Indonesia

Buddhism in Indonesia has a long history, with a considerable range of relics dated from its earlier years in Indonesia. Buddhism is recognized as one of six official religions in Indonesia, along with Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism and Confucianism. According to the 2000 national census, roughly 2% of the total citizens of Indonesia are Buddhists, which takes up about 1.8 million people.[1] Most Buddhists are concentrated in Jakarta, although other provinces such as Riau, North Sumatra and West Kalimantan also have a significant number of practitioners. However, these totals are likely high, because practitioners of Confucianism and Taoism, which are not considered official religions of Indonesia, referred to themselves as Buddhists on the census.[1] Today, most Buddhists in Indonesia are Chinese, however small numbers of native (such as Javanese) Buddhists are also present. There has been a sharp decline of Buddhism throughout Indonesia, as the 2010 survey shows that only 0.4% of the population, which includes Confucianism, is Buddhist. This most likely due to ethnic Chinese, which is the major adherent converting Christianity.