulawesi Tengah; splitting Tomini Raya from Sulawesi Utara; and creating Sumatera Barat province. (I don't understand the last, because there is already a province by that name.) Sulawesi Barat may be closest to accomplishment, because on 2002-11-12, the Indonesian parliament agreed to consider a draft law for its establishment.

In 1976, Indonesia unilaterally annexed East Timor, which had been an overseas province of Portugal since 1951. It became the Indonesian province of Timor Timur. Portugal, among others, never recognized Indonesia's sovereignty. On 1999-08-30, a referendum was held in the province. There was a 78.5% majority for independence. The UNTAET (United Nations Transitional Administration for East Timor) relinquished its authority to the new Timorese government on 2002-05-20.

Change Notice 4 to FIPS PUB 10-4 is dated 2000-02-25. Timor Timur, as a province of Indonesia with FIPS code ID27, has been deleted from the standard. In its place, a country code of TT has been assigned to East Timor.

Aceh province gained autonomy (not independence) on 2002-01-01. The formal name of the province changed from Daerah Istimewa Aceh to Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam in 2002 also, suggesting that the name change reflects its new status. Nanggroe is Acehnese for "state". Darussalam comes from Arabic dar as-salam: house of peace.

On 1999-09-16, a bill was passed to divide the province of Maluku into two provinces, Maluku and Maluku Utara (North Moluccas). Maluku Utara includes the islands of Halmahera, Morotai, Obi, Bacan, Makian, Tidore, and Ternate. Change Notice 6 to FIPS PUB 10-4 is dated 2001-01-28. It shows Maluku and Maluku Utara separately.

Also on 1999-09-16, the Indonesian parliament voted to split Irian Jaya into three provinces: Papua (Irian Jaya Timur), Irian Jaya Barat, and Irian Jaya Tengah. However, the split was not ratified by the local authorities, so it never took place. A Presidential Instruction in 2003 directed the Home Minister to take steps to implement the two new provincial governments, but many Papuans argue that the special autonomy bill of 2001 supersedes and voids the bill of 1999.

Harvard's Program  on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research reports that on 2001-10-22, the Indonesian parliament passed a bill for special autonomy for Irian Jaya. On its effective date, 2001-12-22, the name of Irian Jaya changed to Papua.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter Number I-2 is dated 2002-05-21. It shows the changes to the provinces of Indonesia that occurred in 1999-2000. It assigns codes to the new provinces, which are shown in the table below. It also gives "Papua Barat" as an alternate name for the region (or geographical unit) named Irian Jaya; however, the province formerly known as Irian Jaya is now named Papua, with no alternate name.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter number I-4 is dated 2002-12-10. It shows the name of Irian Jaya, as a geographical unit, changing to Papua.

Change Notice 7 to FIPS PUB 10-4 is dated 2002-01-10. It lists new codes resulting from the splitting of three provinces. The new codes are shown in the table below.

Change Notice 8 to FIPS PUB 10-4 is dated 2002-06-28. It shows the name of Irian Jaya province changing to Papua.

Tanjungkarang, the former capital of Lampung province, was amalgamated with the neighboring city of Telukbetung in the 1980s. The joined city was briefly called Tanjungkarang-Telukbetung, but soon was renamed Bandar Lampung. Since then, Panjang has also been absorbed into the city.

Country overview: 

At the beginning of the 20th century, Indonesia was a newly coined name. It referred in a general way to the southern part of the Malay Archipelago. The modern country of Indonesia was then several Dutch colonies, known collectively as the Netherlands Indies or the East Indies. During World War II, the area was almost completely occupied by Japanese forces. At the end of the war, the country declared its independence under the name of Indonesia. On 1949-12-27, the separation became official. Dutch New Guinea, however, remained a colony of the Netherlands until 1963-05-01. Indonesia unilaterally annexed Portuguese Timor in 1976. After some struggle, it regained its independence in 2002 and became Timor-Leste.

Other names of country: 

1. Bahasa Indonesia: Republik Indonesia (formal)
2. Danish: Indonesien
3. Dutch: Indonesië, Republiek Indonesië (formal), Nederlandsch-Indië (obsolete)
4. English: Republic of Indonesia (formal), Dutch East Indies (obsolete), East Indies (obsolete), Netherlands Indies (obsolete), Republic of the United States of Indonesia (obsolete)
5. Finnish: Indonesia
6. French: Indonésie f
7. German: Indonesien n
8. Icelandic: Indónesía
9. Italian: Indonesia f
10. Norwegian: Indonesia, Republikken Indonesia (formal)
11. Portuguese: Indonésia, República f da Indonésia f (formal)
12. Spanish: Indonesia, República f de Indonesia (formal), Indias Orientales Neerlandesas (obsolete)
13. Swedish: Indonesien
14. Turkish: Endonezya

Origin of name: 

Indo- (combining form of India) + Greek nes(os): islands + -ia (suffix for country)

Spelling note: Names have been altered by spelling reforms. Older sources may show various obsolete spellings derived from Dutch phonetics, such as oe instead of u, tj for c, dj for j, or j for y.

Primary subdivisions: 

Indonesia is divided into 30 propinsi (provinces), two daerah istimewa (special regions), and one daerah khusus ibukota (special district). There are indications that the official spelling of the Bahasa Indonesia word for province is changing to provinsi.

Further subdivisions:

See the Regencies of Indonesia page.

The provinces are subdivided into kabupaten (districts) and kotamadya (municipalities). The districts are further subdivided into kecamatan (sub-districts). ISO 3166-2 lists seven "geographical units". Basically, these are the major islands or island groups of Indonesia. They have no official standing, but are obvious groupings on a map.

Territorial extent: 

Indonesia is a nation of many islands. All of the islands are entirely contained in Indonesia except for Kalimantan, New Guinea, and Timor. Kalimantan is shared with Brunei and Malaysia. New Guinea is shared with Papua New Guinea. Timor is shared with Timor-Leste. (Sebatik Island is also in both Indonesia and Malaysia, but here the border is just an extension of the border on Kalimantan across a narrow strait.) The only islands that have more than one province on them are Jawa, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Sumatera. For each province, I have listed the main islands it occupies, roughly in descending order of size.

1. Aceh: Sumatera, Simeulue, Tuangku, We, Bangkaru
2. Bali: Bali, Penida, Lembongan, Ceningan, Menjangan
3. Bengkulu: Sumatera, Enggano
4. Irian Jaya: New Guinea, Yos Sudarso or Frederick Hendrik, Waigeo, Supiori Biak, Yapen, Misool, Salawati, Batanta, Numfoor, Kofiau, Adi, Rumberpon, Mioswaar, Roon, Gag
5. Jakarta Raya: Jawa
6. Jambi: Sumatera
7. Jawa Barat: Jawa, Panaitan
8. Jawa Tengah: Jawa, Karimun Archipelago
9. Jawa Timur: Jawa, Madura, Kangean Archipelago, Bawean, Sapudi, Barung, Raas, Masalembu Besar
10. Kalimantan Barat: Kalimantan, Padangtikar, Maya, Karimata, Bawal, Gelam
11. Kalimantan Selatan: Kalimantan, Laut, Sebuku, Laut Kecil, Masalembu Kecil
12. Kalimantan Tengah: Kalimantan, Damar
13. Kalimantan Timur: Kalimantan, Mandul, Tarakan, Sebatik, Bunyu, Maratua, Kakaban
14. Lampung: Sumatera
15. Maluku: Halmahera or Gilolo, Seram or Ceram, Aru Islands, Tanimbar or Timor Laut Islands, Buru, Sula Islands, Wetar, Obi, Morotai, Kai Islands, Ambon, Babar Islands, Leti Islands
16. Nusa Tenggara Barat: Sumbawa, Lombok, Moyo, Sangeang, Banta
17. Nusa Tenggara Timur: Flores, Timor, Sumba, Alor, Lomblen, Roti, Pantar, Komodo, Savu, Adonara, Semau
18. Riau: Sumatera, Tebingtinggi, Rupat, Padang, Rangsan, Bengkalis, Riau Archipelago, Lingga Archipelago, Anambas Islands, North and South Natuna Archipelagos, Tembelan Archipelago
19. Sulawesi Selatan: Sulawesi, Selayar, Tanahjampea, Bonerate Islands, Kalaotoa, Tanakeke, Sabalana Islands
20. Sulawesi Tengah: Sulawesi, Peleng, Manui, Togian Islands, Banggai Islands
21. Sulawesi Tenggara: Sulawesi, Buton, Muna, Kabaena, Wowoni, Wangiwangi, Binongko, Kaledupa, Siumpu
22. Sulawesi Utara: Sulawesi, Talaud Islands, Sangihe Islands
23. Sumatera Barat: Sumatera, Siberut, Sipura, South Pagai, North Pagai
24. Sumatera Selatan: Sumatera, Bangka, Belitung, Lepar, Mendanau
25. Sumatera Utara: Sumatera, Nias, Tanahbala, Tanahmasa, Pini; also contains Samosir, a large island in Lake Toba on the island of Sumatera
26. Yogyakarta: Jawa

Origins of names: 

1. Aceh: Malay aci: beech tree
2. Bali: possibly from Sanskrit bali: strong
3. Borneo: Portuguese corruption of Brunei
4. Irian Jaya: Malay irian: land covered with clouds, jaya: victory
5. Jakarta Raya: Malay jaya: victory, karta: prosperous (old name Jayakarta); Bahasa Indonesia Raya: great (i.e. Greater Jakarta)
6. Java: Sanskrit yavadvipa, from yava: barley, dvipa: island
7. Sumatra: possibly from Sanskrit samudra: ocean

Change history: 

1. 1900: Indonesia consisted of the Dutch colonies of Borneo, Celebes, Java, Moluccas, New Guinea, and Sumatra, and the Portuguese colony of Timor (actually occupying about half of the island of Timor, and some smaller nearby islands). Some of the colonies had divisions or residencies. Borneo's West Division was the same as Kalimantan Barat; the other three provinces on the island made up the South and East Division. Celebes was divided into Celebes, Menado, and Ternate divisions in this period. At the time of independence, Sumatra was divided into the residencies of Atjeh, Benkoelen, Djambi, Lampongs, Oostkust, Palembang, Tapanoeli, and Westkust.
2. 1950-08-15: New provisional constitution changed the name of the country from United States of Indonesia to Republic of Indonesia, and divided it into ten provinces, whose English names were Borneo, Celebes, Central Java, Central Sumatra, East Java, Lesser Sunda Isles, Moluccas, North Sumatra, South Sumatra, and West Java. Capital renamed from Batavia to Jakarta.
3. 1950: Yogyakarta special region split from Jawa Tengah (Central Java) province.
4. 1956: Kalimantan province split into Kalimantan Barat, Kalimantan Selatan, and Kalimantan Timur provinces.
5. 1957: Central Sumatra province split into Jambi, Riau, and Sumatera Barat provinces. Jakarta special district split from Jawa Barat province.
6. 1958: Sunda Kecil (Lesser Sunda) province split into Bali, Nusa Tenggara Barat, and Nusa Tenggara Timur provinces. Kalimantan Tengah province split from Kalimantan Selatan.
7. 1959-01-20: Capital of Riau province moved from Tanjung Pinang to Pekanbaru.
8. 1960: Sulawesi province split into Sulawesi Selatan and Sulawesi Utara provinces.
9. 1962-10-01: Netherlands New Guinea taken from Dutch administration by United Nations Temporary Executive Authority, renamed Irian Barat (West Irian). Its capital was renamed from Hollandia to Kotabaru.
10. 1963-05-01: Irian Barat became a province of Indonesia.
11. 1964: Lampung province split from Sumatera Selatan; Sulawesi Tengah province split from Sulawesi Utara; Sulawesi Tenggara province split from Sulawesi Selatan.
12. ~1966: Name of capital of Aceh changed from Kutaradja to Banda Atjeh; name of capital of Irian Barat changed from Kotabaru to Sukarnapura; name of capital of Jambi changed from Jambi to Telanaipura; capital of Riau moved from Tandjungpinang to Pekanbaru; capital of Sumatera Barat moved from Bukittinggi to Padang.
13. 1967: Bengkulu province split from Sumatera Selatan.
14. 1969: Name of capital of Irian Barat changed from Sukarnapura to Jayapura.
15. 1971: Name of capital of Sulawesi Selatan changed from Makassar to Ujung Pandang.
16. 1972-08-17: Spelling reform inaugurated by presidential decree. Name of Djakarta changed to Jakarta. Other name changes followed at intervals. The change was supposed to be completed by 1973-01-01. The purpose was to align Indonesian spelling with Malaysian. Other displaced spellings were Atjeh (changed to Aceh), Djambi (Jambi), and Djawa (Jawa) in province names, Djajapura (Jayapura), Surabaja (Surabaya), Bandjarmasin (Banjarmasin), Palangkaraja (Palangkaraya), Tandjungkarang (Tanjungkarang), and Udjung (Ujung) in capital names.
17. 1973: Name of Irian Barat province changed to Irian Jaya.
18. ~1974: Sulawesi Selatan province (capital Ujung Pandang) split into Sulawesi Selatan and Sulawesi Tenggara; Sulawesi Utara province (capital Manado) split into Sulawesi Tengah and Sulawesi Utara; Bengkulu and Lampung provinces split from Sumatera Selatan; territory transferred from Jambi to Sumatera Barat, depriving Jambi of access to the west coast.
19. 1976-07-17: Indonesia annexed Portuguese Timor as Loro Sae province.
    
20. ~1977: Capital of Kalimantan Tengah moved from Pahandut to Palangkaraya; name of Loro Sae province changed to Timor Timur (East Timor).
21. 1999-09-16: Maluku Utara province split from Maluku (former FIPS code ID16). Indonesia code 82 was assigned to Maluku Utara instead of Irian Jaya; Irian Jaya, in turn, was assigned three codes for the projected three provinces into which it was to be divided. Irian Jaya Barat was given the code 91, Irian Jaya Tengah 92, and Irian Jaya Timur 93.
22. 1999-11-12: Name of capital of Sulawesi Selatan changed from Ujung Pandang to Makassar.
23. 2000-10-06: Banten province split from Jawa Barat (former FIPS code ID06).
24. 2000-11-21: Bangka-Belitung province split from Sumatera Selatan (former FIPS code ID25, ISO ID-SS, HASC ID.SS).
25. 2000-12-05: Gorontalo province split from Sulawesi Utara (former FIPS code ID23).
26. 2001-12-22: Name of Irian Jaya province (former ISO code IJ) changed to Papua.
27. 2002-01-01: Special autonomy laws for Aceh and Papua provinces took effect. Apparently this is the date on which the formal name of Aceh became Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam.
28. 2002-05-20: Timur Timor province completed the process of becoming independent from Indonesia. When it was part of Indonesia, its HASC code was ID.TT, ISO TT, FIPS ID27. It was in the Nusa Tenggara geographical unit.
29. 2002-09-24: Kepulauan Riau province split from Riau (former FIPS code ID19). The new province consists of the kabupaten of Karimun, Kepulauan Riau, Lingga, and Natuna, and the kotamadya of Batam and Tanjung Pinang. The government of the new province was inaugurated on 2004-07-01. The capital was temporarily located in Batam, then moved to Tanjung Pinang.
30. 2003-11-14: Irian Jaya Barat, or Papua Barat, or West Papua province split from Papua (former HASC code ID.IJ, FIPS code ID09). The United Kingdom's Permanent Committee on Geographical Names has a more detailed account  of Irian Jaya Barat's tortuous path to provincehood.
31. 2004-10-16: Sulawesi Barat province split from Sulawesi Selatan (former HASC code ID.SN, FIPS code ID20). It consists of the kabupaten of Majene, Mamasa, Mamuju, Mamuju Utara, and Polewali Mamasa.
32. 2007-02-07: Name of Irian Jaya Barat province changed to Papua Barat.

Other names of subdivisions: 

In most Western European languages, the names for the islands of Sumatera, Kalimantan, Jawa, and Sulawesi, respectively, are Sumatra, Borneo (French: Bornéo), Java (Turkish: Cava), and Celebes (French: Célèbes, Portuguese: Célebes, Turkish: Selebes). Nusa Tenggara is sometimes translated as Lesser Sunda Islands (French: Îles de la Sonde). If province names are translated, it's usually only by translating the name of one of those islands and a compass point. Barat is West, Selatan is South, Tengah is Central, Tenggara is Southeast, Timur is East, and Utara is North. For example, German for Sumatera Barat is Westsumatra; Italian for Jawa Tengah is Java centrale; Portuguese for Sulawesi Utara is Célebes Setentrionais or Célebes do Norte. See the table of compass points in the introduction to the book "Administrative Subdivisions of Countries".

The longer province names are often contracted or abbreviated in Bahasa Indonesia texts, and the abbreviations are consistent enough to list here.

1. Aceh: Achin, Atjeh (obsolete); NAD (abbreviation); Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (formal)
2. Bangka-Belitung: Babel (abbreviation); Kepulauan Bangka Belitung (formal)
3. Bengkulu: Bencoolen, Benkoelen, Benkulen (obsolete)
4. Irian Jaya: Irian Barat, West Irian (variants); Nederlands Nieuw Guinea (Dutch-obsolete); Netherlands New Guinea (obsolete); Nouvelle Guinée Occidentale (French-obsolete)
5. Jakarta Raya: Cakarta (Turkish); Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta (formal); DKI Jakarta (abbreviation)
6. Jawa Barat: Jabar (abbreviation)
7. Jawa Tengah: Jateng (abbreviation)
8. Jawa Timur: Jatim (abbreviation)
9. Kalimantan Barat: Kalbar (abbreviation)
10. Kalimantan Selatan: Kalsel (abbreviation)
11. Kalimantan Tengah: Kalteng (abbreviation)
12. Kalimantan Timur: Kaltim (abbreviation)
13. Kepulauan Riau: Kepri (abbreviation)
14. Maluku: Molucas (Portuguese, Spanish); Moluccas (obsolete); Molucche (Italian); Moluckerna (Swedish); Moluques (French); Molukken (Dutch, German); Molukkene (Norwegian)
15. Maluku Utara: Malut (abbreviation)
16. Nusa Tenggara Barat: NTB (abbreviation)
17. Nusa Tenggara Timur: NTT (abbreviation)
18. Papua Barat: Irian Jaya Barat (obsolete)
19. Riau: Rhio, Riou, Riouw (obsolete)
20. Sulawesi Barat: Sulbar (abbreviation)
21. Sulawesi Selatan: Sulsel (abbreviation)
22. Sulawesi Tengah: Sulteng (abbreviation)
23. Sulawesi Tenggara: Sultra (abbreviation)
24. Sulawesi Utara: Sulut (abbreviation)
25. Sumatera Barat: Sumbar (abbreviation)
26. Sumatera Selatan: Sumsel (abbreviation)
27. Sumatera Utara: Sumut (abbreviation)
28. Yogyakarta: Daista Yogyakarta, DIY (abbreviation)

Population history:

Note: In all censuses except 2000, Bangka-Belitung is included in Sumatera Selatan; Banten is included in Jawa Barat; Gorontalo is included in Sulawesi Utara; Maluku Utara is included in Maluku. In 1961, Bengkulu and Lampung are included in Sumatera Selatan; Sulawesi Tengah is included in Sulawesi Utara; Sulawesi Tenggara is included in Sulawesi Selatan.