30 Magnificent Facts About Indonesia

Indonesia is the biggest nation in Southeast Asia. The nation, which is spread across thousands of islands between Asia and Australia, has the world’s largest Muslim population and is also the largest economy of Southeast Asia. It is ethnically diverse, with over 300 different languages spoken locally. The people of Indonesia range from rural hunter-gatherers to a modern urban elite. So take a glance at these 30 fascinating Indonesia facts.

1. The official name of the country is the Republik of Indonesia(republic). The term Indonesia is derived from Greek, indos meaning for India, and nesos mean island. So the short form of it is Indonesia.
2. Indonesia shares land and maritime borders with Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, and Timor Leste. Whereas they share maritime boundaries with Australia, India, Palau, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
3. Homo sapiens( the only extant human species) reached the region of Indonesia around 45,000 years ago.
4. There are 147 volcanoes in Indonesia which is the highest than any other country. Out of the total volcanoes, 76 volcanoes have erupted at least 1,171 times in the recorded history.
5. Indonesia had about 280,000 casualties due to volcanic eruptions since the year 1500. While out of the total casualties, 170,000 were killed by just six eruptions.

   

6. In 1292, Marco Polo became the first European to visit the country.
7. In 1942 during World War 2, the Japanese invaded and occupied Indonesia.
8. The country has a wide variety of flora and fauna. It stands on the third spot in terms of biodiversity on the planet earth.
9. About 20.6%, or 25.1 million of the total population, live under the poverty line.
10. The country has the largest Muslim population than any other country. Over 99 percent of the total population is of Sunni Islam, 0.5% are Shias Muslims, and about 400,000 Ahmadi Muslims, which constitutes 0.2%.

    

11. It is the second-largest producer of nutmeg and largest producer of palm oil on the planet.
12. Indonesia is the world’s largest exporter of frog meat. Every year they export about 5000 tonnes of frog meat to many parts of the world, especially to France, Belgium and Luxembourg.
13. Indonesia comes on the 4th spot in terms of most islands in a country. The country has around 18,307 islands.
14. The java island of Indonesia is the most inhabited island in the world. It has a population of 124,000,000.
15. Three out of the ten largest islands are in Indonesia. They are Borneo, Papua/New Guinea, and Sumatra.

    

16. In the mappurondo province of the Indonesian island of Borneo, the people still practice headhunting as a ritual of pangngae. However, they use coconuts instead of real heads for their hunts.
17. The country is extremely culturally diverse as it has more than 1300 ethnic groups living in Indonesia.
18. Grasberg is the world’s largest gold mine and is located in Sudirman Mountain Range in the province of Papua.
19. Puncak Jaya is the highest mountain peak in the country and has an elevation of 4,884 meters (16,024 feet).
20. The Komodo dragon is the national animal of the country.

    

21. About 94,432,000 hectares, or 52.1% land of Indonesia, is covered with forest.
22. Javan Hawk-eagle is the national symbol of Indonesia.
23. Badminton is the national sport of Indonesia.
24. It has the most number of mosques than any country on the planet, with about 8 lakh mosques.

    

25. Indonesia’s biggest exports include coal briquettes ($50.8 billion), palm oil ($28.7 billion), ferroalloys ($13.7 billion), petroleum gas ($11.8 billion), and copper ore ($8.89 billion), with the majority going to China ($67.7 billion), the United States ($31.6 billion), Japan ($26.6 billion), India ($25.3 billion), and Malaysia ($15.6 billion).
26. Indonesia’s top imports are refined petroleum ($23.2 billion), crude petroleum ($10.1 billion), petroleum gas ($4.92 billion), motor vehicles, parts and accessories (8701 to 8705) ($4.19 billion), and broadcasting equipment ($4.01 billion), with the majority of imports coming from China ($71.3 billion), Singapore ($22.5 billion), Japan ($14.9 billion), Malaysia ($12.5 billion), and Thailand ($10.4 billion).
27. The total arable land of the country is about 23,500,000 hectares.
28. There are over 54 national parks in Indonesia. Bromo Tengger Semeru is the biggest national park and is covered in 503 Km² of area.
29. There are 32 billionaires in the country, out of which Budi Hartono and Michael Hartono are the richest with a net worth of 37.3 billion.
30. The Buddhist temple of Borobudur on the Indonesian island of Java is the largest Buddhist monument in the world. It resembles a nine-tiered “mountain,” rising to 113 feet (34.5 m) tall. It is said to have taken 75 years to complete.