INDONESIA

MUST VISIT

Area: 1 919 443 km2

Capital: Jakarta

Population: 273.5 million (2020)

About: 17,000 Islands

Currency: Rupiah (Rp)

Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Sulawesi, Java, and parts of Borneo and New Guinea. Indonesia is the world’s largest island country and the 14th-largest country by area, at 1,904,569 square kilometres (735,358 square miles).

Indonesia is a presidential republic with an elected legislature. It has 34 provinces, of which five have special status. The country’s capital, Jakarta, is the world’s second-most populous urban area. Indonesia shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and the eastern part of Malaysia, as well as maritime borders with Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, Palau, and India (Andaman and Nicobar Islands). Despite its large population and densely populated regions, Indonesia has vast areas of wilderness that support one of the world’s highest levels of biodiversity.

With about 270 million people, Indonesia is the world’s fourth-most populous country and the most populous Muslim-majority country. Java, the world’s most populous island, is home to more than half of the country’s population.