Indonesia - population trends analysis. We see that rural population of Indonesia declined by about 9 million and the urban population increased by 31 million.

Authors Avatar

Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world with 18,108 islands (based on 2003 satellite imaging data), stretching along the equator for more than 5,000 km. Superimposed on the United States or Europe, Indonesia would stretch roughly from San Francisco to New York or from Madrid to Moscow. Nearly 60% of Indonesia's land is forested and a significant portion is mountainous and volcanic. Some mountains on Sumatra and Irian Jaya exceed 3,000 metres in height. Mt. Merapi, on Java, is regarded as the most volatile of Indonesia's 500 volcanoes – 12% of which are still active!

Indonesia is the fourth most heavily populated country in the world after China, India and the United States with 228 million people (2002), comprising some 300 ethnic groups who speak an estimated 583 languages and dialects. The majority is concentrated on Java, Bali and Madura (60%). The majority of Indonesians are of Malay descent. The major ethnic groups are: Javanese (45%), Sundanese (14%), Madurese (7.5%). Coastal Malays (7.5%) and others – Chinese, Indians (26%). The currency of Indonesia is the Indonesian Rupiah (IDR) [Rp.] Its current exchange rate with the US$ is about $1 = Rp. 8,538


Over the past 10 years, Indonesia has changed much. Its population increased by approx. 28 million people. But the major change is in the type of population change. From the graph, we see that rural population of Indonesia declined by about 9 million and the urban population increased by 31 million. This migration caused the urban population to cross the rural population somewhere in 2006 at 110 million people in each.  Also in 2006, there was a sudden drop in the population of Indonesia. This could have been caused due to the exhaustion of primary resources and thus the population shift towards the urban was observed.

Join now!

As people moved towards urban life, the population growth rate also decreased. The major reason for this is because in urban living, less of labour is required as compared to rural life. Again in 2005, the sudden decrease in the growth rate is followed by the sudden drop in population in 2006. This can be explained by the mini-crisis that struck Indonesia in late 2005 when the prices of international oil and imports increased.


The age dependency ratio of Indonesia kept decreasing. This is due to the rural to urban population migration. In urban cities, there are 2 ...

This is a preview of the whole essay