Indonesia Overview

Photo credit

Heather Garven

7:33pm Monday 21 May

New Zealand and Indonesia enjoy a strong and growing trade/economic relationship. The bilateral relationship is underpinned by cooperation in regional and international forums and by New Zealand's long-standing development assistance programme in Indonesia (which is the largest NZAID programme in Asia).

Indonesia is the world's third largest democracy, with the largest Muslim population in the world. The population is estimated to be 237 million (2010; the fourth most populous country in the world). Indonesia is also the world's largest archipelago with approximately 18,000 islands spanning the equator and three time zones. It is ethnically diverse, with around 360 languages spoken.

Indonesia has considerable influence in regional and international affairs, both bilaterally and through international forums. Indonesia is important to New Zealand and other members of the Asia-Pacific region by virtue of its size, strategic location and natural resources.

Map of Indonesia and surrounding region with ASEAN neighbours marked

Key demographics

Official Name	Republic of Indonesia
Land Area	1,904,443 km²
Population	237.6 million (result of census 2010)(source: IDN Statistics Agency - Social Economics Report, October 2011)
Capital City	Jakarta
Religion	Muslim (officially 88% of the population), with significant Christian, Hindu and Buddhist minorities
Language	Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia), plus approximately 360 regional languages and dialects
Currency	Rupiah (Rp)

Key statistics

GDP	US$834.3 billion (2011 est)
GDP per capita	US$4668 (PPP estimate 2011)
Total exports	US$158 billion (2010)
Total imports	US$127.4 billion (2010)
Total NZ exports to Indonesia	NZ$855.8.4 million (2011)
Total NZ imports from Indonesia	NZ$662.2 million (2011)

Sources of data: IMF (GDP data), World Bank (export/imports) and Global Trade Atlas (NZ exports/imports).