Religious Map of Indonesia

This map of Indonesia colours the archipelago by religion, with separate shades for modernist Islam, traditional Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism and Buddhism. The country spans more than 17,000 islands, and the pattern follows island and ethnic geography.

At the 2010 census, 87 per cent of Indonesians identified as Muslim, which makes it the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, but the minorities are concentrated in clear regional clusters.

A regional pattern of faiths

Islam is dominant on Java, Sumatra and most other islands, while Bali is overwhelmingly Hindu, with Balinese Hinduism shaped by centuries of local tradition. Protestant communities are large in North Sumatra (the Batak), North Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua, and Catholics are concentrated on Flores and elsewhere in East Nusa Tenggara. Buddhists, many of Chinese descent, live mostly in cities and in parts of Sumatra and Kalimantan.

The map's split between modernist and traditional Islam reflects the contrast between reform movements such as Muhammadiyah and the more local traditions represented by Nahdlatul Ulama.

Religion and the state

Indonesia's constitution and the Pancasila state ideology require belief in one God. Six religions are officially recognised: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism. Because the data come from census self-identification, they do not capture indigenous or syncretic practices well.