There are over 248 million people living on the islands of Indonesia, which are spread over 3,200 miles of ocean. Indonesia ranks in as the third most populous democracy in the world. The most populous areas in Indonesia are Jakarta (the capital, which houses 9.121 million people), as well as Surabaya, Bandung, Medan and Semarang. In fact, Indonesia’s population rate is 1.04%. And the birth rate averages 17.76 births per thousand people, while the death rate only averages about 6.28 deaths per thousand people. The urbanization rate of Indonesia is about 1.7%. And 44% of the total population lives in urban areas. This is because people earn more by working in factories or performing services than working to make profit on agricultural activities.
Though Indonesia is growing at a substantial rate, there is still a lot for the country to improve. The infant mortality rate is about 26.99 per thousand people, while the United States averages at about 5.98 infant deaths per thousand people. And its neighbor, Malaysia, has an infant mortality rate of 14.57 per thousand people. Its literacy rate should also be enhanced if the economy is to improve. Indonesia, presently, has a literacy rate of 90.4%; which is not bad, when not compared to the United States’ 99% literacy rate. The unemployment in Indonesia currently is 22.2% of the total population. While the United States has 17.6% of the population unemployed and Malaysia has 10.9% of the population without a job. The unemployment is a push factor for many people of Indonesia to migrate to the surrounding countries. Life expectancy in Indonesia is 71.62 years. This earns Indonesia the 135th rank spot compared to the world. The United States has an average life expectancy of 78.49 years earning it the 50th spot.
Indonesia is continuing to grow at a substantial rate, but it still has to improve many other statistics before it can truly be done with its development, as well as the improving economy.
The country is still underdeveloped compared to many other countries.
Citations: http://yanziyang.wordpress.com/2011/03/27/population-pyramid/ , https://www.cia.gov/library/pulications/the-world-factbook/geos/id.html , and text book page 710.