The 1961 Indonesian census was the first census of Indonesia as a sovereign state. With a total population of 97,018,829, Indonesia was the world's fifth-most populous country at the time. The census covered all territories in the country, but no enumeration was done in Indonesian-claimed Western New Guinea because it was under Dutch occupation. Instead, an estimated population for the region was included in the final census numbers. During the 1961 census, its population density was inhabitants/km2.
As the first census since 1930, when Indonesia was still a colony of the Netherlands, the data was used for planning the nation's future development. One-third of the country's population was under the age of ten, and 65 percent of the population lived on the island of Java, which had been considered overpopulated as early as the 1930s. Demographers highlighted that the large proportion of young people presented a demographic challenge. Given that as many as one-fifth of rural youths were already unemployed, there was a question of whether Indonesia would be able to absorb a future surge of new workers. Agriculture was the dominant industry, employing 72 percent of workers. The census also collected data on school attendance to facilitate education planning. Just under half of the population aged ten and older could read and write in either Latin characters or a non-Latin script.
About 350,000 enumerators were enlisted at the provincial, regency, and district levels. Fields operations began in February 1961, with enumeration and final verification being conducted in October. Tabulation was conducted at the bureau and at the provincial level, but only data for three provinces were ever processed completely. Data for the rest of Indonesia were drawn from a 1 percent sample tabulation of census returns, and many of the original census results have since been lost.
Background The 1961 census was the first census in Indonesia after independence from the Netherlands. The 1930 Dutch East Indies census was the previous census completed and enumerated a total population of 60,727,233. A census had been planned for 1940, but it was canceled because of World War II. Based on the assumption of a constant rate of growth from the 1930 census, the official population estimate for 1940 was 70.4 million. A subsequent estimate in 1950—this time compiled from civil registration records held by local village heads—placed the population at 77.2 million. However, population records in parts of Java and in the rest of the country at the time were often deficient, and data compilation methods were inconsistent; therefore, the reliability of this estimate has come into question.
In 1953, the United Nations Statistical Commission and Population Commission began encouraging UN member countries to take and complete their national censuses in and around 1960 under a new set of statistical methods. In response, the Djuanda Cabinet created Indonesia's Central Bureau of Statistics (, or BPS) through an ordinance in January 1958 and mandated it to prepare a census to be held in 1960 or 1961. The legislature, the People's Representative Council of Mutual Aid (), repealed a Dutch-era census law in the name of national planning and development, and Law No. 6 of 1960 on the Census became the new legal basis of the census.
Enumeration and tabulation
Census day was officially designated as 31 October 1961. To facilitate operations, BPS established a census office in each province, and provincial governors were appointed ex officio directors of census operations. Provincial office staff were trained directly by the bureau, and they, in turn, trained census officials at the regency level. The chain continued down to the district level, where enumerators and their supervisors were trained. In total, the census enlisted about 350,000 enumerators and 50,000 supervisors.
Preparations began three years prior with the drawing of enumeration districts and conducting of experimental surveys to simulate the census. Field operations began in February 1961 with the listing and verification of households. Approximately 200,000 enumeration districts were set up, with each district containing about 100 households. These activities continued into October, and the actual population enumeration took place that same month. Enumerators canvassed households—about 57 households per enumerator—and verified their information. In South Sulawesi, enumeration was delayed until December because of security concerns during the Permesta Rebellion. Between 19 and 31 October, enumerators revisited all households to conduct a final check for new births, deaths, and other changes since the household was first canvassed. Individuals not present during canvassing because of their employment and those who had been away from home for less than three months were enumerated at their place of origin.
The census used an individual schedule and a household schedule. The individual schedule collected information on a person's name, relationship to the head of household, sex, age, marital status, nationality, religion, language, place of birth, education, and school attendance. For individuals aged ten or older, the schedule collected information on literacy, type of activity, primary occupation, industry, status in industry, secondary occupation, and the number of births to every married woman. The household scheduled contained separate topics for industrial establishments, institutional households, and private households. For private households, the schedule also captured the type of house and agricultural information.
Tabulation of schedules was done in two groups. Schedules from all urban regions and 10 percent of schedules from rural regions were processed mechanically by the bureau. The remaining 90 percent of rural schedules were tabulated manually at the provincial level. The first provisional results were released in December 1961. This was followed six months later by data on each regency and municipality throughout the country. Only data for three provinces (Jakarta, Yogyakarta, and East Java) were ever processed completely, and data for the rest of the country were drawn from a 1 percent sample tabulation of census returns. Many of the detailed results have since been lost.
Population data The census yielded a total population of 97,018,829, a nearly 60-percent increase from the 1930 census. This number made Indonesia the world's fifth-most populous country, behind the People's Republic of China (669 million in 1958), India (438 million in 1961), the Soviet Union (214 million in 1960), and the United States (182 million in 1961). The overall sex ratio was 95 males per 100 females. Although the census covered all territories of the country, no enumeration was done in Indonesian-claimed Western New Guinea, which remained under Dutch occupation. Instead, the results included an estimated population of 700,000 for that region. For comparison, Dutch officials reported to the UN in the same year as the census that the indigenous population of Western New Guinea was 717,055. This figure did not include an estimated 12,000 Dutch military soldiers.
+ Population and area by province and geographical unit, Indonesia, 1961 Province Geographical unit(s) Males Females Total Area (km) Density(personsper km) Jakarta Java 1,480,771 1,425,762 2,906,533 577 5,037 West Java Java 8,657,815 8,956,740 17,614,555 46,300 380 Central Java Java 8,967,714 9,439,757 18,407,471 34,206 538 Yogyakarta Java 1,092,403 1,149,074 2,241,477 3,169 707 East Java Java 10,602,448 11,220,572 21,823,020 47,922 455 South Sumatra Sumatra 2,465,562 2,381,662 4,847,224 158,163 31 Jambi Sumatra 386,109 358,272 744,381 44,924 17 Riau Sumatra 637,064 597,920 1,234,984 94,562 13 West Sumatra Sumatra 1,117,669 1,201,388 2,319,057 49,778 47 North Sumatra Sumatra 2,514,328 2,450,406 4,964,734 70,787 70 Aceh Sumatra 822,102 806,881 1,628,983 55,392 29 West Kalimantan Kalimantan 802,010 779,024 1,581,034 146,760 11 Central Kalimantan Kalimantan 251,316 245,206 496,522 152,600 3.3 South Kalimantan Kalimantan 725,959 747,196 1,473,155 37,660 39 East Kalimantan Kalimantan 286,963 263,801 550,764 202,440 2.7 North Sulawesi Sulawesi 1,015,050 988,161 2,003,211 88,578 23 South Sulawesi Sulawesi 2,474,747 2,601,391 5,076,138 100,457 51 Bali Lesser Sunda Islands 883,512 899,017 1,782,529 5,561 321 West Nusa Tenggara Lesser Sunda Islands 893,469 814,361 1,807,830 20,177 90 East Nusa Tenggara Lesser Sunda Islands 984,415 982,882 1,967,297 47,876 41 Maluku Maluku Islands 402,500 387,034 789,534 74,505 11 West Irian Maluku Islands and Western New Guinea 375,154 383,242 758,396 421,951 1.8 Total, Indonesia 47,839,080 49,179,749 97,018,829 1,904,345 51 Source:
Geographical distribution A main feature of the population of Indonesia is the disparity of population density among its islands. Nearly 65 percent of the total population lived on the island of Java, which only accounts for 6.9 percent of the total area of the country. Java was already widely considered to be overpopulated as early as the 1930s. On the other hand, Kalimantan, which accounts for 28 percent of total area, was inhabited by only 4.2 percent of the total population. The ratio of Java's population to the total population decreased from the 1930 census, indicating a smaller rate of growth compared to other islands. Sumatra and Kalimantan, for example, nearly doubled their population from 1930.
Urbanization The proportion of the population living in urban areas nearly doubled from the previous census, from 7.5 percent to almost 15 percent. In 1950s literature on Asian urbanization, Indonesia was commonly viewed as among Southeast Asia's less urbanized countries, although each country applied different criteria for an urban area. The Federation of Malaya, for example, used a numerical criterion of 1,000 inhabitants and above, resulting in an urbanization rate of 42.7 percent in 1957.
The 1961 census considered as urban areas the capital city of Jakarta, 48 autonomous urban entities granted municipality status, all regency capitals or seats of government (separate from municipalities), six areas of urban character with more than 20,000 inhabitants, and other areas arbitrarily judged as urban by a regency head. Because non-numerical criteria were used for this classification, not all towns above a population of 20,000 were counted as urban. Large industrial settlements were also excluded even if local residents considered them towns. By contrast, the 1930 census applied the uniform definition of all areas having "a more or less urban appearance" with more than 1,000 inhabitants as urban, comprising 32 municipalities and 146 non-municipalities.
+ Population in urban and rural areas, Indonesia, 1961 Area Java All other islands Total, Indonesia Population Percent of totalpopulation, Indonesia Population Percent of totalpopulation, Indonesia Population Percent of totalpopulation, Indonesia Urban 9,807,308 10.1 4,551,064 4.7 14,358,372 14.8 Rural 53,185,748 54.8 29,474,709 30.4 82,660,457 85.2 Total, all areas 62,993,056 64.9 34,025,773 35.1 97,018,829 100.0 Source: , republished from the 1 percent sample tabulation completed by BPS