Geography of Indonesia

Indonesia is considered to be a vast nation because of its total area. Its total land area is 1,904,569 km² (approx. 735,355 mi²). Continental shelf of Indonesia is approximately 2,039,381 km² (around 787,406 mi²). Indonesia is located in Asia. Asia is the world’s largest and most populous continent. Asian countries include, but are not limited to, Russia, China, Japan, Hong Kong, and North and South Korea. Indonesia has 3 neighbouring countries. Its neighbours include East Timor, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea. Indonesia is not a landlocked country. It means that is is bordered by at least one major body of water. The average elevation range of Indonesia is 367 m (1,204 ft).

Neighbors

Total length of land borders of Indonesia is 2958 kilometers (~1,142 miles). Indonesia has 4 unique land boundaries with neigbouring territories and it shares its land borders with 3 different countries. Indonesia has 1 non-contiguous section of land borders. This happens, when a country has a border with a neighbour, and this border is split by a border with another neighbour. Indonesia has 3 neighbouring countries. Its neighbours include East Timor, Malaysia, and Papua New Guinea. The lengths of the land borders of Indonesia with its neighbouring countries are as follows:

• East Timor - 228 km (142 mi),
• Malaysia - 1782 km (1,108 mi),
• Papua New Guinea - 820 km (510 mi).

Cities

The capital city of Indonesia is Jakarta. The largest city in Indonesia is Jakarta.

Elevation

The average elevation range of Indonesia is 367 m (1,204 ft). The highest point of Indonesia is Puncak Jaya, with its official height being 4884 m (16,024 ft). The lowest point of Indonesia is Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean. The elevation difference between the highest (Puncak Jaya) and lowest (Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean) points of Indonesia is 4884 m (2 ft).

Area

The total land area of Indonesia is 1,904,569 km² (approx. 735,355 mi²). and the total exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is 6,159,032 km² (~2,378,005 mi²). The continental shelf of Indonesia is approximately 2,039,381 km² (around 787,406 mi²). Including land mass and EEZ, the total area of Indonesia is approximately 8,063,601 km² (~3,113,359 mi²). Indonesia is considered to be a vast nation because of its total area.

Forest and arable land

884,950 km² of Indonesia's territory is covered in forests, and forest land comprises 46% of all the land in the country. There are 201,456 km² of arable land in Indonesia, and it comprises 11% of the country's total territory.

Read our section on climate to discover what parameters affect these and other biomes of the country.

Natural resources

The most notable natural resources found in Indonesia are petroleum, tin, natural gas, nickel, timber, bauxite, copper, fertile soils, coal, gold, silver.