BPS: In The Last 20 Years, There Has Been A Shift In Population From Java To Kalimantan

Head of BPS Suhariyanto. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) said there was a tendency for population shifting from Java to other islands in the last two decades, although it must be admitted that the figure was quite slow.

Based on data from the 2020 Population Census (SP2020) until September 2020, the percentage of Indonesians living on the island of Java continues to decline. On the other hand, the percentage of population on the island of Kalimantan has increased.

"If we compare the results of the 2020 Population Census with the results of the previous Population Census, there has actually been a shift in the population between islands from time to time," said Head of BPS Suhariyanto in the Joint Release of the 2020 Population Census Data and 2020 Population Administration Data, quoted from Antara, Thursday, January 21.

Suhariyanto explained that the percentage of the population living in Java in 2000 was recorded at 59.1 percent. In 2010 the percentage was reduced to 57.7 percent, and in 2020 to 56.10 percent with a total of 151.6 million people.

In contrast, the percentage of the population in Kalimantan has increased from 5.5 percent in 2000 to 6.15 percent in 2020.

"However, it must be admitted that this shift is running very slowly because it is closely related to the economic potential and also the existing infrastructure," he added.

Suhariyanto said that based on the results of the 2020 Population Census (SP2020) until September 2020, as many as 151.6 million Indonesians were still concentrated in Java. This number is equivalent to 56.10 percent of the total 270.2 million Indonesian population in the 2020 Population Census.

The second largest population distribution is on the island of Sumatra with a population of 58.56 million people (21.68 percent), followed by Sulawesi Island with a distribution of 7.36 percent (19.9 million people) and Kalimantan Island with a distribution of 6.15. percent (16.6 million people). Meanwhile, the population distribution in the Bali-Nusa Tenggara region was 5.54 percent or 15 million people and Maluku-Papua 3.17 percent with 8.6 million people.

"We can see that the most populous island is Java with an area of only 6.75 percent of the total area of Indonesia, so that the population density on the island of Java is 1,171 people per square kilometer," said Suhariyanto.