Sarmi Regency is one of the regencies (''kabupaten'') in

Papua Province Papua is a province of Indonesia, comprising the northern coast of Western New Guinea together with island groups in Cenderawasih Bay to the west. It roughly follows the borders of Papuan customary region of Tabi Saireri. It is bordered by the ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. It was formed from the western districts then within

Jayapura Regency Jayapura Regency is one of the regencies (''kabupaten'') in Papua Province of Indonesia. It is situated to the west of but does not include the city of Jayapura. Previously covering most of the north-east portion of Papua province, it was reduced ...

with effect from 12 November 2002. It covers an area of 18,034.0 km², and had a population of 32,971 at the 2010 Census and 41,515 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2021 was 41,849. The regency's administrative centre is at the town of Sarmi. Sarmi is named from an acronym of the five main tribes, which are Sobey, Armati, Rumbuai, Manirem, and Isirawa. The five tribes do not represent the overall tribal diversity in this regency which has 87 tribes, each with their own language.

Demographics

The majority of Sarmi residents are native Papuans, with significant numbers of transmigrants from

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

Madura Madura Island is an Indonesian island off the northeastern coast of Java. The island comprises an area of approximately (administratively 5,379.33 km2 including various smaller islands to the east, southeast and north that are administrati ...

Religion

The majority religion adopted by the Sarmi community is Christianity, with a significant presence of Islam brought by transmigrants from Java and Madura, as well as a small minority of Hindus and Buddhists from Bali. *

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

(76.94%) **

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

(74.74%) **

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

(2.20%) *

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

(22.96%) *

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

(0.05%) *

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

(0.05%)

Ethnic

Sarmi is inhabited by Sobey, Armati, Rumbuai, Manirem, and Isirawa who are native Papuans and migrants from other parts of Indonesia, especially Javanese, Madurese,

Batak Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of closely related Austronesian ethnic groups predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia, who speak Batak languages. The term is used to include the Karo, Pakpak, Simalungun, Toba, ...

Minangkabau Minangkabau may refer to: * Minangkabau culture, culture of the Minangkabau people * Minangkabau Culture Documentation and Information Center * Minangkabau Express, an airport rail link service serving Minangkabau International Airport (''see belo ...

Bugis The Bugis people (pronounced ), also known as Buginese, are an ethnicity—the most numerous of the three major linguistic and ethnic groups of South Sulawesi (the others being Makassar and Toraja), in the south-western province of Sulawe ...

etc.

Culture

Long before European explorers landed on the northern coast of Papua, since prehistoric times the region had been in contact with various foreign cultures. About 3,000 years ago, Austronesian speakers migrated to the northern coast of Papua. They made and used boats adapted for sea voyages, they were the ones who managed to find an outrigger system (balance on the left and right of the boat) to deal with the fierce waves of the ocean.

Administrative Districts

At the 2010 Census, Sarmi Regency comprised 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 o ...

(''distrik''), but subsequently nine additional districts (Sungai Biri, Veen, Bonggo Barat, Ismari, Sobey, Muara Toy, Verkam, Apawer Hilir and Apawer Tengah) have been created by splitting existing districts. These nineteen districts are tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 Census and the 2020 Census, together with the official estimates as at mid 2021.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2022. The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the number of villages (rural ''desa'' and urban ''kelurahan'') in each village, and (for the districts established before 2010) the post codes. Notes: (a) including the offshore islands of Pulau Masimasi, Pulau Wakde Besar, Pulau Wakde Kecil, Pulau Yamna Besar and Pulau Yamna Kecil.
(b) the 2010 population of this new district is included with the figure for the district(s) from which it was subsequently cut out.
(c) including the offshore islands of Pulau Anus, Pulau Yersun, Pulau Podena, Pulau Mengge and Pulau Kaycebo.
(d) the 2010 population of this new district is included with the figure for Bonggo District, from which it was subsequently cut out.
(e) including the offshore islands of Pulau Armo, Pulau Kosong, Pulau Liki and Pulau Sawar.

References

External links

Statistics publications from Statistics Indonesia (BPS)
{{Papua Regencies of Papua (province)