Indonesia is home to more than 700 living languages. Here is how the biggest ones rank, based on national data.

1. Indonesian (national language)
   Number: About 210,000,000 total speakers (2010)
   Population percentage: Over 97% fluent
   Main areas spoken: Throughout Indonesia
2. Javanese
   Number: About 84,300,000 (2000 census)
   Population percentage: 42.12% at home and 42.19% with neighbours
   Main areas spoken: Central and East Java, Yogyakarta, plus migrant communities such as Lampung
3. Sundanese
   Number: About 42,000,000 (2016)
   Population percentage: 18.40% at home and 18.68% with neighbours
   Main areas spoken: West Java, Banten, Jakarta
4. Malay (all varieties)
   Number: At least 5,200,000 (1990s–2000 census)
   Population percentage: 4.75% at home and 4.96% with neighbours
   Main areas spoken: Malay-speaking regions of Sumatra (e.g. South Sumatra, Jambi) and Kalimantan
5. Madurese
   Number: About 13,600,000 (2000 census)
   Population percentage: 4.74% at home and 4.77% with neighbours
   Main areas spoken: Madura Island and parts of East Java
6. Minangkabau
   Number: About 5,500,000 (2007)
   Population percentage: 2.59% in both settings
   Main areas spoken: West Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, Bengkulu, Jakarta
7. Batak (all varieties)
   Number: About 6,800,000 (1991–2000 census)
   Population percentage: 2.19% at home and 2.01% with neighbours
   Main areas spoken: North Sumatra, plus Riau and the Riau Islands
8. Banjar
   Number: About 3,500,000 (2000 census)
   Population percentage: 2.17% at home and 2.20% with neighbours
   Main areas spoken: South, East and Central Kalimantan
9. Balinese
   Number: About 3,300,000 (2000 census)
   Population percentage: 2.13% at home and 2.09% with neighbours
   Main areas spoken: Bali and Lombok
10. Bugis
    Number: About 5,000,000 (2000 census)
    Population percentage: 1.89% at home and 1.75% with neighbours
    Main areas spoken: South Sulawesi

Indonesia is one of the most linguistically diverse countries on Earth. More than 700 living languages are spoken across the archipelago, roughly a tenth of all the world’s languages, a total second only to Papua New Guinea. The Indonesian government’s own mapping counts 718 regional languages, and many are endangered.

Yet a small group of languages dominates everyday life. Which ones are they, and how many people speak them? The answer depends on what you measure and when the data was collected.

One national language, many regional ones

Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) is the sole official and national language. It is a standardised form of Malay and serves as the lingua franca of the archipelago, used in government, education, commerce and the media. The 2020 census found that more than 97% of Indonesians are fluent in it.

For most Indonesians, though, Indonesian is a second language learned at school. Regional languages remain the languages of home. Statistics Indonesia (BPS) reports that about three-quarters of people aged five and over use a regional language to communicate with family, and nearly as many use one with neighbours and the wider community.

How the latest ranking works

The most recent national figures come from the BPS Long Form Census 2020, published in its report on ethnic groups and regional languages. Rather than counting native speakers, it measures the share of people aged five and over who use each language at home and with neighbours. It also groups related varieties together: all Malay varieties count as “Melayu”, and the Batak languages are combined as “Batak”.

Here are the top regional languages by that measure (at home / with neighbours):

1. Javanese: 42.12% / 42.19%
2. Sundanese: 18.40% / 18.68%
3. Malay: 4.75% / 4.96%
4. Madurese: 4.74% / 4.77%
5. Minangkabau: 2.59% / 2.59%
6. Batak: 2.19% / 2.01%
7. Banjar: 2.17% / 2.20%
8. Balinese: 2.13% / 2.09%
9. Bugis: 1.89% / 1.75%
10. Sasak: 1.75% / 1.79%

Batak and Banjar are close enough that their order flips depending on whether you look at home or neighbourhood use.

The giants: Javanese and Sundanese

Javanese is by far the largest regional language. Roughly 84 million people spoke it as of the 2000 census, and its speakers are concentrated in Central and East Java and Yogyakarta, with large migrant communities elsewhere, such as in Lampung, where Javanese migrants make up more than half the province’s population. In Yogyakarta it has regional official status.

Sundanese comes second, with an estimated 42 million speakers in West Java, Banten and Jakarta. Together, Javanese and Sundanese account for around 60% of regional-language use at home in the BPS data, which shows how heavily the ranking is weighted toward Java, the country’s most populous island.

The next tier: Sumatra, Kalimantan, Bali and Sulawesi

Beyond Java, the picture spreads across the islands:

• Malay varieties are spoken across much of Sumatra, including South Sumatra and Jambi, and in parts of Kalimantan.
• Madurese is centred on Madura Island and parts of East Java, with an estimated 13.6 million speakers as of the 2000 census.
• Minangkabau is the language of West Sumatra and is also spoken in Riau, Jambi, Bengkulu and Jakarta.
• Batak languages are spoken mainly in North Sumatra.
• Banjar is found in South, East and Central Kalimantan.
• Balinese is spoken on Bali and Lombok.
• Bugis is the main language of South Sulawesi.
• Sasak is the language of Lombok.

Reading the numbers with care

Anyone comparing language statistics for Indonesia should keep a few caveats in mind.

Different measures give different rankings. BPS measures daily use among people aged five and over. Wikipedia’s tables, drawing on Ethnologue and older census rounds, list native-speaker numbers collected between 1989 and 2016. Under the latter, for example, Bugis (about 5 million) is larger than Balinese (about 3.3 million), though BPS ranks Balinese slightly higher.

Indonesian is hard to count. Because most people learn it as a second language, estimates of its native speakers vary enormously, from a few tens of millions to well over 100 million, depending on the definition and the source.

A language landscape under pressure

The BPS data also hints at change. The more educated a person is, the less likely they are to use a regional language day to day, and younger generations use them less than older ones. In West Java, for instance, home use of Sundanese is highest among the oldest generation and falls steadily for younger cohorts. Indonesia’s education ministry now runs a regional language revitalisation programme to encourage younger speakers to keep their languages, and it reports that dozens of languages have already been included.

For now, Indonesia’s linguistic map is both concentrated and extraordinarily varied: a handful of large languages anchor daily life for most people, while hundreds of smaller ones survive in villages and islands across the archipelago.

Sources

• Statistics Indonesia (BPS), Profil Suku dan Keragaman Bahasa Daerah Hasil Long Form Sensus Penduduk 2020, as summarised by CNN Indonesia (29 Oct 2026) and Dataindonesia.id
• Wikipedia, “Languages of Indonesia” (speaker estimates drawn from BPS census data, Ethnologue and other surveys)
• Ethnologue; Indonesian Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (language revitalisation programme)