Provinces are the first-level administrative divisions of Indonesia. It is formerly called the first-level provincial region (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, and they had an average population in mid 2023 of 7,334,111 people. Currently, Indonesia is divided into 38 provinces, nine of which have special autonomous status. The terminology for special status are "Istimewa" and "Khusus", which translates to 'special' or 'designated' in English. 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 provinces) have been considered by the Indonesian government, but further action has been suspended since 2013 under a moratorium declared on any creations of further provinces, regencies or cities. However, in 2022, 9 years later, Central Papua, Highland Papua, South Papua, and Southwest Papua became the youngest provinces in the country.

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: 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

Click on a province name to go to its main article

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. Some provinces have been granted additional autonomy beyond this. The form this special autonomy takes is not standardized, with provinces gaining different formulations of specific autonomy based on particular political imperatives.

Geographical units

The provinces are officially grouped into seven geographical units for statistical and national planning purposes, but without administrative function.

Former provinces

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.

New provinces made from currently-existing provinces

Renamed provinces

Former provincial capitals