Muslims in Indonesia: socio-economic and demographic profile

Evi N. Arifin, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies

Indonesia’s population is predominantly Muslim with the Muslims accounted for 88.2% in 2000, an increase from 87.5% in 1971. The Muslims population numbered 177.5 million in 2000, which was 75% bigger than the figure in 1971. In the meantime, Indonesia has undergone tremendous changes politically from the New Order Era (1966-1998) which was authoritarian system to a democratic era (since 1998). Prior to 1966, Indonesia was under the Old Order Era. The changes in political regimes had contributed to the demographic transition in the country as each regime had a different population policy changing from pro-natalist to anti-natalist and a more relaxed policy under the democratic era. This paper aims to specifically examine the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of Muslims in Indonesia. The profile will be primarily based on the analysis of the 2000 Population Census, which has a significant feature of its 100% coverage for all questions.