Provinces are the first-level administrative divisions of Indonesia. They were formerly called first-level provincial regions (provinsi daerah tingkat I), before the Reform era. Provinces have a local government, consisting of a governor (Gubernur) and a regional legislative body (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah Provinsi, DPRD Provinsi). The governor and members of local representative bodies are elected by popular vote for five-year terms, but governors can only serve for two terms. Provincial governments have the authority to regulate and manage their own government affairs, subject to the limits of the central government. The average land area of all 38 provinces in Indonesia is about 49,800 km (19,200 sq mi), and they had an average population of 7,410,626 people in mid-2024.
Indonesia is divided into 38 provinces, nine of which have special autonomous status. The terms for special status are "Istimewa" and "Khusus", which translate to "special", or "designated". Provinces are further divided into regencies and cities (formerly called second-level region regencies/cities, or kabupaten/kotamadya daerah tingkat II), which are in turn subdivided into districts (kecamatan). Proposals for the creation of additional provinces (by the splitting of existing ones) have been considered by the Indonesian government, but further action has been suspended since 2013 under a moratorium. However, in 2022, nine years later, Central Papua, Highland Papua, South Papua, and Southwest Papua were created and became the youngest provinces in the country. The enactment of the Law on State Capital in 2022 established a future provincial-level city, Nusantara, which would officially become the 39th province after a presidential decree on relocating the state capital is issued, and it would replace Jakarta as the nation's capital city.
