Provinces of Indonesia

Provinces are the first-level administrative divisions of Indonesia. They were formerly called first-level provincial regions (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. The average land area of all 38 provinces in Indonesia is about 49,800 km² (19,200 sq mi), and they had an average population of 7,410,626 people in mid-2024.

Provinces of Indonesia Provinsi di Indonesia
Category	First-level administrative division of a decentralized unitary state
Location	Republic of Indonesia
Created	18 August 1945
Number	38
Populations	South Papua (542,100) – West Java (50,345,200) in mid 2024
Areas	Jakarta 661 km2 (255 sq mi) – Central Kalimantan 153,444 km2 (59,245 sq mi)
Government	Governor
Subdivisions	Regencies and cities

Indonesia is divided into 38 provinces, nine of which have special autonomous status. The terms for special status are "Istimewa" and "Khusus", which translate to "special", or "designated". Provinces are further divided into regencies and cities (formerly called second-level region regencies/cities, or kabupaten/kotamadya daerah tingkat II), which are in turn subdivided into districts (kecamatan). Proposals for the creation of additional provinces (by the splitting of existing ones) have been considered by the Indonesian government, but further action has been suspended since 2013 under a moratorium. However, in 2022, nine years later, Central Papua, Highland Papua, South Papua, and Southwest Papua were created and became the youngest provinces in the country. The enactment of the Law on State Capital in 2022 established a future provincial-level city, Nusantara, which would officially become the 39th province after a presidential decree on relocating the state capital is issued, and it would replace Jakarta as the nation's capital city.^[1]

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 were held in February 2017, June 2018 and December 2020, culminating in simultaneous elections for all local executive posts in November 2024 and then every five years.

Current provinces

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

Southwest
Papua

West
Papua

Central
Papua

Papua

Highland
Papua

South
Papua

Click on a province name to go to its main article

Code		Coat of arms	Name[2][3]		City		Geographical unit	Area (km2)	Population (mid 2024) [4]	Density per km2 (mid 2024)[5]	2nd Level
#	ISO[6] ID-		English	Indonesian	Capital	Largest					Cities	Reg.
11	AC		Aceh	Aceh	Banda Aceh		Sumatra	56,835	5,554,800	98	5	18
12	SU		North Sumatra	Sumatera Utara	Medan		Sumatra	72,461	15,588,500	215	8	25
13	SB		West Sumatra	Sumatera Barat	Padang		Sumatra	42,120	5,836,200	139	7	12
14	RI		Riau	Riau	Pekanbaru		Sumatra	89,936	6,728,100	75	2	10
15	JA		Jambi	Jambi	Jambi		Sumatra	49,027	3,724,300	76	2	9
16	SS		South Sumatra	Sumatera Selatan	Palembang		Sumatra	86,772	8,837,300	102	4	13
17	BE		Bengkulu	Bengkulu	Bengkulu		Sumatra	20,128	2,112,200	105	1	9
18	LA		Lampung	Lampung	Bandar Lampung		Sumatra	33,570	9,419,600	281	2	13
19	BB		Bangka Belitung Islands	Kepulauan Bangka Belitung	Pangkal Pinang		Sumatra	16,690	1,531,500	92	1	6
21	KR		Riau Islands	Kepulauan Riau	Tanjung Pinang	Batam	Sumatra	8,270	2,183,300	264	2	5
31	JK		Special Capital Region of Jakarta	Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta	Central Jakarta (de facto)[a]	East Jakarta	Java	661	10,684,900	16,165	5	1
32	JB		West Java	Jawa Barat	Bandung	Bekasi	Java	37,045	50,345,200	1,359	9	18
33	JT		Central Java	Jawa Tengah	Semarang		Java	34,337	37,892,300	1,104	6	29
34	YO		Special Region of Yogyakarta	Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta	Yogyakarta		Java	3,171	3,759,500	1,186	1	4
35	JI		East Java	Jawa Timur	Surabaya		Java	48,037	41,814,500	870	9	29
36	BT		Banten	Banten	Serang	Tangerang	Java	9,353	12,431,400	1,329	4	4
51	BA		Bali	Bali	Denpasar		Lesser Sunda Islands	5,590	4,433,300	793	1	8
52	NB		West Nusa Tenggara	Nusa Tenggara Barat	Mataram		Lesser Sunda Islands	19,676	5,646,000	287	2	8
53	NT		East Nusa Tenggara	Nusa Tenggara Timur	Kupang		Lesser Sunda Islands	46,447	5,656,000	122	1	21
61	KB		West Kalimantan	Kalimantan Barat	Pontianak		Kalimantan	147,037	5,695,500	39	2	12
62	KT		Central Kalimantan	Kalimantan Tengah	Palangka Raya		Kalimantan	153,444	2,809,700	18	1	13
63	KS		South Kalimantan	Kalimantan Selatan	Banjarbaru	Banjarmasin	Kalimantan	37,135	4,273,400	115	2	11
64	KI		East Kalimantan[b]	Kalimantan Timur	Samarinda		Kalimantan	126,981	4,045,900	32	3	7
65	KU		North Kalimantan	Kalimantan Utara	Tanjung Selor	Tarakan	Kalimantan	70,101	739,800	11	1	4
71	SA		North Sulawesi	Sulawesi Utara	Manado		Sulawesi	14,500	2,701,800	186	4	11
72	ST		Central Sulawesi	Sulawesi Tengah	Palu		Sulawesi	61,606	3,121,800	51	1	12
73	SN		South Sulawesi	Sulawesi Selatan	Makassar		Sulawesi	45,331	9,463,400	209	3	21
74	SG		Southeast Sulawesi	Sulawesi Tenggara	Kendari		Sulawesi	36,160	2,793,100	77	2	15
75	GO		Gorontalo	Gorontalo	Gorontalo		Sulawesi	12,025	1,227,800	102	1	5
76	SR		West Sulawesi	Sulawesi Barat	Mamuju		Sulawesi	16,595	1,503,200	91	—	6
81	MA		Maluku	Maluku	Ambon		Maluku Islands	46,158	1,945,600	42	2	9
82	MU		North Maluku	Maluku Utara	Sofifi	Ternate	Maluku Islands	32,999	1,355,600	41	2	8
91	PA		Papua	Papua	Jayapura		Western New Guinea	82,681	1,060,600	13	1	8
92	PB		West Papua[c]	Papua Barat	Manokwari		Western New Guinea	60,275	578,700	10	—	7
93	PS		South Papua	Papua Selatan	Salor	Merauke	Western New Guinea	117,849	542,100	5	—	4
94	PT		Central Papua	Papua Tengah	Wanggar	Timika	Western New Guinea	61,073	1,472,900	24	—	8
95	PE		Highland Papua	Papua Pegunungan	Jayawijaya		Western New Guinea	51,213	1,467,000	29	—	8
96	PD		Southwest Papua	Papua Barat Daya	Sorong		Western New Guinea	39,123	627,100	16	1	5

Special autonomy

The decentralization of some power and autonomy to provinces is called for by Article 18 of the Constitution of Indonesia, and this article was expanded through amendments in October 1999 in the period following the fall of Suharto.^{[7]: 35–37} Some provinces have been granted additional autonomy beyond this, although Indonesia is not a federated state. The form this special autonomy takes is not standardized, with provinces gaining different formulations of specific autonomy based on particular political imperatives.^{[7]: 38–39}

• The Special Region of Yogyakarta, which was autonomous under Dutch rule, was (along with Surakarta) given consideration for autonomy as part of Law no. 1 of 1945. Autonomy for Yogyakarta was confirmed directly through Law no. 3 of 1950, the first granting of special autonomy to a province. This status has been maintained until the present, with some tweaks from additional laws.^{[7]: 39–40} Sultan Hamengkubuwono serves as a hereditary governor and Adipati Paku Alam as a hereditary vice-governor.
• Rebellion in Aceh due to demands for a stricter implementation of Islamic law has led to several shifts in political status. Specific autonomy was initially granted to the province through Law no. 24 of 1956. Further autonomy was given through the declaration that Aceh was a "special region" on 23 May 1959, later formalized through Law no. 18 of 1965. Following the fall of Suharto, Law no. 44 of 1999 and Law no. 18 of 2001 created a new framework that was adopted by both parties through Law no. 11 of 2006. This law provides privileged status regarding implementation of Islamic law in religious life, customary life, and education. Aceh also received its own development fund for a period of 20 years.^{[7]: 44–46}
• The province of Papua was granted special autonomy through Law no. 21 of 2001. This was a response to independence movements that had been present in the province since it became part of Indonesia, and occurred alongside the renaming of the province from Irian Jaya to Papua.^{[7]: 42–43 [8]} This gave Papua a greater portion of revenue, autonomy outside reserved areas maintained by the central government, and 20 years of a special development fund. Before special autonomy was implemented, West Papua was split from Papua in 2003, although both kept special autonomy.^[9] The special autonomy for both provinces was renewed in 2021, including a renewal and increase of the special autonomy fund.^[10] Included in this new legislation was the provision to create new provinces, and in July 2022 new national legislation split South Papua, Central Papua, Highland Papua from Papua^[11] through Law Number 14 of 2022, Law Number 15 of 2022, and Law Number 16 of 2022 respectively.^[8] Law No. 29 of 2022 was enacted in December 2022 splitting Southwest Papua from West Papua.^[12] All the split provinces retained their autonomous status.
• The Special Capital Region of Jakarta has its own status, due to it being the country's capital and largest city.^[13]

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.^[14]

Geographical unit	Provinces	Population (mid-2024)[15]	Largest city	Highest point
Sumatra	Aceh, the Bangka Belitung Islands, Bengkulu, Jambi, Lampung, North Sumatra, Riau, the Riau Islands, South Sumatra, and West Sumatra	61,515,800	Medan	Mount Kerinci 3,805 m (12484 ft)
Java	Banten, Central Java, East Java, the Special Capital Region of Jakarta, the Special Region of Yogyakarta, and West Java	156,927,800	Jakarta	Mount Semeru 3,678 m (12067 ft)
Nusa Tenggara (Lesser Sunda Islands)	Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, and East Nusa Tenggara	15,735,300	Denpasar	Mount Rinjani 3,726 m (12,224 ft)
Kalimantan	Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, and West Kalimantan	17,564,300	Samarinda	Mount Bukit Raya 2,278 m (7,474 ft)
Sulawesi	Central Sulawesi, Gorontalo, North Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, and West Sulawesi	20,811,100	Makassar	Latimojong 3,478 m (11,411 ft)
Maluku Islands	Maluku and North Maluku	3,301,200	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	5,748,400	Jayapura	Puncak Jaya 4,884 m (16,024 ft)

Former provinces

Evolution of Indonesia's provinces from 1945 until North Kalimantan's establishment in 2012

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)
Special Region of Surakarta (Daerah Istimewa Surakarta)[16]	Surakarta	1945–1946	Central Java
Sumatra[17]	Bukittinggi / Medan	1945–1948	Central Sumatra North Sumatra South Sumatra
Kalimantan[18]	Banjarmasin	1945–1956	East Kalimantan South Kalimantan West Kalimantan
Nusa Tenggara[19]	Singaraja	1945–1958	Bali East Nusa Tenggara West Nusa Tenggara
Sulawesi[20]	Makassar / Manado	1945–1960	North-Central Sulawesi South-Southeast Sulawesi
Central Sumatra (Sumatera Tengah)[17][21]	Bukittinggi	1948–1957	Jambi Riau West Sumatra
North-Central Sulawesi (Sulawesi Utara-Tengah)[22]	Manado	1960–1964	North Sulawesi Central Sulawesi
South-Southeast Sulawesi (Sulawesi Selatan-Tenggara)[22]	Makassar	1960–1964	South Sulawesi Southeast Sulawesi
East Timor (Timor Timur)[23]	Dili	1976–1999	Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste

New provinces made from currently-existing provinces

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 June 2022^[24] and after the split of West Papua Province into two provinces in December 2022^[25]

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 Capital 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

Former provincial capitals

• Tanjungpinang to Pekanbaru, Riau (until 1959)
• Jakarta to Bandung, West Java (until 1960)
• Singaraja to Denpasar, Bali (until 1960)
• Soasio to Sukarnapura, 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

• Indonesia portal

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

Notes

1. Jakarta is a city with province-level Capital Special Region comprising five Kota Administrasis (administrative cities/municipalities) and one Kabupaten Administrasi (administrative regency). It has no de jure capital, but many governmental buildings are located at Central Jakarta.
2. 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.
3. 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 proposed split had not yet been completed. ISO 3166-2 codes have subsequently been published for all of the newly-created provinces in Indonesian Papua.