80% of Villages in Papua and West Papua Were Still Classified as Underdeveloped in 2018

To measure and illustrate the level of progress or development of villages in 2018, the Village Development Index (IPD) with a scale of 0-100 was used. The higher the index value, the better the status or level of a village. An IPD < 50 indicates a village is still categorized as underdeveloped, an IPD in the range of 50-75 is categorized as developing, and an IPD > 75 is categorized as independent.

Based on this indicator, more than 80% of villages in the two easternmost provinces of Indonesia, namely West Papua and Papua, are still categorized as underdeveloped. Of the 5,000 villages in Papua Province, 87.12% are categorized as underdeveloped, 12.7% as developing, and only 0.18% as independent.

Meanwhile, 82.03% of the approximately 2,000 villages in West Papua Province are still categorized as underdeveloped. 17.81% of villages are categorized as developing, while only 0.16% are categorized as independent. Two other eastern Indonesian provinces, Maluku and North Maluku, have over 30% of their villages categorized as underdeveloped.

(Read Databoks: How Many Villages are There in Indonesia?)