Indonesia is a nation in southeast Asia composed of 17,508 islands (of which 6,000 are inhabited) which straddle the equator between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. The largest islands are Sumatra, Java, Borneo (called Kalimantan in Indonesia, which has sovereignty over about two-thirds of the island), Sulawesi, and New Guinea (eastern half). Other notable islands include Timor (eastern half), the Maluku Islands, and the Lesser Sunda Islands which include Bali. With 240 million people, Indonesia is the 4th most populous nation in the world (after China, India, and the United States).

Its major environmental issues include: deforestation; water pollution from industrial wastes, sewage; air pollution in urban areas; smoke and haze from forest fires. It is susceptible to occasional floods; severe droughts; tsunamis; earthquakes; volcanoes; and, forest fires.

Location of Indonesia. Source: Vardion/Wikipedia

The Dutch began to colonize Indonesia in the early 17th century; Japan occupied the islands from 1942 to 1945. Indonesia declared its independence after Japan's surrender, but it required four years of intermittent negotiations, recurring hostilities, and UN mediation before the Netherlands agreed to transfer sovereignty in 1949. Indonesia's first free parliamentary election after decades of repressive rule took place in 1999. Indonesia is now the world's third-largest democracy, the world's largest archipelagic state, and home to the world's largest Muslim population. Current issues include: alleviating poverty, improving education, preventing terrorism, consolidating democracy after four decades of authoritarianism, implementing economic and financial reforms, stemming corruption, holding the military and police accountable for past human rights violations, addressing climate change, and controlling avian influenza. In 2005, Indonesia reached a historic peace agreement with armed separatists in Aceh, which led to democratic elections in December 2006. Indonesia continues to face a low intensity separatist movement in Papua

Geography

IndonesiaMap. Source: CIA World factbook

Location: Southeastern Asia, archipelago between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. The archipelago includes 17,508 islands (6,000 inhabited); straddles equator; and is strategic location astride or along major sea lanes from Indian Ocean to Pacific Ocean

Geographic Coordinates: 5 00 S, 120 00 E

Area: 1,904,569 km²(1,811,569 km² land and 93,000 km² water)

arable land: 11.03%
permanent crops: 7.04%
other: 81.93% (2005)

Land Boundaries: Total: 2,830 km. Border countries: Timor-Leste (East Timor) 228 km, Malaysia 1,782 km, and Papua New Guinea 820 km

Coastline: 54,716 km

Maritime Claims (measured from claimed archipelagic straight baselines): territorial sea: 12 nautical miles. Exclusive economic zone: 200 nautical miles.

Natural Hazards: Occasional floods; severe droughts; tsunamis; earthquakes; volcanoes; forest fires

Terrain: Mostly coastal lowlands; larger islands have interior mountains. The highest point is Puncak Jaya 5,030 m

Climate: Tropical; hot, humid; more moderate in highlands

Ecology and Biodiversity

See Biological diversity in Sundaland and Biological diversity in Wallacea as well as the following ecoregions:

• Banda Sea Islands moist deciduous forests
• Biak-Numfoor rain forests
• Borneo lowland rain forests
• Borneo montane rain forests
• Borneo peat swamp forests
• Buru rain forests
• Central Range montane rain forests
• Eastern Java-Bali montane rain forests
• Eastern Java-Bali rain forests
• Halmahera rain forests
• Indonesian Sea large marine ecosystem
• Lesser Sundas deciduous forests
• Mentawai Islands rain forests
• Northern New Guinea montane rain forests
• Peninsular Malaysian rain forests
• Seram rain forests
• South China Sea Islands
• Southwest Borneo freshwater swamp forests
• Sulawesi lowland rain forests
• Sulawesi montane rain forests
• Sumatran freshwater swamp forests
• Sumatran lowland rain forests
• Sumatran montane rain forests
• Sumatran peat swamp forests
• Sumatran tropical pine forests
• Sumba deciduous forests
• Sunda Shelf mangroves
• Sundaland heath forests
• Timor and Wetar deciduous forests
• Trans Fly savanna and grasslands
• Western Java montane rain forests
• Western Java rain forests
• Yapen rain forests

Protected areas: See Komodo National Park, Lorentz National Park, Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra and Ujung Kulon National Park and Krakatau Nature Reserve

Government

Government Type: Republic

Capital: Jakarta

Administration: Indonesia has 30 provinces, 2 special regions (Aceh and Yogyakarta), and 1 special capital city district (Jakarta Raya). The provinces are: Bali, Banten, Bengkulu, Gorontalo, Jambi, Jawa Barat, Jawa Tengah, [Jawa Timur], Kalimantan Barat, Kalimantan Selatan, Kalimantan Tengah, Kalimantan Timur, Kepulauan Bangka Belitung, Kepulauan Riau, Lampung, Maluku, Maluku Utara, Nusa Tenggara Barat, Nusa Tenggara Timur, Papua, Papua Barat, Riau, Sulawesi Barat, Sulawesi Selatan, Sulawesi Tengah, Sulawesi Tenggara, Sulawesi Utara, Sumatera Barat, Sumatera Selatan, and Sumatera Utara.

Following the implementation of decentralization beginning on 1 January 2001, the 465 regencies and municipalities have become the key administrative units responsible for providing most government services.

Independence Date: 17 August 1945 (declared); 27 December 1949 (recognized by the Netherlands)

Legal System: Based on Roman-Dutch law, substantially modified by indigenous concepts and by new criminal procedures and election codes; has not accepted compulsory International Court of Justice jurisdiction

International Environmental Agreements

Indonesia is party to international agreements on: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands. It has signed, but not ratified an international agreement on Marine Life Conservation.

People and Society

Population: 240,271,522 (July 2009 est.) (5th largest)

Age Structure:

0-14 years: 28.1% (male 34,337,341/female 33,162,207)
15-64 years: 66% (male 79,549,569/female 78,918,321)
65 years and over: 6% (male 6,335,208/female 7,968,876) (2009 est.)

Population Growth Rate: 1.136% (2009 est.)

Birthrate: 18.84 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)

Death Rate: 6.25 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)

Net Migration Rate: -1.24 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)

Urbanization: 52% (2008), growing at 3.3% per year (2005-10 est.)

Life Expectancy at Birth: 70.76 years (male: 68.26 years; female: 73.38 years) (2009 est.)

Total Fertility Rate: 2.31 children born/woman (2009 est.)

Languages: Bahasa Indonesia (official, modified form of Malay), English, Dutch, local dialects (the most widely spoken of which is Javanese)

Literacy: 90.4% (male: 94%; female: 86.8%) (2004 est.)

Health

food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever

vectorborne diseases: chikungunya, dengue fever, and malaria

Water

See Water profile of Indonesia

Total Renewable Water Resources: 2,838 cu km (1999)

Freshwater Withdrawal: Total: 82.78 cu km/yr (8% domestic, 1% industrial, 91% agricultural). Per capita: 372 cu m/yr (2000)

Agriculture

Agricultural products: Rice, cassava (tapioca), peanuts, rubber, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, copra; poultry, beef, pork, eggs.

Irrigated Land: 45,000 sq km (2003)

Resources

Energy

Oil - production: 977,000 bbl/day (2008 est.) (23rd largest in the world)
Oil - consumption: 1.564 million bbl/day (2008 est.)
Oil - proved reserves: 3.8 billion bbl (1 January 2008 est.) (26th largest in the world)
Natural gas - production: 56 billion cu m (2007 est.) (16th largest in the world)
Natural gas - consumption: 23.4 billion cu m (2007 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves: 2.659 trillion cu m (1 January 2008 est.) (13th largest in the world)

Economy

Indonesia, a vast polyglot nation, has made significant economic advances under the administration of President Yudhoyono but faces challenges stemming from the global financial crisis and world economic downturn. Indonesia's debt-to-GDP ratio in recent years has declined steadily because of increasingly robust GDP growth and sound fiscal stewardship. The government has introduced significant reforms in the financial sector, including in the areas of tax and customs, the use of Treasury bills, and capital market supervision. Indonesia's investment law, passed in March 2007, seeks to address some of the concerns of foreign and domestic investors. Indonesia still struggles with poverty and unemployment, inadequate infrastructure, corruption, a complex regulatory environment, and unequal resource distribution among regions. The non-bank financial sector, including pension funds and insurance, remains weak. Despite efforts to broaden and deepen capital markets, they remain underdeveloped. Economic difficulties in early 2008 centered on high global food and oil prices and their impact on Indonesia's poor and on the budget. The onset of the global financial crisis dampened inflationary pressures, but increased risk aversion for emerging market assets resulted in large losses in the stock market, significant depreciation of the rupiah, and a difficult environment for bond issuance. As global demand has slowed and prices for Indonesia's commodity exports have fallen, Indonesia faces the prospect of growth significantly below the 6-plus percent recorded in 2007 and 2008.

GDP: (Purchasing Power Parity): $914.6 billion (2008 est.)

GDP: (Official Exchange Rate): $511.8 billion (2008 est.)

GDP-real growth rate: 6.1% (2008 est.)

GDP- per capita (PPP): $3,900 (2008 est.)

GDP- composition by sector:

agriculture: 14.4%
industry: 48.1%
services: 37.5% (2008 est.)

Industries: Petroleum and natural gas, textiles, apparel, footwear, mining, cement, chemical fertilizers, plywood, rubber, food, and tourism.

Currency: Indonesian rupiah (IDR)