A guide to the kecamatan of Jambi Province, with key details

List of Districts (Kecamatan)

Jambi Province is divided into 9 regencies and 2 cities. The list below is alphabetical and names the regency or city each district belongs to. It contains 144 districts.

1. Air Hangat — Kerinci Regency
2. Air Hangat Barat — Kerinci Regency
3. Air Hangat Timur — Kerinci Regency
4. Air Hitam — Sarolangun Regency
5. Alam Barajo — Jambi City
6. Bahar Selatan — Muaro Jambi Regency
7. Bahar Utara — Muaro Jambi Regency
8. Bajubang — Batang Hari Regency
9. Bangko — Merangin Regency
10. Bangko Barat — Merangin Regency
11. Batang Asai — Sarolangun Regency
12. Batang Asam — West Tanjung Jabung Regency
13. Batang Masumai — Merangin Regency
14. Batang Merangin — Kerinci Regency
15. Bathin II Babeko — Bungo Regency
16. Bathin II Pelayang — Bungo Regency
17. Bathin III — Bungo Regency
18. Bathin III Ulu — Bungo Regency
19. Bathin VIII — Sarolangun Regency
20. Batin XXIV — Batang Hari Regency
21. Berbak — East Tanjung Jabung Regency
22. Betara — West Tanjung Jabung Regency
23. Bram Itam — West Tanjung Jabung Regency
24. Bukit Kerman — Kerinci Regency
25. Bungo Dani — Bungo Regency
26. Cermin Nan Gedang — Sarolangun Regency
27. Danau Kerinci — Kerinci Regency
28. Danau Kerinci Barat — Kerinci Regency
29. Danau Sipin — Jambi City
30. Danau Teluk — Jambi City
31. Dendang — East Tanjung Jabung Regency
32. Depati Tujuh — Kerinci Regency
33. Geragai — East Tanjung Jabung Regency
34. Gunung Kerinci — Kerinci Regency
35. Gunung Raya — Kerinci Regency
36. Gunung Tujuh — Kerinci Regency
37. Hamparan Rawang — Sungai Penuh City
38. Jambi Luar Kota — Muaro Jambi Regency
39. Jambi Selatan — Jambi City
40. Jambi Timur — Jambi City
41. Jangkat — Merangin Regency
42. Jelutung — Jambi City
43. Jujuhan — Bungo Regency
44. Jujuhan Ilir — Bungo Regency
45. Kayu Aro — Kerinci Regency
46. Kayu Aro Barat — Kerinci Regency
47. Keliling Danau — Kerinci Regency
48. Kota Baru — Jambi City
49. Koto Baru — Sungai Penuh City
50. Kuala Betara — West Tanjung Jabung Regency
51. Kuala Jambi — East Tanjung Jabung Regency
52. Kumpeh — Muaro Jambi Regency
53. Kumpeh Ulu — Muaro Jambi Regency
54. Kumun Debai — Sungai Penuh City
55. Lembah Masurai — Merangin Regency
56. Limbur Lubuk Mengkuang — Bungo Regency
57. Limun — Sarolangun Regency
58. Mandiangin — Sarolangun Regency
59. Mandiangin Timur — Sarolangun Regency
60. Margo Tabir — Merangin Regency
61. Maro Sebo — Muaro Jambi Regency
62. Maro Sebo Ilir — Batang Hari Regency
63. Maro Sebo Ulu — Batang Hari Regency
64. Mendahara — East Tanjung Jabung Regency
65. Mendahara Ulu — East Tanjung Jabung Regency
66. Merlung — West Tanjung Jabung Regency
67. Mersam — Batang Hari Regency
68. Mestong — Muaro Jambi Regency
69. Muara Bulian — Batang Hari Regency
70. Muara Papalik — West Tanjung Jabung Regency
71. Muara Sabak Barat — East Tanjung Jabung Regency
72. Muara Sabak Timur — East Tanjung Jabung Regency
73. Muara Siau — Merangin Regency
74. Muara Tabir — Tebo Regency
75. Muara Tembesi — Batang Hari Regency
76. Muko-Muko Bathin VII — Bungo Regency
77. Nalo Tantan — Merangin Regency
78. Nipah Panjang — East Tanjung Jabung Regency
79. Paal Merah — Jambi City
80. Pamenang — Merangin Regency
81. Pamenang Barat — Merangin Regency
82. Pamenang Selatan — Merangin Regency
83. Pangkalan Jambu — Merangin Regency
84. Pasar Jambi — Jambi City
85. Pasar Muara Bungo — Bungo Regency
86. Pauh — Sarolangun Regency
87. Pelawan — Sarolangun Regency
88. Pelayangan — Jambi City
89. Pelepat — Bungo Regency
90. Pelepat Ilir — Bungo Regency
91. Pemayung — Batang Hari Regency
92. Pengabuan — West Tanjung Jabung Regency
93. Pesisir Bukit — Sungai Penuh City
94. Pondok Tinggi — Sungai Penuh City
95. Rantau Pandan — Bungo Regency
96. Rantau Rasau — East Tanjung Jabung Regency
97. Renah Mendaluh — West Tanjung Jabung Regency
98. Renah Pamenang — Merangin Regency
99. Renah Pembarap — Merangin Regency
100. Rimbo Bujang — Tebo Regency
101. Rimbo Ilir — Tebo Regency
102. Rimbo Tengah — Bungo Regency
103. Rimbo Ulu — Tebo Regency
104. Sadu — East Tanjung Jabung Regency
105. Sarolangun — Sarolangun Regency
106. Seberang Kota — West Tanjung Jabung Regency
107. Sekernan — Muaro Jambi Regency
108. Senyerang — West Tanjung Jabung Regency
109. Serai Serumpun — Tebo Regency
110. Singkut — Sarolangun Regency
111. Sitinjau Laut — Kerinci Regency
112. Siulak — Kerinci Regency
113. Siulak Mukai — Kerinci Regency
114. Sumay — Tebo Regency
115. Sungai Bahar — Muaro Jambi Regency
116. Sungai Bungkal — Sungai Penuh City
117. Sungai Gelam — Muaro Jambi Regency
118. Sungai Manau — Merangin Regency
119. Sungai Penuh — Sungai Penuh City
120. Sungai Tenang — Merangin Regency
121. Tabir — Merangin Regency
122. Tabir Barat — Merangin Regency
123. Tabir Ilir — Merangin Regency
124. Tabir Lintas — Merangin Regency
125. Tabir Selatan — Merangin Regency
126. Tabir Timur — Merangin Regency
127. Tabir Ulu — Merangin Regency
128. Taman Rajo — Muaro Jambi Regency
129. Tanah Cogok — Kerinci Regency
130. Tanah Kampung — Sungai Penuh City
131. Tanah Sepenggal — Bungo Regency
132. Tanah Sepenggal Lintas — Bungo Regency
133. Tanah Tumbuh — Bungo Regency
134. Tebing Tinggi — West Tanjung Jabung Regency
135. Tebo Ilir — Tebo Regency
136. Tebo Tengah — Tebo Regency
137. Tebo Ulu — Tebo Regency
138. Telanaipura — Jambi City
139. Tengah Ilir — Tebo Regency
140. Tiang Pumpung — Merangin Regency
141. Tungkal Ilir — West Tanjung Jabung Regency
142. Tungkal Ulu — West Tanjung Jabung Regency
143. VII Koto — Tebo Regency
144. VII Koto Ilir — Tebo Regency

Key Details

Districts by regency and city

Regency or city	Seat	Districts	Area (km²)	Population (est.)
Kerinci Regency	Siulak	18	3,445.20	272,832
Merangin Regency	Bangko	24	7,679.00	373,409 (2024)
Sarolangun Regency	Sarolangun	11	5,935.89	310,679
Batang Hari Regency	Muara Bulian	8	5,804.83	320,281
Muaro Jambi Regency	Sengeti	11	5,158.14	430,246
West Tanjung Jabung Regency	Kuala Tungkal	13	5,544.57	344,033
East Tanjung Jabung Regency	Muara Sabak	11	5,087.07	244,905 (2024)
Bungo Regency	Muara Bungo	17	4,659.00	386,114
Tebo Regency	Muara Tebo	12	6,103.74	359,638
Jambi City	Jambi (provincial capital)	11	169.89	642,264
Sungai Penuh City	Sungai Penuh	8	364.92	102,708
Total		144

Population figures are mid-2025 estimates unless marked otherwise.

Quick facts

• Jambi Province has 9 regencies (kabupaten) and 2 cities (kota). The provincial capital is Jambi City.
• Merangin has the most districts (24). Batang Hari and Sungai Penuh have the fewest (8 each).
• The most populous district in the list is Alam Barajo in Jambi City (about 118,000 people). The largest by area is Kumpeh in Muaro Jambi (about 1,641 km²). The smallest by area is Pasar Jambi (about 1.7 km²).
• Jambi City is an enclave inside Muaro Jambi Regency. Sungai Penuh City is an enclave inside Kerinci Regency, which it left on 24 June 2008.
• All of Jambi City’s subdistricts are urban kelurahan. Rural regencies are made up mostly of desa (villages), with a small number of kelurahan in district centres.
• Mount Kerinci, in Kerinci Regency, is the highest volcano in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, at 3,805 m.
• The Muaro Jambi Temple Compounds, a major Srivijaya-era archaeological site, lie in Muaro Jambi Regency and are on UNESCO’s tentative World Heritage list.

How Jambi’s Districts Fit Together

Jambi sits on the east coast of central Sumatra and stretches west to the Barisan Mountains. It borders Riau to the north, West Sumatra to the west, Bengkulu to the southwest and South Sumatra to the south. Its land area is a little under 49,000 km², and the latest official estimate puts its population at roughly 3.8 million.

The administrative ladder

Indonesia is governed in layers. A province is divided into regencies (kabupaten) and cities (kota). Regencies and cities are divided into districts, called kecamatan, each headed by a camat, a civil servant who answers to the regent or mayor. Districts are then divided into villages: desa in rural areas and kelurahan in urban ones. For a reader outside Indonesia, the kecamatan is the closest equivalent to a county subdivision or a township: large enough to have its own administrative centre and postal codes, small enough to be a local community.

Why the numbers keep changing

District counts in Indonesia are not fixed. Local governments regularly split large districts in a process called pemekaran, usually to bring administration closer to residents. Jambi shows this clearly:

• Jambi Province began in 1957 with three regencies and one city. Two more regencies were added in 1965, four more in 1999, and Sungai Penuh became a separate city in 2008.
• Kerinci Regency had 12 districts in 2010, added four in 2013 and two more in 2020, reaching 18.
• Muaro Jambi grew from 8 districts to 11, and Jambi City from 8 to 11.
• Sarolangun gained Mandiangin Timur in 2022, taking it from 10 districts to 11.
• A national moratorium on creating new regencies has been in place since 2013, which is why a proposed Tabir Raya Regency, which would take eight northern districts out of Merangin, has not gone ahead.

Three landscapes

The districts fall roughly into three zones.

The western highlands include Kerinci Regency and Sungai Penuh City. This is volcanic, cool-climate country within and around Kerinci Seblat National Park. Mount Kerinci rises above the Kayu Aro plateau, Lake Kerinci covers about 46 km², and Lake Gunung Tujuh sits in a caldera at about 1,950 m. Many district names here, such as Gunung Kerinci, Danau Kerinci and Sitinjau Laut, are taken directly from the landscape.

The central river plains include Merangin, Bungo, Tebo, Sarolangun, Batang Hari and Muaro Jambi. The Batang Hari, the longest river in Sumatra at roughly 1,700 km, runs through this zone and through Jambi City. Settlement, farming and transport have followed the rivers for centuries, from the ancient Melayu kingdom to today. Merangin is also home to a geopark with 300-million-year-old fossil trees.

The eastern coast includes West and East Tanjung Jabung. Here districts such as Nipah Panjang, which includes the Batang Hari estuary and seven offshore islands, and Kuala Tungkal and Muara Sabak, river-mouth port towns, face the sea.

Names places

Many district names follow patterns that make them easier to decode:

• Ilir and Ulu mean downstream and upstream. Tebo Ilir lies downriver of Tebo Ulu, with Tebo Tengah (middle) between.
• Barat, Timur, Selatan and Utara mean west, east, south and north. Muara Sabak Barat and Muara Sabak Timur are the western and eastern halves of an older Muara Sabak district.
• Muara means river mouth, as in Muara Bulian and Muara Tembesi. Pasar means market, which is why Pasar Jambi and Pasar Muara Bungo are the old commercial cores of their towns.
• Names that look alike are different places: Kota Baru is in Jambi City, while Koto Baru is in Sungai Penuh City. Sungai Penuh is both a city and one of its own districts. Maro Sebo is in Muaro Jambi, while Maro Sebo Ilir and Maro Sebo Ulu are in Batang Hari.

Two cities, two enclaves

Jambi City is the economic and political centre of the province, a busy river port that is surrounded on all sides by Muaro Jambi Regency. Because the city is small, many of its suburbs fall in Muaro Jambi, most notably in the district named Jambi Luar Kota, meaning Jambi outside the city. Sungai Penuh is the highland counterpart: a small city that was part of Kerinci until 2008 and is still almost entirely surrounded by it.