Indonesia, the map of which is located below, is a state that occupies several thousand islands of various sizes. At the same time, about half of them are inhabited by people. The rest of the territory is uninhabited. The government made several attempts to relocate part of the inhabitants to free territories, but they were unsuccessful.
Demography
Over the past century, Indonesia’s population has nearly tripled. In this indicator, as of today, it is second only to China, India and the United States. Such a rapid increase in the number of inhabitants of the country is associated with a simultaneous decrease in mortality and increased fertility. One cannot fail to note the fact that over this period the average life expectancy in the state has grown (almost 69 years). All this led to the fact that at one time the government even had to develop activities related to family planning and aimed at reducing the growth rate. According to the latest census conducted in 2010, the population of Indonesia is now about 238 million people. It should be noted that about 15% of them are young people under the age of 15, while the elderly account for just over 5% of the population of the state. The number of women and men in it is about the same.
Population location
The distribution of the population throughout the country is characterized by high unevenness. In particular, about 60% of all Indonesians live on the island of Java. At the same time, one cannot but note the fact that this piece of land accounts for only 7% of the state’s area. Indonesia’s population density in this region reaches 990 people per square kilometer. One of the least populated provinces is Irian Jaya. It occupies almost a fifth of the country's area. Along with this, only every hundredth resident of the state lives here. Thus, for every square kilometer of this region there are just over 4 people. As a rule, Indonesians live in areas of river valleys, on intermountain fertile hollows, as well as nearby mining sites, logging and export ports. Since the state is an agrarian country, the population of Indonesia is predominantly rural residents (over 66%). The largest city here is Jakarta, which is home to about 10 million inhabitants. She is the capital of the state. The average population density of the country is 102 people per square kilometer.
National composition
In Indonesia, there are more than 300 different tribal and ethnic groups. Each of them is distinguished by the presence of its own language, social organization and customs. The most numerical people are Javanese. There are more than 67 million people (about 45% of the total population of the country). Other numerical ethnic groups are considered to be sundas - 13%, durre and malay-eti - 6% each, minangkabau - 4%. It should be noted that the state is inhabited by numerous representatives of non-indigenous peoples. The most common among them were the Chinese, Arabs, Japanese and Indians.
Languages
As shown by numerous studies, as of today, the population of Indonesia speaks 728 different languages and live dialects. According to this indicator, the country is in second place in the world. Indonesian is the official language . He received this status in 1945. It is included in the compulsory school curriculum, and is also widely used in colloquial speech by representatives of the city intelligentsia. Along with this, the indigenous people often use the Malay-Polynesian, Javanese and Madur languages.
Religion
The population of Indonesia predominantly professes Sunni Islam. Along with this, some other religions are quite widespread. After Muslims, Christians are considered the most numerical denomination (10%), among which there are Catholics and Protestants. Quite a lot of Buddhists live in the country. Less than one percent of locals profess Taoism and Confucianism. Animism has become quite common on some of the islands - faith in the spirits that hide in trees, rocks, rivers and other natural objects. It should be noted that state legislation guarantees every citizen of Indonesia the right to freedom of religion and equality of representatives of all religions.
Labor resources
As noted above, the country's economy is based on the agricultural sector. Almost 60% of the country's citizens are employed. In this regard, it is not surprising that the majority of the country's inhabitants (approximately 45%) are engaged in agriculture. In addition, the population of Indonesia is employed in the service sector (35%), in industry (16%) and other areas of activity. Approximately 38% of women living in the state are employed. As for the economically active population of the country, its population now amounts to just over 112 million people.