53 Percent of the Poor Population Lives on the Island of Java

More than half of Indonesia's poor population resides on Java Island. As many as 14.83 million people, or approximately 53 percent of the poor population, are concentrated on Java Island, based on the total poor population as of September 2016. The second largest number of poor people is found on Sumatra Island, totaling 6.21 million or approximately 22.4 percent.

Data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) shows that the number of poor people in September 2016 decreased by approximately 241,000 to 27.76 million from 28.01 million in March 2016. This figure is also lower than the 28.51 million recorded in September of the previous year. In percentage terms, the poverty rate in September 2016 also fell to 10.7 percent compared to 10.86 percent in March 2016 and 11.13 percent in September 2015.

The poor population is defined as those with per capita monthly expenditure below the poverty line. In September 2016, the national poverty line indicator was Rp 361,990 per capita per month, up 2.15 percent from Rp 354,386 per capita per month in March 2016. The national poverty line also increased by 3.3 percent from Rp 350,420 per capita per month in September 2015.