Types of Employment for Indonesian Population in National Population Data Semester II 2025, Farmers Number 25 Million
The Indonesian government, through the Directorate General of Population and Civil Registration of the Ministry of Home Affairs, released employment data by generation on Thursday, 12 March 2026. The data forms part of the National Population Data (DKB) for Semester II 2025.
At an event titled “Portrait of Indonesia’s Diversity in One National Population Data,” Director General of Population and Civil Registration Teguh Setyabudi stated the data would serve as a reference for the government in formulating inclusive public policies. “This portrait of Indonesia’s diversity is not merely statistics, but also official recognition of the existence and contribution of every community in national development,” he said at the data release at Hotel Bidakara, South Jakarta.
The most common occupation across all generations is housekeeping with 53.32 million people, followed by students and university students at 39.74 million, and farmers or cultivators at 25.38 million. “Our nation Indonesia is indeed an agrarian country, as evidenced by the fact that there are still many farmers,” Teguh remarked.
Other occupations include self-employed workers with 25.38 million people, private sector employees at 24.22 million, those not or yet to be employed at 19.97 million, daily labourers at 11.34 million, and retirees at 232,131.
The pre-boomer generation, those born between 1925 and 1945, was predominantly engaged in farming with 1.48 million people, followed by housekeeping at 946,215, those not or yet employed at 332,053, and retirees at 232,131.
The boomer generation, born between 1946 and 1964, predominantly engaged in housekeeping at 8.03 million people, followed by farmers at 7.96 million, self-employed workers at 2.76 million, daily labourers at 2.00 million, and private sector employees at 1.45 million.
Generation X (1965–1980) was also dominated by those engaged in housekeeping at 18.06 million, followed by farmers at 10.11 million, self-employed workers at 8.46 million, private sector employees at 7.00 million, and daily labourers at 4.44 million.
The Millennial generation, those born between 1981 and 1996, was dominated by housekeeping at 20.00 million, followed by private sector employees at 12.57 million, self-employed workers at 11.66 million, farmers at 6.26 million, and daily labourers at 4.90 million.
Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2012, was predominantly engaged as students and university students at 39.74 million, followed by those not or yet employed at 19.63 million, housekeeping at 6.29 million, private sector employees at 3.20 million, and self-employed workers at 2.49 million.
Employment in the military (TNI), police (Polri), and civil service (ASN) accounted separately for 4.57 million people across all generations, comprising 477,598 in the military, 459,722 in the police, and 3.64 million in the civil service.
The total population in Semester II 2025 increased by 1.62 million compared to Semester I 2025, rising to 288.32 million people, consisting of 145.50 million men and 142.82 million women.
Indonesia’s population remains concentrated on the island of Java at 55.55 per cent, followed by Sumatra at 21.88 per cent, whilst other regions including Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Bali-Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, and Papua represent smaller proportions.
Teguh stated that efforts would continue to collect population administration data accurately. The aim is to serve as the main support for various cross-sector services to operate smoothly and in harmony. “From this data, we can read the direction of Indonesia’s journey, whilst simultaneously preparing for the future,” Teguh said.