Indonesia has 34 provinces, eight of which have been created since 1999, namely: North Maluku, West Papua, Banten, Bangka–Belitung Islands, Gorontalo, Riau Islands Province, West Sulawesi and (in late 2012) North Kalimantan.
Five provinces have special status:
- Aceh, for the use of the sharia law as the regional law of the province.
- Special Region of Yogyakarta, a sovereign monarchy within Indonesia with the sultan Hamengkubuwono as hereditary Governor and Paduka Sri Pakualam as hereditary vice-governor. SR Yogyakarta refused to call themselves as the province according to Law No. 03/1950 and No. 12/2012 about The Speciality of Special Region of Yogyakarta.
- Papua, for implementation of sustainable development.
- West Papua, for granting implementation of sustainable development.
- Special Capital Region of Jakarta.
The provinces are officially grouped into seven geographical units.