Bintan Regency (originally the Riau Islands Regency; ) is an administrative area in the

Riau Islands Province The Riau Islands () is a province of Indonesia consisting of a group of islands located in the western part of the country. It was established in 2002 after being separated from the neighboring Riau Province. The capital of the province is ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. Bintan Regency includes all of Bintan Island (except for the city of

Tanjung Pinang Tanjungpinang, also colloquially written as Tanjung Pinang, is the capital city of the Indonesian province of Riau Islands. It covers a land area of 144.56 km2, mainly in the southern part of Bintan Island, as well as other smaller islands ...

which is separately administered as an autonomous area of the island) and also includes many outlying islands including the

Tambelan Archipelago Tambelan archipelago is a group of 68 islands off the west coast of West Kalimantan (Borneo), Indonesia, just north of the equator. The archipelago is located on the north opening of Karimata Strait which separates Borneo and Belitung island. Geog ...

and

Badas Islands Badas Islands is a group of islands in the Tudjuh Archipelago in the South China Sea between the Malaysian mainland to the west and the island of Borneo to the east. Administratively it is part of Bintan Regency within the Riau Islands province ...

situated between Bintan and

West Kalimantan West Kalimantan () is a province of Indonesia. It is one of five Indonesian provinces comprising Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its capital and largest city is Pontianak. It is bordered by East Kalimantan and Central ...

; altogether there are 273 islands comprising the regency. The Bintan Regency originally included all of the areas now comprising the Riau Islands Province, but on 4 October 1999 parts of the regency were split off to create separate Regencies of Karimun and

Natuna Natuna Regency is an islands regency located in the northernmost part of the Province of Riau Islands, Indonesia. It contains at least 154 islands, of which 127 of them are reported as uninhabited. This archipelago, with a land area of 1,978.49& ...

(the latter originally including what in 2008 became the

Anambas Islands Regency Anambas Islands Regency () is an island regency in the Riau Islands Province, Indonesia, located in the Natuna Sea. The regency consists of 255 islands, including five outer islands that are important for Indonesia's sovereignty boundaries, n ...

), together with the independent city of

Batam Batam, officially the City of Batam (, not to be confused with ''Batam Kota'', a kecamatan, district within this city), is the largest List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city in the Indonesian province of Riau Islands. The city administra ...

. On 21 June 2001 the town of

on Bintan Island was also split off to become an independent city. In 2002 all these areas which had comprised the original Bintan Regency were brought together in a new Riau Islands Province when that was created from the archipelagic part of

Riau Province Riau ( Jawi: ) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the central eastern coast of the island of Sumatra, and extends from the eastern slopes of the Barisan Mountains to the Malacca Strait, including several large islands situated within ...

. On 18 December 2003 a further regency – for the

Lingga Islands The Lingga Regency () is a group of 600 islands in Indonesia, located south of Singapore and along both sides of the equator, off the eastern coast of Riau Province on Sumatra island. They are due south of the populated Riau Archipelago, known ...

– was created from part of the residual Bintan Regency. Bintan Regency now covers an area of 2,045.32 km². It had a population of 142,300 at the 2010 censusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and 159,518 at the 2020 census;Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 175,873.

Location

The island is located 40 kilometres from

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, with an area of 1,462.77 km², and it has a population of around 330,000 at the 2010 census (including Tanjung Pinang), which by the 2020 census had risen to 387,181,Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. while the official estimate as of mid 2023 was 400,700. These population figures include the entire

Bintan Island Bintan Island or ''Negeri Segantang Lada'' is an island in the Riau archipelago of Indonesia. It is part of the Riau Islands province, the capital of which, Tanjung Pinang, lies in the island's south and is the island's main community. Bintan's ...

as well as outlying islands and archipelagoes that are included within Bintan Regency and Tanjung Pinang City. Famous places in Bintan Regency include Trikora Beach, on the east coast, and the international

Bintan Resorts Bintan Resorts is the name for a resort enclave occupying the northern area of Bintan Island in Indonesia. Established in 1990 as a joint venture between the Indonesian and Singaporean governments, it is located in the village of Sebong Lagoi in th ...

Administration

The regency is divided into ten

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

(''kecamatan'') – tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 and 2020 censuses,Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. together with the official estimates as at mid-2023.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 26 September 2024, ''Kabupaten Bintan Dalam Angka 2024'' (sum of the Katalogs of the ten districts as referenced below) The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the numbers of administrative villages in each district (a total of 36 rural ''desa'' and 15 urban ''kelurahan''), and its postal code. Notes: (a) includes one ''kelurahan'' - Tembeling Tanjung. (b) comprises 4 ''kelurahan'' (Tanjung Uban Kota, Tanjung Uban Selatan, Tanjung Uban Timur and Tanjung Uban Utara) and 1 ''desa''.
(c) includes one ''kelurahan'' - Kota Baru. (d) includes 2 ''kelurahan'' (Teluk Lobam and Tanjung Permai).
(e) comprises 4 ''kelurahan'' (Gunung Lengkuas, Kijang Kota, Sungai Enam and Sungai Lekop). (f) includes one ''kelurahan'' - Kawal.
(g) Bintan Pesisir and Mantang Districts comprise numerous islands lying to the east and south respectively of

, but do not include any part of that island itself.
(h) includes one ''kelurahan'' - Toapaya Asri. (i) Tambelan District comprises the

and

situated between Bintan and

. (j) includes one ''kelurahan'' - Teluk Sekuni.

Demography

Religion

Islam is the dominant religion in the city, with 86.88% of the total population identify themselves as Muslim. Other religions are Christianity, which forms 7.52% of the total population, Buddhism, which forms 5.37% of the total population, Hinduism, which forms 0.09% of the total population and Confucianism, which forms 0.38% of the total population.

Airports

Besides

Raja Haji Fisabilillah Airport Raja Haji Fisabilillah Airport , formerly Kijang Airport, is a domestic airport located in Tanjungpinang, Riau Islands, Indonesia. It is the second largest airport in Riau Islands, after the Hang Nadim International Airport in Batam. History Th ...

is near Tanjung Pinang in the south of the

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

, since 2012 a private company has been building an airport at Lagoi in the north of the island to facilitates tourism with investment $80 to $100 million; it is now predicted to be operational by the end of 2021.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Islands of Indonesia Populated places in Indonesia