Indonesia has 38 provinces (provinsi), not states: it is a unitary republic, so its first-level divisions are provinces governed under the 1945 Constitution rather than sovereign states in a federation. Nine of the 38 hold special status: Aceh, the Special Region of Yogyakarta, the Special Capital Region of Jakarta and the six provinces on the Indonesian half of New Guinea. The largest province by land area is Central Kalimantan on Borneo, at about 153,430 km², and the most populous is West Java, with roughly 50.8 million people in mid-2025 according to Statistics Indonesia (BPS). Jakarta, the capital, is also the smallest province at about 662 km². The total of 38 dates only from December 2022, when Southwest Papua became the fourth new Papuan province that year, and a 39th, the planned capital Nusantara, is written into law but not yet in force.
Below the provinces sit 416 regencies (kabupaten) and 98 cities (kota), which are split again into districts (kecamatan). Each province has a governor and a regional legislature, the DPRD, elected for five-year terms (Yogyakarta’s governor excepted), and a governor may serve only two. Since 2015 these regional heads have been elected in simultaneous rounds, and in November 2024 every elected governor in the country was chosen on the same day. For statistical and planning purposes BPS groups the 38 provinces into seven geographical units, and that is the clearest way to walk through them: from Sumatra in the west to Western New Guinea in the east, figures below are BPS mid-2025 estimates unless stated.
Sumatra’s ten provinces, from Aceh to the Riau Islands
Sumatra and its offshore islands hold ten provinces and about 62.3 million people, roughly 22% of the national total, on a quarter of Indonesia’s land. North Sumatra, with its capital at Medan, is the most populous at about 15.8 million. Riau (capital Pekanbaru) is the largest at 89,901 km², just ahead of South Sumatra (Palembang, 86,772 km²). The others are West Sumatra (Padang), Jambi, Bengkulu, Lampung (Bandar Lampung), the Bangka Belitung Islands (Pangkal Pinang) and the Riau Islands, whose capital is Tanjung Pinang although Batam is the larger city.
Aceh, at the northern tip, is the special case. Its capital is Banda Aceh and it had about 5.6 million people in mid-2025. Aceh was first separated from North Sumatra in 1956 and declared a “special region” on 23 May 1959. After the long insurgency by the Free Aceh Movement, Law No. 11 of 2006 gave the province privileged status in applying Islamic law in religious life, customary life and education for Muslim residents, along with a 20-year development fund. No other province has that arrangement.
The Sumatran map has been redrawn more than any other. At independence the whole island was a single province; it was split into three in 1948, and later divisions created Lampung (1964), Bengkulu (1967), the Bangka Belitung Islands (2000) and the Riau Islands (2002). The region’s highest point, Mount Kerinci, reaches 3,805 m.
Java’s six provinces and 158 million people
Java, with Madura, has only six provinces and about 7% of Indonesia’s land, yet in mid-2025 it held some 158.1 million people, about 56% of the country. The three most populous provinces in Indonesia are all here: West Java (capital Bandung, 50.8 million), East Java (Surabaya, 42.1 million) and Central Java (Semarang, 38.2 million). Banten, split from West Java in 2000, has its capital at Serang and about 12.5 million people, many of them in the Tangerang suburbs west of Jakarta.
The Special Capital Region of Jakarta is a city with provincial status: 661.5 km², about 10.7 million residents and a density above 16,000 people per km², by far the highest of any province. It was separated from West Java in 1959. The Special Region of Yogyakarta (3,170 km², 3.8 million people) received its special status by Law No. 3 of 1950, the first special autonomy granted to any province, and it is unique in having a hereditary governor: the reigning Sultan Hamengkubuwono holds the post, with the Adipati Paku Alam as vice-governor.
Java’s summit is Mount Semeru in East Java, at 3,678 m. The concentration of people on the island is one reason the national government chose to move the capital away from it, a story that ends on Borneo below. For more on the capital itself, see our guide to Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital city.
Bali and the two Nusa Tenggara provinces
East of Java, the Lesser Sunda Islands form three provinces with about 15.9 million people. Bali is the smallest of them at 5,583 km² and about 4.5 million residents; its capital moved from Singaraja on the north coast to Denpasar in 1960. West Nusa Tenggara, centred on Lombok and Sumbawa, has its capital at Mataram and about 5.7 million people. Lombok’s Mount Rinjani, at 3,726 m, is the highest point in the region. East Nusa Tenggara, with its capital at Kupang on Timor, is the largest of the three at 46,378 km² and is split into 21 regencies, one of the highest counts in the country.
All three come from a single province: the colonial-era Lesser Sunda (Sunda Kecil) province was renamed Nusa Tenggara in 1954 and then dissolved into its successors. The eastern half of Timor was also run as an Indonesian province, East Timor, from 1976 until 1999; it became the independent state of Timor-Leste in 2002, and Dili, once a provincial capital, is now a national one.
Kalimantan’s five provinces on Borneo
Indonesia’s share of Borneo is the biggest of the seven units by area, about 534,400 km² or 28% of the national land, but only about 18 million people live there. The two largest provinces in Indonesia are both here: Central Kalimantan (capital Palangka Raya, 153,430 km², 2.8 million people) and West Kalimantan (Pontianak, 147,018 km², 5.8 million). East Kalimantan covers 126,952 km² with Samarinda as its capital and largest city.
The other two are newer. Central Kalimantan was carved from South Kalimantan in 1958, and North Kalimantan, split from East Kalimantan in 2012, has its capital at Tanjung Selor and only about 749,000 people, the smallest population of any province outside Papua. South Kalimantan moved its capital from Banjarmasin to neighbouring Banjarbaru in 2022, although Banjarmasin remains its largest city.
Sulawesi’s six provinces and the two Malukus
Sulawesi’s six provinces hold about 21 million people. South Sulawesi, capital Makassar, is the most populous with about 9.6 million, and it was split in 2004 to create West Sulawesi (capital Mamuju, 1.5 million). Central Sulawesi (Palu) is the largest at 61,497 km². The rest are North Sulawesi (Manado), Southeast Sulawesi (Kendari) and Gorontalo, which was separated from North Sulawesi in 2000. The island’s highest peak, Latimojong, rises to 3,478 m.
Further east, the Maluku Islands form the least populous unit, about 3.3 million people in two provinces. Maluku has its capital at Ambon. North Maluku was split off in 1999, and its government moved in 2010 from Ternate, the old sultanate town and still the largest city, to Sofifi on the larger island of Halmahera.
Western New Guinea: from one province in 2002 to six in 2022
The western half of New Guinea is where Indonesia’s map has changed most recently. Known as West Irian and then Irian Jaya (from 1973), the region was renamed Papua in 2002 after Law No. 21 of 2001 granted it special autonomy, a response to independence movements there since it became part of Indonesia. Irian Jaya Barat was split off in 2003 and renamed West Papua (capital Manokwari) in 2007. In 2004 the Constitutional Court ruled that this split had breached Papua’s autonomy law but let it stand because it had already happened.
After a 2013 moratorium on new provinces, a revised autonomy law in 2021 cleared the way for more. In July 2022, Laws No. 14, 15 and 16 of 2022 created South Papua (capital Merauke), Central Papua (Nabire) and Highland Papua, whose capital is in Jayawijaya Regency near Wamena. Highland Papua is Indonesia’s only landlocked province. In December 2022, Law No. 29 of 2022 split Southwest Papua (capital Sorong) from West Papua. The residual Papua province keeps Jayapura as its capital. All six keep special autonomy.
These are by far the emptiest provinces. Together the six cover about 412,000 km², more than a fifth of Indonesia, but held only about 5.8 million people in mid-2025. South Papua is the least populous province in the country at about 550,000 people on 117,859 km², and West Papua (588,000) is next. Puncak Jaya in Central Papua, at 4,884 m, is the highest point in Indonesia and the highest island peak on Earth.
Nusantara, the 39th province waiting in East Kalimantan
The count of 38 is likely to change again. The 2022 Law on the State Capital set up Nusantara, a new capital city being built on land taken from the Penajam North Paser and Kutai Kartanegara regencies of East Kalimantan, as a future province-level capital region. It becomes the 39th province, and replaces Jakarta as the capital, only once a presidential decree on moving the capital is issued. Construction began in 2022. Indonesia held its Independence Day ceremony there for the first time on 17 August 2024, and under President Prabowo Subianto the project is listed among the national strategic projects for 2025 to 2029.
Until that decree arrives, Indonesia has 38 provinces. Their populations range from about 50.8 million in West Java to roughly 550,000 in South Papua, and their sizes from Jakarta’s 662 km² to Central Kalimantan’s 153,430 km². The full national total of about 284 million is broken down further in our page on the population of Indonesia, and the volcanoes, islands and seas that shape all 38 provinces are covered in our guide to the geography of Indonesia.