INDONESIA

INDONESIA

Indonesia covers a land mass of 1.91 million km²  and territorial waters nearly four times that size. In total , the country comprises 17.508 islands stretching 5.120 km from east to west and 1.760 km north to south.

The population is concentrated on six main islands. Java, with an area of 132.188 km² is home approximately 59 percent of the nation’s population, or 122 million people. It is one of the most densly populated areas in the word.

The island of Sumatera, with an area of 475.605 km²  represent some 25 percent of Indonesian’s land area and is hometo 20.7 percent of the country’s population, or 39,2 million people. Bali, Indonesia’s fabled island touristdestination is 5.561 km²  in size but with less than 3 million people, or 15 percent of the total  popultion. Totalling 539.458 km² , the four provinces in Kalimantan comprise about 28 percent of Indonesia’s land area but only 5.3 percent (10 million) of the nation’s population. Sulawesi with an area of 189.216 km²  has 10 percent of Indonesian’s land territory and 7 percent
(13,3 millions) of its population.

Irian Jaya, totalling 421.982 km² is Indonesia’s most eastern province and lies directly west of Papua New Guinea and and north of Australia. With 22 percent of nation’s land mass, Irian Jaya’s 1,8 million inhabitants represent just under one percent of the total population.

Nearly 60 percent of Indonesian’s land is forested, and a significants portion is mountanious and volcanic. Some mountain on Sumatera and Irian Jaya exceed 3.000 meters in height. Java alone has 112 volcanoes including a number which are still active.

Volcanic activity through the ages has given the soil in Java and Bali a high degree of fertility, which accounts in part the concentration of agriculture and people on the two islands.

                                      (Taken From Indonesia Source Book 1994,p.11-12)