Indonesia is the largest island country in the world and has approximately 17,500 islands; it is no coincidence that here are the second and third largest islands on the planet, New Guinea, located in Oceania, and Borneo, the first shared with Papua New Guinea, the second with Brunei and Malaysia, but in both cases the largest section belongs to Indonesia.The first island in the ranking entirely Indonesian is Sumatra, the sixth largest island in the world; followed by Celebes and Java, also of quite considerable size, over 100,000 square kilometers, with Java hosting the capital Jakarta and being the most populous island on the planet, with about 147,000,000 inhabitants!
The other islands, which are mainly part of the archipelago of the Lesser Sunda Islands and the Maluku Islands, are headed by Timor, which however is shared with another country, East Timor; among these we also find Bali, in fifteenth position, the most famous and touristic island of Indonesia.
In all, there are 27 islands over 2,500 kmē, some of which are close to Sumatra or Java, others located much further east, including Yos Sudarso, which geographically is part of Oceania and not Asia.
| Island | Area (kmē) |
Area (sq mi) |
Province |
| New Guinea (1) | 785,753 | 303,381 | Papua, West Papua |
| Borneo (2) | 743,330 | 287,001 | Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, West Kalimantan |
| Sumatra (3) | 420,306 | 162,281 | Aceh, Bengkulu, Jambi, Lampung, Riau, North Sumatra, South Sumatra, West Sumatra |
| Celebes / Sulawesi (4) | 174,600 | 67,413 | Gorontalo, Central Sulawesi, North Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, West Sulawesi |
| Java (5) | 129,439 | 49,977 | Banten, Central Java, East Java, West Java, Special Capital Region of Jakarta, Yogyakarta |
| Timor (6) | 30,377 | 11,729 | East Nusa Tenggara |
| Halmahera | 17,780 | 6,865 | North Maluku |
| Seram | 17,100 | 6,602 | Maluku |
| Sumbawa | 14,386 | 5,554 | West Nusa Tenggara |
| Flores | 14,268 | 5,509 | East Nusa Tenggara |
| Yos Sudarso | 11,742 | 4,534 | Papua |
| Bangka | 11,413 | 4,407 | Bangka Belitung Islands |
| Sumba | 10,997 | 4,246 | East Nusa Tenggara |
| Buru | 9,505 | 3,670 | Maluku |
| Bali | 5,570 | 2,151 | Bali |
| Lombok | 4,692 | 1,812 | West Nusa Tenggara |
| Belitung | 4,478 | 1,729 | Bangka Belitung Islands |
| Buton | 4,408 | 1,702 | Southeast Sulawesi |
| Madura | 4,078 | 1,575 | East Java |
| Nias | 4,048 | 1,563 | North Sumatra |
| Siberut | 3,829 | 1,478 | West Sumatra |
| Wetar | 3,600 | 1,390 | East Nusa Tenggara |
| Waigeo | 3,155 | 1,218 | West Papua |
| Yamdena | 2,981 | 1,151 | Maluku |
| Taliabu | 2,913 | 1,125 | North Maluku |
| Muna | 2,889 | 1,115 | Southeast Sulawesi |
| Obi | 2,542 | 981 | North Maluku |
(1) Second largest island in the world after Greenland, geographically it is located in Oceania; divided between Papua New Guinea (372,500 kmē) to the east and Indonesia (413,253 kmē) to the west; in its territory there is the highest mountain on an island, Puncak Jaya (4,884 m.).
(2) Third largest island on the planet and the only one to be divided between more than 2 countries, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei; the Indonesian part is 533,250 kmē.
(3) Sixth largest island in the world.
(4) Thanks to its extremely intricate shape, it has a coastline of over 5,000 km.
(5) With about 147,000,000 inhabitants it is the most populous island on our planet, despite being only in 13th place as an extension.
(6) Since 2002 the eastern part of the island and the Oecusse exclave have become independent under the name of East Timor (or Timor-Leste); 15,521 kmē of territory belong to Indonesia.
Related contents
Asia largest islandsAsia capitals
Booking a Flight to Bali
Powered by GetYourGuide