Urbanised Indonesia: In-Situ Urbanisation, Rural Transformation, and Regional Development

Meirina Ayumi Malamassam, Indonesia's National Research and Innovation Agency
Dian Wahyu Utami, Yonsei University

Urbanisation has been a significant feature in Indonesia’s population dynamics. In 1960, Indonesians living in urban areas were only about 15% of the population. Sixty years later, the urban proportion has reached about 56%. This paper aims to identify Indonesia's main driver and spatial patterns of urbanisation at the sub-provincial level over time. This study finds a substantial increase in the number of districts with over 50% urban populations, from 93 in 2000 to 167 in 2020. This growth is also evident in the doubling of districts with over a million urban residents and a significant increase in those with populations between 500,000 and one million. While traditional factors such as natural population increase and rural-urban migration had been essential drivers of urbanisation in earlier decades, the study highlights the increasingly significant role of rural area reclassification in recent urbanisation in Indonesia. This phenomenon, known as "in-situ urbanisation," has transformed rural areas, accelerating urban population growth. This shift can have important implications for regional development in Indonesia, including more geographically balanced development across regions, reducing rural-urban migration pressures, and advancing social and economic development in small and medium cities.

Keywords: Internal Migration and Urbanization, Population and Development

See extended abstract.