Demographics
The population of Papua province has been growing fast (2.9 children per woman fertility rate), from 1.9 million in the 2000 Indonesia Census to 2.9 million in the 2010 Census Since the early 1990s Papua has had the highest population growth rate of all Indonesian provinces at over 3% annually. This is partly a result of high birth rates, but mainly due to migration from other parts of Indonesia. While indigenous Papuans formed the near-totality of the population in 1961, they are now roughly 50% of the population, the other half being composed of non-Papuan migrants coming from other parts of Indonesia. An overwhelming percentage of these migrants came as part of a government-sponsored transmigration program.
According to the 2010 census, 83.15% of the Papuans identified themselves as Christian with 65.48% being Protestant and 17.67% being Roman Catholic. 15.89% of the population was Muslim and less than 1% were Buddhist or Hindu. There is also substantial practice of animism by Papuans.
The densest population center, other than the large coastal cities that house Indonesian bureaucratic and commercial apparatus, is located in and around the town of Wamena in the Palim (a.k.a. Baliem) Valley of the Central Highlands. The 'extreme democracy' and ecological stewardship of the highlands Papuan society is documented by Jared Diamond in the book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.
| Historical population | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
| 1971 | 923,440 | — |
| 1980 | 1,173,875 | +27.1% |
| 1990 | 1,648,708 | +40.5% |
| 1995 | 1,942,627 | +17.8% |
| 2000 | 2,220,934 | +14.3% |
| 2010 | 2,833,381 | +27.6% |
| Source: Badan Pusat Statistik 2010 | ||
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