Provinces of Indonesia

Number38PopulationsSouth Papua (522,215) – West Java (49,405,800)AreasJakarta 661 km² (255 sq mi) – Central Kalimantan 153,444 km² (59,245 sq mi)GovernmentSubdivisions

This article is part of a series on
Subdivisions of Indonesia
Level 1
Provinces (provinsi or daerah istimewa) (GDP; GRP per capita; HDI; poverty rate)
Level 2
Regencies (kabupaten) Cities (kota) Metropolitan (metropolitan) (full list; cities by GDP; regencies by GDP; cities by population; regencies by population)
Level 3
Districts (kecamatan, distrik, kapanewon, or kemantren)
Level 4
Rural or urban villages (desa or kelurahan)
Others
Rukun warga Rukun tetangga
v t e

Provinces are the first-level administrative divisions of Indonesia. It is formerly called the first-level provincial region (provinsi daerah tingkat I) before the Reform era. Provinces have a local government, consisting of a governor (Gubernur) and a regional legislative body (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Provinsi). The governor and members of local representative bodies are elected by popular vote for five-year terms, but governors can only serve for two terms. Provincial governments have the authority to regulate and manage their own government affairs, subject to the limits of the central government.

Currently, Indonesia is divided into 38 provinces, nine of which have special autonomous status. The terminology for special status are "Istimewa" and "Khusus", which translates to 'special' or 'designated' in English. Provinces are further divided into regencies and cities (formerly called second-level region regencies and cities or kabupaten/kotamadya daerah tingkat II), which are in turn subdivided into districts (kecamatan).

Background

Article 18 paragraph 1 of the 1945 Constitution states that "the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia is divided into provincial regions and those provincial regions are divided into regencies and city, whereby every one of those provinces, regencies, and municipalities has its regional government, which shall be regulated by laws."

According to the Law on Regional Government (UU 23/2014) the authority of the Provincial Government includes:

1. Development planning and control;
2. Planning, utilization, and community peace;
3. Implementation of public order and public peace;
4. Provision of public facilities and infrastructure;
5. Handling the health sector;
6. Education and allocation of potential human resources;
7. Handling social problems across regencies/cities;
8. Services in the field of manpower across regencies/cities;
9. Facilitating the development of cooperatives, small and medium enterprises, including across districts/cities;
10. Environmental control;
11. Defense services, including across regencies/cities;
12. Population and civil registration services;
13. Government general administration services;
14. Investment administration services, including across regencies/cities;
15. The implementation of other basic services that cannot be carried out by regencies/cities; and
16. Other mandatory affairs mandated by laws and regulations.

The authority of the provincial government are government affairs which are located across regencies/municipalities, government affairs whose users are across regencies/municipalities, government affairs whose benefits or negative impacts lie across regencies/municipalities, government affairs which use more resources. efficient if carried out by the province.

Each province has a local government, headed by a governor and a legislative body (DPRD). The governor and members of local representative bodies are elected by popular vote for five-year terms, but governors can only serve for two terms. The general election to elect members of the DPRDs is conducted simultaneously with the national general election. Previously, the general elections for Governor and Vice Governor were not held simultaneously. However, since 2015 regional head elections have been held simultaneously. Under the plan, simultaneous partial local elections will be held in February 2017, June 2018, December 2020, culminating in simultaneous elections for all local executive posts on November 2024 and then every five years.

Current provinces

Seven provinces in Indonesia, which are "special autonomous regions" that have special characteristics, are:

• Central Papua, Highland Papua,  Papua, South Papua, Southwest Papua, and  West Papua, which have their special status in the recognition and special respect for indigenous Papuans.

Two provinces that is a "special region" which has "privileged" characteristics:

• Special Region of Jakarta, which has the special status as the financial centre and largest city of Indonesia, and the Governor has more authority, such as appointing and dismissing regional heads in each of the 5 administrative cities and 1 administrative district, and the entire city of Jakarta.

• Special Region of Yogyakarta, which has Sultan Hamengkubuwono as its hereditary governor and Adipati Paku Alam as its hereditary vice-governor. Basically a non-independent sultanate under a republic.

One province that is another "special region" that has both characteristics:

• Aceh, which has the special and privileged status of implementation of Islamic sharia law in religious life, customary life, and education, as well as having regional parties.

Geographical units

The provinces are officially grouped into seven geographical units for statistical and national planning purposes, but without administrative function.^[1]

Geographical unit	Provinces	Population (mid-2022)[2]	Largest city	Highest point
Sumatra	Aceh, the Bangka Belitung Islands, Bengkulu, Jambi, Lampung, North Sumatra, Riau, the Riau Islands, South Sumatra, and West Sumatra	59,977,300	Medan	Mount Kerinci 3,805 m (12484 ft)
Java	Banten, Central Java, East Java, the Special Region of Jakarta, the Special Region of Yogyakarta, and West Java	154,282,100	Jakarta	Mount Semeru 3,678 m (12067 ft)
Kalimantan	Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, and West Kalimantan	17,052,200	Samarinda	Mount Bukit Raya 2,278 m (7,474 ft)
Nusa Tenggara (Lesser Sunda Islands)	Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, and East Nusa Tenggara	15,355,100	Denpasar	Mount Rinjani 3,726 m (12,224 ft)
Sulawesi	Central Sulawesi, Gorontalo, North Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, and West Sulawesi	20,304,400	Makassar	Latimojong 3,478 m (11,411 ft)
Maluku Islands	Maluku and North Maluku	3,201,000	Ambon	Mount Binaiya 3,027 m (9,931 ft)
Papua (Western New Guinea)	Central Papua, Highland Papua, Papua, South Papua, Southwest Papua, and West Papua	5,601,900	Jayapura	Puncak Jaya 4,884 m (16,024 ft)

List of provinces

Emblem	Name[3][4]	Reg. code	ISO[5]	Capital	Largest city	Population (mid 2022)[6]	Area km2	Density /km2 (2022)[7]	Geographical unit	No. of Cities	No. of Reg.
	Aceh	11	ID-AC	Banda Aceh		5,407,900	56,835	95	Sumatra	5	18
	Bali	51	ID-BA	Denpasar		4,415,100	5,590	790	Lesser Sunda Islands	1	8
	Bangka Belitung Islands Kepulauan Bangka Belitung	19	ID-BB	Pangkal Pinang		1,494,600	16,690	90	Sumatra	1	6
	Banten	36	ID-BT	Serang	Tangerang	12,252,000	9,353	1,310	Java	4	4
	Bengkulu	17	ID-BE	Bengkulu		2,060,100	20,128	102	Sumatra	1	9
	Central Java Jawa Tengah	33	ID-JT	Semarang		37,032,400	34,337	1,078	Java	6	29
	Central Kalimantan Kalimantan Tengah	62	ID-KT	Palangka Raya		2,741,100	153,444	18	Kalimantan	1	13
	Central Papua Papua Tengah	94	ID-PT	Wanggar	Timika	1,431,000	61,073	23	Western New Guinea	0	8
	Central Sulawesi Sulawesi Tengah	72	ID-ST	Palu		3,066,100	61,606	50	Sulawesi	1	12
	East Java Jawa Timur	35	ID-JI	Surabaya		41,150,000	48,037	857	Java	9	29
	East Kalimantan[8] Kalimantan Timur	64	ID-KI	Samarinda		3,859,800	126,981	30	Kalimantan	3	7
	East Nusa Tenggara Nusa Tenggara Timur	53	ID-NT	Kupang		5,466,300	46,447	118	Lesser Sunda Islands	1	21
	Gorontalo	75	ID-GO	Gorontalo		1,192,700	12,025	99	Sulawesi	1	5
	Highland Papua Papua Pegunungan	95	ID-PE	Jayawijaya	Wamena	1,430,500	51,213	28	Western New Guinea	0	8
	Special Region of Jakarta Daerah Khusus Jakarta	31	ID-JK	Central Jakarta (de facto)[a]		10,680,000	661	16,158	Java	5	1
	Jambi	15	ID-JA	Jambi		3,631,100	49,027	74	Sumatra	2	9
	Lampung	18	ID-LA	Bandar Lampung		9,176,600	33,570	273	Sumatra	2	13
	Maluku	81	ID-MA	Ambon		1,881,700	46,158	41	Maluku Islands	2	9
	North Kalimantan Kalimantan Utara	65	ID-KU	Tanjung Selor	Tarakan	727,800	70,101	10	Kalimantan	1	4
	North Maluku Maluku Utara	82	ID-MU	Sofifi	Ternate	1,319,300	32,999	40	Maluku Islands	2	8
	North Sulawesi Sulawesi Utara	71	ID-SA	Manado		2,659,500	14,500	183	Sulawesi	4	11
	North Sumatra Sumatera Utara	12	ID-SU	Medan		15,115,200	72,461	209	Sumatra	8	25
	Papua	91	ID-PA	Jayapura		1,035,000	82,681	13	Western New Guinea	1	8
	Riau	14	ID-RI	Pekanbaru		6,614,400	89,936	74	Sumatra	2	10
	Riau Islands Kepulauan Riau	21	ID-KR	Tanjung Pinang	Batam	2,179,800	8,270	264	Sumatra	2	5
	Southeast Sulawesi Sulawesi Tenggara	74	ID-SG	Kendari		2,701,700	36,160	75	Sulawesi	2	15
	South Kalimantan Kalimantan Selatan	63	ID-KS	Banjarbaru	Banjarmasin	4,182,100	37,135	113	Kalimantan	2	11
	South Papua Papua Selatan	93	ID-PS	Salor	Merauke	522,200	117,849	4.4	Western New Guinea	0	4
	South Sulawesi Sulawesi Selatan	73	ID-SN	Makassar		9,225,800	45,331	204	Sulawesi	3	21
	South Sumatra Sumatera Selatan	16	ID-SS	Palembang		8,657,000	91,592	100	Sumatra	4	13
	Southwest Papua Papua Barat Daya	96	ID-PD	Sorong		621,904	39,123	16	Western New Guinea	1	5
	West Java Jawa Barat	32	ID-JB	Bandung	Bekasi	49,405,800	37,045	1,334	Java	9	18
	West Kalimantan Kalimantan Barat	61	ID-KB	Pontianak		5,541,400	147,037	38	Kalimantan	2	12
	West Nusa Tenggara Nusa Tenggara Barat	52	ID-NB	Mataram		5,473,700	19,676	278	Lesser Sunda Islands	2	8
	West Papua Papua Barat	92	ID-PB[9]	Manokwari		561,403	60,275	9	Western New Guinea	0	7
	West Sulawesi Sulawesi Barat	76	ID-SR	Mamuju		1,458,600	16,595	88	Sulawesi	0	6
	West Sumatra Sumatera Barat	13	ID-SB	Padang		5,640,600	42,120	134	Sumatra	7	12
	Special Region of Yogyakarta Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta	34	ID-YO	Yogyakarta		3,761,900	3,171	1,186	Java	1	4

Former provinces

Upon the independence of Indonesia, eight provinces were established. West Java, Central Java, East Java, and Maluku still exist as of today despite later divisions, while Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Nusa Tenggara, formerly Lesser Sunda (Sunda Kecil) were fully liquidated by dividing them into new provinces. The province of Central Sumatra existed from 1948 to 1957, while East Timor was annexed as a province from 1976 until its power transfer to UNTAET in 1999 prior to its independence as a country in 2002.

Province	Capital	Period	Successor(s)
Special Region of Surakarta (Daerah Istimewa Surakarta)[10]	Surakarta	1945–1946	Central Java
Sumatra[11]	Bukittinggi / Medan	1945–1948	Central Sumatra North Sumatra South Sumatra
Kalimantan[12]	Banjarmasin	1945–1956	East Kalimantan South Kalimantan West Kalimantan
Nusa Tenggara[13]	Singaraja	1945–1958	Bali East Nusa Tenggara West Nusa Tenggara
Sulawesi[14]	Makassar / Manado	1945–1960	North-Central Sulawesi South-Southeast Sulawesi
Central Sumatra (Sumatera Tengah)[11][15]	Bukittinggi	1948–1957	Jambi Riau West Sumatra
North-Central Sulawesi (Sulawesi Utara-Tengah)[16]	Manado	1960–1964	North Sulawesi Central Sulawesi
South-Southeast Sulawesi (Sulawesi Selatan-Tenggara)[16]	Makassar	1960–1964	South Sulawesi Southeast Sulawesi
East Timor (Timor Timur)[17]	Dili	1976–1999	Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste

New provinces made from currently-existing provinces

New province (current name)	Year	New province (then name)	Province of origin
Special Region of Yogyakarta	1950	Yogyakarta	Central Java
Aceh	1956	Aceh	North Sumatra
Central Kalimantan	1958	Central Kalimantan	South Kalimantan
Jakarta Special Capital Region	1959	Greater Jakarta	West Java
Lampung	1964	Lampung	South Sumatra
Bengkulu	1967	Bengkulu	South Sumatra
North Maluku	1999	North Maluku	Maluku
Banten	2000	Banten	West Java
Bangka Belitung Islands	2000	Bangka Belitung Islands	South Sumatra
Gorontalo	2000	Gorontalo	North Sulawesi
Riau Islands	2002	Riau Islands	Riau
West Papua	2003	West Irian Jaya	Irian Jaya
West Sulawesi	2004	West Sulawesi	South Sulawesi
North Kalimantan	2012	North Kalimantan	East Kalimantan
Central Papua	2022	Central Papua	Papua
Highland Papua	2022	Highland Papua	Papua
South Papua	2022	South Papua	Papua
Southwest Papua	2022	Southwest Papua	West Papua

Renamed provinces

Year	Old name (Indonesian)	Old name (English)	New name (Indonesian)	New name (English)	Current name
1954	Sunda Kecil	Lesser Sunda	Nusa Tenggara	Nusa Tenggara	non-existent
1959	Aceh	Aceh	Daerah Istimewa Aceh	Aceh Special Region	Aceh
1961	Jakarta Raya	Greater Jakarta	Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta Raya	Greater Jakarta Special Capital Region	Jakarta Special Capital Region
1973	Irian Barat	West Irian	Irian Jaya	Irian Jaya	Papua
1990	Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta Raya	Greater Jakarta Special Capital Region	Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta	Jakarta Special Capital Region	Special Region of Jakarta
2001	Daerah Istimewa Aceh	Aceh Special Region	Nanggroë Aceh Darussalam	State of Aceh, the Abode of Peace	Aceh
2002	Irian Jaya	Irian Jaya	Papua	Papua	Papua
2007	Irian Jaya Barat	West Irian Jaya	Papua Barat	West Papua	West Papua
2009	Nanggroë Aceh Darussalam	State of Aceh, the Abode of Peace	Aceh	Aceh	Aceh
2024	Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta	Jakarta Special Capital Region	Daerah Khusus Jakarta	Special Region of Jakarta	Special Region of Jakarta

Former provincial capitals

• Tanjungpinang to Pekanbaru, Riau (until 1959)
• Jakarta to Bandung, West Java (until 1960)
• Singaraja to Denpasar, Bali (until 1960)
• Soasio, Tidore to Sukarnopura, West Irian (1956–1963)
• Dili, East Timor (1975–1999), later became the capital of Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste
• Ternate to Sofifi, North Maluku (until 2010)
• Banjarmasin to Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan (until 2022)

See also

• List of regencies and cities of Indonesia
• Subdivisions of Indonesia

Notes

References