17 August 1945 (declared) note: recognized by the Netherlands on 27 December 1949; in August 2005, the Netherlands announced it recognized de facto Indonesian independence on 17 August 1945
7 September 1822 (from Portugal)
Religions
Muslim 86.1%, Protestant 5.7%, Roman Catholic 3%, Hindu 1.8%, other or unspecified 3.4% (2000 census)
Roman Catholic (nominal) 73.6%, Protestant 15.4%, Spiritualist 1.3%, Bantu/voodoo 0.3%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.2%, none 7.4% (2000 census)
Languages
Bahasa Indonesia (official, modified form of Malay), English, Dutch, local dialects (the most widely spoken of which is Javanese)
Portuguese (official and most widely spoken language); note - less common languages include Spanish (border areas and schools), German, Italian, Japanese, English, and a large number of minor Amerindian languages
Exports
oil and gas, electrical appliances, plywood, textiles, rubber
transport equipment, iron ore, soybeans, footwear, coffee, autos
External Debt
$186,900,000,000 $
$397,500,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
Indonesian rupiah (IDR) per US dollar - 9,558.1 (2008 est.), 9,056 (2007 est.), 9,159.3 (2006), 9,704.7 (2005), 8,938.9 (2004)
reals (BRL) per US dollar - 1.8644 (2008 est.), 1.85 (2007 est.), 2.1761 (2006), 2.4344 (2005), 2.9251 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
3.000%
1.700%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
5
15
Location
Southeastern Asia, archipelago between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean
Eastern South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean
