See Jakarta EE
Jakarta, officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia, with administrative status equivalent to a province. It lies on the northwestern coast of Java, bordering West Java and Banten and facing the Java Sea. Jakarta covers about 662 square kilometres (256 square miles) and had 11 million registered residents in 2025. Its urban area extends well beyond the provincial boundary into the wider Jakarta metropolitan area (locally known as Jabodetabek), which had a population of nearly 42 million in 2025 according to the United Nations.
The area around present-day Jakarta was long associated with Sunda Kelapa, the port of the Sunda Kingdom. Islamic forces captured Kalapa in 1527, after which the settlement became known as Jayakarta and came under the Banten Sultanate. The Dutch East India Company (VOC) seized Jayakarta in 1619 and rebuilt it as Batavia, its main administrative centre in Asia and an important trading port. Following the Japanese occupation during World War II, authorities renamed the city Jakarta. Indonesian independence was proclaimed there in 1945 and after the Indonesian National Revolution, Jakarta became the capital of the unitary republic in 1950.
Jakarta grew rapidly after Indonesian independence. Migration from across Indonesia has shaped its population and culture. Urban growth has spread into Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi, which creates a metropolitan region tied together by large, daily commuter flows. Jakarta is Indonesia's financial and trade centre and the centre of national administration. It is also home to many corporate headquarters, media organisations, universities and the secretariat of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Jakarta has no ethnic majority. The largest groups include Javanese, Betawi, Sundanese and Chinese Indonesians. Indonesian is the official language and the main language of public life, while Betawi culture developed from interaction among people of varying origins in colonial Batavia. Jakarta faces persistent issues including traffic congestion, flooding, land subsidence, air pollution, and pressure on water and waste services. In 2022, the Indonesian government began the legal process of moving the country's capital to Nusantara in East Kalimantan, but Jakarta remains the capital until the transfer is formalised by a presidential decree.