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Chapter 2. The Eleven Largest Ethnic Groups: Geographical Concentration and Uneven Distribution
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2 The Eleven Largest Ethnic Groups Geographical Concentration and Uneven Distribution As mentioned in Chapter 1, we have recovered 101 ethnic and subethnic groups from the census volumes published by the Central Board of Statistics. However, it is beyond the limitations of this book to discuss all of them. We have decided therefore not to discuss groups that comprise less than 1.5% of the total number of Indonesian citizens. The decision is based simply on practicality of this publication, and does not imply in any way that the small groups are not important. The selected eleven ethnic groups are the Javanese, Sundanese, Malay, Madurese, Batak, Minangkabau, Betawi, Buginese, Bantenese, Banjarese and Balinese. 2.1 The Javanese The island of Java is occupied not only by the Javanese. Nevertheless, the Javanese still constitute the largest ethnic group in Indonesia. (For example, as a simple illustration, if we meet an Indonesian, it is more likely that he/she is a Javanese than from one of the remaining ethnic groups.) Their numbers have trebled from 27.8 million in 1930 to 83.8 31© 2003 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore Reproduced from Indonesia’s Population: Ethnicity and Religion in a Changing Political Landscape, by Leo Suryadinata, Evi Nurvidya Arifin and Aris Ananta (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2003). This version was obtained electronically direct from the publisher on condition that copyright is not infringed. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior permission of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. Individual articles are available from 32 INDONESIA’S POPULATION© 2003 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore million in 2000, with an average annual rate of growth of 1.58%. Despite this fact, the growth of the Javanese has actually been lower than the growth of the non-Javanese. The percentage of the Javanese has thus declined from 47.02% in 1930 to 41.71% in 2000. One explanation of the fall in the percentage of the Javanese is that fertility has declined relatively fast over a sustained period. This is shown by the narrowing base of the bell-shaped Javanese population pyramid in Figure 2.1.1. The number of population aged 0–4 years is the smallest among the four youngest age groups (0–4, 5–9, 10–14, and 15–19). The percentage of the young population (0–14) is 27.73%, lower than the national level (30.44%). On the other hand, the percentage of the elderly population (65 years old and over) is 5.28%, which is higher than the national level of 4.53%. In other words, the Javanese population is relatively older, compared to the population of Indonesia as a whole. Table 2.1.1 shows that the number of under five-year-old Javanese in 2000 was about 7.6 million — this is larger than the number of the total Malay, the third largest ethnic group, or the Madurese, the fourth largest ethnic groups. On the other hand, the number of elderly Javanese Source: Constructed from Table 2.1.1 FIGURE 2.1.1 Javanese Population Pyramid: Indonesia, 2000 5,000,000 4,000,000 3,000,000 2,000,000 1,000,000 0 1,000,000 2,000,000 3,000,000 4,000,000 5,000,000 0-4 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75+ Male Female [44.203.219.117] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 03:37 GMT) THE ELEVEN LARGEST ETHNIC GROUPS 33© 2003 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore was about 4.3 million, larger than the total Bantenese, the ninth largest ethnic group. With regard to sex composition, on average there were more male than female Javanese, except for the population aged 60 years and over. TABLE 2.1.1 Number and Percentage of Javanese Population by Age and Sex: Indonesia, 2000 Age Group Number Percentage Male Female Total Male Female Total 0–4 3,877,522 3,718,166 7,595,688 9.23 8.91 9.07 5–9 3,965,877 3,766,584 7,732,461 9.44 9.03 9.23 10–14 4,048,308 3,849,118 7,897,426 9.63 9.22 9.43 15–19 4,363,648 4,248,477 8,612,125 10.38 10.18 10.28 20–24 3,889,445 4,070,033 7,959...