Facts about Indonesia
- 10
Sumatra's Lake Toba, formed by a supervolcanic eruption 74,000 years ago, is the world's largest volcanic lake and covers approximately 1,145 square kilometers.
- 09
Joko Widodo became Indonesia's president in 2014 as the first leader from outside Java's political elite and the first directly elected president from a non-military background.
- 08
With over 700 active volcanoes, Indonesia contains approximately 10% of the world's active volcanic systems and experiences frequent seismic activity due to its position on the Pacific Ring of Fire.
- 07
Indonesia's batik textile technique, recognized by UNESCO in 2009 as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, uses wax-resist dyeing methods perfected over centuries across the archipelago.
- 06
Mount Kerinci in Sumatra, Indonesia's highest peak at 3,805 meters, is an active volcano that last erupted in 2009 and remains one of the most active in the Pacific Ring of Fire.
- 05
Orangutans share approximately 97% of their DNA with humans and inhabit the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra in Indonesia, where they face critical extinction risk from deforestation.
- 04
Javanese is spoken by approximately 82 million people, making it one of the most widely spoken regional languages in Indonesia despite Bahasa Indonesia being the official national language.
- 03
Spanning approximately 735,358 square kilometers, Indonesia is the world's fourth-largest country by total area, despite being an island nation.
- 02
About 17,000 islands comprise Indonesia, making it the world's largest archipelago by island count and spanning over 3,000 miles east to west.
- 01
The Krakatoa eruption of 1883 in Indonesia killed approximately 36,000 people and produced the loudest sound in recorded history.