Provinces of Indonesia

Provinces of Indonesia are the 38 administrative divisions of Indonesia and the highest tier of the local government (formerly called first-level region provinces or provinsi daerah tingkat I). 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).

Provinces of Indonesia Provinsi Indonesia
Category	First level administrative division of a unitary state
Location	Indonesia
Created	18 August 1945
Number	38
Populations	Smallest: 517,623 (South Papua) Largest: 43,053,732 (West Java)
Areas	Smallest: 664 km^2 (256 sq mi) (Jakarta) Largest: 153,564 km^2 (59,291 sq mi) (Central Kalimantan)
Government	Governor
Subdivisions	Regencies and cities

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 districts/cities;
8. Services in the field of manpower across districts/cities;
9. Facilitating the development of cooperatives, small and medium enterprises, including across districts/cities;
10. Environmental control;
11. Defense services, including across districts/cities;
12. Population and civil registration services;
13. Government general administration services;
14. Investment administration services, including across districts/cities;
15. The implementation of other basic services that cannot be carried out by districts/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

After the creation of Southwest Papua, Indonesia now has 38 provinces: 29 ordinary provinces and 9 provinces that have special status. The 1945 Constitution mentions that the state of Indonesia acknowledges and respects the special status of some of its regional governments. The special status is divided into two separate characteristics which in Indonesian are "Istimewa" and "Khusus". The main meaning for both is special in English, however Istimewa could also be translated to "privileged".

Seven provinces in Indonesia 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.
•   Special Capital Region of Jakarta, which has the special status as the capital city of Indonesia.

One province has "privileged" characteristics:

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

One province has both characteristics:

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

 

Aceh

North
Sumatra

West
Sumatra

Riau

Riau
Islands

Bangka
Belitung

Jambi

South
Sumatra

Bengkulu

Lampung

Banten

Jakarta
↓

West
Java

Central
Java

↑
Yogyakarta

East
Java

Bali

West
Nusa
Tenggara

East Nusa
Tenggara

West
Kalimantan

Central
Kalimantan

North
Kalimantan

East
Kalimantan

South
Kalimantan

North
Sulawesi

North
Maluku

Central
Sulawesi

Gorontalo
↓

West
Sulawesi

South
Sulawesi

Southeast
Sulawesi

Maluku

West
Papua

Southwest
Papua

Papua

Central
Papua

Highland
Papua

South
Papua

Click on a province name to go to its main article

Geographical units

Further information: Regions of Indonesia

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-2021)^[2]
Sumatra	Aceh, the Bangka Belitung Islands, Bengkulu, Jambi, Lampung, North Sumatra, Riau, the Riau Islands, South Sumatra, and West Sumatra	59,185,800
Java	Banten, Central Java, East Java, the Special Capital Region of Jakarta, the Special Region of Yogyakarta, and West Java	152,787,800
Kalimantan	Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, and West Kalimantan	16,817,400
Nusa Tenggara (Lesser Sunda Islands)	Bali, East Nusa Tenggara, and West Nusa Tenggara	15,140,400
Sulawesi	Central Sulawesi, Gorontalo, North Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, and West Sulawesi	20,077,000
Maluku Islands	Maluku and North Maluku	3,161,800
Papua (Western New Guinea)	Central Papua, Highland Papua, Papua, South Papua, Southwest Papua, and West Papua	5,512,300

Table of provinces

Provinces of Indonesia^[3][4]

Arms	Province	Indonesian name	Indonesian acronym	ISO^[5]	Capital	Population (mid-2021 estimate)^[6]	Area (km^2)	Density (/km^2) (2010)	Geographical unit	No. of cities & regencies	No. of cities	No. of regencies
	Aceh	Aceh	Aceh	ID - AC	Banda Aceh	5,333,700	57,956	77	Sumatra	23	5	18
	Bali	Bali	Bali	ID - BA	Denpasar	4,362,700	5,780	621	Lesser Sunda Islands	9	1	8
	Bangka Belitung Islands	Kepulauan Bangka Belitung	Babel	ID - BB	Pangkal Pinang	1,473,200	16,424	64	Sumatra	7	1	6
	Banten	Banten	Banten	ID - BT	Serang	12,061,500	9,662	909	Java	8	4	4
	Bengkulu	Bengkulu	Bengkulu	ID - BE	Bengkulu	2,032,900	19,919	84	Sumatra	10	1	9
	Central Java	Jawa Tengah	Jateng	ID - JT	Semarang	36,742,500	40,800	894	Java	35	6	29
	Central Kalimantan	Kalimantan Tengah	Kalteng	ID - KT	Palangka Raya	2,702,200	153,564	14	Kalimantan	14	1	13
	Central Papua	Papua Tengah	Pateng	ID - PT	Nabire	1,409,000	66,129	27	Western New Guinea	8	0	8
	Central Sulawesi	Sulawesi Tengah	Sulteng	ID - ST	Palu	3,021,900	61,841	41	Sulawesi	13	1	12
	East Java	Jawa Timur	Jatim	ID - JI	Surabaya	40,878,800	47,799	828	Java	38	9	29
	East Kalimantan^[7]	Kalimantan Timur	Kaltim	ID - KI	Samarinda	3,808,200	127,267	22	Kalimantan	10	3	7
	East Nusa Tenggara	Nusa Tenggara Timur	NTT	ID - NT	Kupang	5,387,700	48,718	92	Lesser Sunda Islands	22	1	21
	Gorontalo	Gorontalo	Gorontalo	ID - GO	Gorontalo	1,181,000	11,257	94	Sulawesi	6	1	5
	Highland Papua	Papua Pegunungan		ID - PE	Wamena	1,408,600	108,476	20	Western New Guinea	8	0	8
	Special Capital Region of Jakarta	Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta	DKI Jakarta	ID - JK	Jakarta^[a]	10,609,700	664	12,786	Java	6	5	1
	Jambi	Jambi	Jambi	ID - JA	Jambi	3,585,100	50,058	57	Sumatra	11	2	9
	Lampung	Lampung	Lampung	ID - LA	Bandar Lampung	9,081,800	34,623	226	Sumatra	15	2	13
	Maluku	Maluku	Maluku	ID - MA	Ambon	1,862,600	46,914	32	Maluku Islands	11	2	9
	North Kalimantan	Kalimantan Utara	Kaltara	ID - KU	Tanjung Selor	713,600	72,275	10	Kalimantan	5	1	4
	North Maluku	Maluku Utara	Malut	ID - MU	Sofifi	1,299,200	31,982	31	Maluku Islands	10	2	8
	North Sulawesi	Sulawesi Utara	Sulut	ID - SA	Manado	2,638,600	13,851	162	Sulawesi	15	4	11
	North Sumatra	Sumatra Utara	Sumut	ID - SU	Medan	14,936,200	72,981	188	Sumatra	33	8	25
	Papua	Papua ^[b]	Papua	ID - PA	Jayapura	1,020,200	81,049	14	Western New Guinea	9	1	8
	Riau	Riau	Riau	ID - RI	Pekanbaru	6,493,600	87,023	52	Sumatra	12	2	10
	Riau Islands	Kepulauan Riau	Kepri	ID - KR	Tanjung Pinang	2,118,200	8,201	208	Sumatra	7	2	5
	Southeast Sulawesi	Sulawesi Tenggara	Sultra	ID - SG	Kendari	2,659,200	38,067	51	Sulawesi	17	2	15
	South Kalimantan	Kalimantan Selatan	Kalsel	ID - KS	Banjarbaru	4,122,600	38,744	96	Kalimantan	13	2	11
	South Papua	Papua Selatan	Pasel	ID - PS	Merauke	517,600	131,493	4.1	Western New Guinea	4	0	4
	South Sulawesi	Sulawesi Selatan	Sulsel	ID - SN	Makassar	9,139,500	46,717	151	Sulawesi	24	3	21
	South Sumatra	Sumatra Selatan	Sumsel	ID - SS	Palembang	8,550,900	91,592	86	Sumatra	17	4	13
	Southwest Papua	Papua Barat Daya	PBD		Sorong	605,049	38,821	15	Western New Guinea	5	1	5
	West Java	Jawa Barat	Jabar	ID - JB	Bandung	48,782,400	35,377	1,176	Java	27	9	18
	West Kalimantan	Kalimantan Barat	Kalbar	ID - KB	Pontianak	5,470,800	147,307	30	Kalimantan	14	2	12
	West Nusa Tenggara	Nusa Tenggara Barat	NTB	ID - NB	Mataram	5,390,000	18,572	234	Lesser Sunda Islands	10	2	8
	West Papua	Papua Barat	Pabar	ID - PB^[8]	Manokwari	551,791	64,126	8	Western New Guinea	7	0	7
	West Sulawesi	Sulawesi Barat	Sulbar	ID - SR	Mamuju	1,436,800	16,787	73	Sulawesi	6	0	6
	West Sumatra	Sumatra Barat	Sumbar	ID - SB	Padang	5,580,200	42,012	110	Sumatra	19	7	12
	Special Region of Yogyakarta	Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta	DIY	ID - YO	Yogyakarta	3,712,900	3,133	1,138	Java	5	1	4

Former provinces

 

 

Three-province Sumatra (1948–56) (L) and two-province Sulawesi (1960–64) with present-day regency borders

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)
Sumatra^[9]	Bukittinggi / Medan	1945–1948	Central Sumatra North Sumatra South Sumatra
Kalimantan^[10]	Banjarmasin	1945–1956	East Kalimantan South Kalimantan West Kalimantan
Nusa Tenggara^[11]	Singaraja	1945–1958	Bali East Nusa Tenggara West Nusa Tenggara
Sulawesi^[12]	Makassar / Manado	1945–1960	North-Central Sulawesi South-Southeast Sulawesi
Central Sumatra (Sumatra Tengah)^[9]^[13]	Bukittinggi	1948–1957	Jambi Riau West Sumatra
North-Central Sulawesi (Sulawesi Utara-Tengah)^[14]	Manado	1960–1964	North Sulawesi Central Sulawesi
South-Southeast Sulawesi (Sulawesi Selatan-Tenggara)^[14]	Makassar	1960–1964	South Sulawesi Southeast Sulawesi
East Timor (Timor Timur)^[15]	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
West Irian	1949, 1956,^[16] 1963, 1969	Papua	Maluku
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	Jakarta Special Capital Region
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

 

 

Pre-1999 Maluku (L) and Irian Jaya (now Papua, R) with present-day regency borders

 

Provinces in Western New Guinea, after the split of Papua Province into four provinces in July 2022 but before the split of West Papua Province into two provinces in November 2022

Former provincial capitals

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

See also

•  Indonesia portal

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

Notes

1. Jakarta is a province-level Capital Special Region comprising five Kota Administrasis (administrative cities/municipalities) and one Kabupaten Administrasi (administrative regency).
2. Since 25 July 2022 Papua Province has been reduced to just the northern part of Western New Guinea, plus three regencies in Cenderawasih Bay, with most of the previous parts of the province split off to form three new provinces. Figures have been adjusted to take account of this separation.

References

1. ISO 3166-2:ID
2. Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2022.
3. . Archived from the original on 2012-02-22. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
4. (PDF) (in Indonesian), Kementerian Dalam Negeri [Ministry of Home Affairs], archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-11-19
5. ISO 3166-2:ID (ISO 3166-2 codes for the provinces of Indonesia)
6. Badan Pusat Statistik/Statistics Indonesia, Jakarta, 2022.
7. Figures adjusted to take account of the separation of Tarakan city and four regencies, as confirmed by Badan Pusat Statistik, to form the new province of North Kalimantan, listed separately in this table.
8. West Papua was created from the western portion of Papua province in February 2003, initially under the name of Irian Jaya Barat, and was renamed Papua Barat (West Papua) on 7 February 2007. The split remains controversial. In November 2004, the Constitutional Court of Indonesia ruled that the split violated Papua's autonomy laws. However, since the western province had already been created, it should remain separate from Papua. The ruling also aborted the creation of another proposed province, Central Irian Jaya, because the split was not yet completed. As of June 2008, an ISO 3166-2 code has not yet been published for West Papua. If one were to follow precedent, it would be ID-PB. Note: ISO 3166-2 Newsletter II-1 (corrected 2010-02-19) page 18-19 confirms this as ID-PB. See http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_3166-2_newsletter_ii-1_corrected_2010-02-19.pdf . The code ID-IJ now refers to the larger geographical region including Papua and West Papua.
9. [Government Regulation Number 21 of 1950] (PDF). hukum.unsrat.ac.id (in Indonesian). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-12-11. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
10. "Undang-Undang Nomor 25 Tahun 1956" [Act Number 25 of 1956]. hukumonline.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 14 November 2018.
11. "Undang-Undang Nomor 64 Tahun 1958" [Act Number 64 of 1958]. hukumonline.com (in Indonesian). Republic of Indonesia. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
12. "Peraturan Pemerintah Pengganti Undang-Undang Nomor 47 Tahun 1960" [Government Regulation in Lieu of Law Number 47 of 1960]. hukumonline.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 14 November 2018.
13. "Undang-Undang Darurat Nomor 19 Tahun 1957" [Emergency Act Number 19 Year 1957]. hukumonline.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 14 November 2018.
14. "Undang-Undang Nomor 13 Tahun 1964" [Act Number 13 of 1964]. hukumonline.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 29 January 2020.
15. [Act of the Republic of Indonesia Number 7 of 1976] (PDF) (in Indonesian). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-11-14. Retrieved 2018-11-14.
16. "UU No. 15 Tahun 1956 tentang Pembentukan Daerah Otonom Propinsi Irian Barat [JDIH BPK RI]". peraturan.bpk.go.id. Retrieved 2022-10-15.