List of Indonesian cities by population facts for kids

Indonesia is a country with many large and busy cities. This list shows the cities in Indonesia with the most people. It only includes places that are officially called "cities" (or kota in Indonesian), not smaller towns that might be big but don't have city status. Indonesia has 93 official cities and one special capital city that's like a province. The numbers you'll see here are from Indonesia's official count of people in 2020.

Jakarta is the biggest city in Indonesia, with over 10.7 million people! It's so big that it's called a megacity. Jakarta is also a "primate city," meaning it's much, much larger than the second biggest city, Surabaya. Jakarta is special because it's managed like a province, even though it's a city. It's split into five smaller "administrative cities" and one "administrative regency." These smaller parts don't have their own local governments or budgets. All five of Jakarta's nearby cities, called satellite cities, also have more than a million people, with Bekasi being the largest.

Other very large cities across Indonesia include Medan on the island of Sumatra (it's the biggest city outside of Java), Samarinda on Kalimantan, Denpasar in the Lesser Sunda Islands, Makassar on Sulawesi, Ambon in the Maluku Islands, and Jayapura in Western New Guinea. Jayapura is also the fastest-growing city in Indonesia, with its population increasing by 70% in just ten years!

Most of Indonesia's biggest cities are also the capital cities of their provinces. But there are a few exceptions, like Bekasi (which is in West Java), Tangerang (in Banten), Batam (in Riau Islands), Banjarmasin (in South Kalimantan), Tarakan (in North Kalimantan), and Ternate (in North Maluku).

Indonesia's Top Cities by Population

Here's a list of Indonesia's most populated cities.

• Bold: This city is the capital of its province.
• Italics: This city is the largest in its province.

City Pictures

Want to Learn More?

In Spanish: Anexo:Ciudades de Indonesia por población para niños

• List of metropolitan areas in Indonesia