Inequalities of Indonesia’s regional digital development and its association with socioeconomic characteristics: a spatial and multivariate analysis

ABSTRACT

Drawing on multivariate, spatial agglomeration, cluster analysis, and the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression, this paper aims to reveal the spatial inequalities in the digital development of households and individuals at 460 districts/cities in Indonesia and its association with socioeconomic characteristics. The results show a significant district digital divide characterized by a decline of regional digital development index (RDDI) values from the west to the east and from core cities to more peripheral ones. Cities with high RDDI values are mainly concentrated in large metropolitan areas in western Indonesia, whereas districts with low values tend to concentrate in rural-mountainous regions, remote areas, and archipelagos in eastern Indonesia. However, the digital divide declined from 2015 to 2019, indicating that Indonesian regions are becoming more digitally convergent. Education, gross regional domestic product (GRDP) per capita, population, and the number of formal workers have a positive and significant impact on RDDI.

KEYWORDS:

• ICT development index
• digital divide
• spatial agglomeration
• convergence
• economic development
• Indonesia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Indonesia is divided into provinces (Indonesian: Provinsi). Provinces are made up of districts (kabupaten) and cities (kota). Provinces, districts, and cities have their own local governments and parliamentary bodies. Since the enactment of Act Number 22 of 1999 on Local Government (the law was revised by Act Number 32 of 2004), local governments now play a greater role in administering their areas. Districts and cities have the authority to regulate and manage their own regions without any intervention or assistance from the central government. As of 2021, there were 416 districts and 98 cities in Indonesia. Both the district and the city are at the same level, having their own local government and legislative body. The difference between a district and a city lies in their differing demographics, sizes, and economies. Generally, the district has a larger area than the city, and the city has non-agricultural economic activities. Each district or city is divided further into subdistrict, more commonly known as kecamatan.

2 A provincial capital city is an important or main city or municipality in a province that is usually the seat of the administrative center of government. The status of the capital city is determined by the constitution or law.

3 The metropolitan area is a large urban area consisting of several administrative areas and is characterized by a very high concentration of people and various industrial, trading, banking, and other activities. There are 14 groups of metropolitan areas in Indonesia, with a total of 71 metropolitan cities.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Fitri Kartiasih

Fitri Kartiasih holds a B.S. degree from Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Statistik (STIS), and an M.Sc degree in Economics from Institut Pertanian Bogor. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in Economics at Universitas Indonesia and is supported by a scholarship from the Indonesian Central Statistics Agency (BPS). She is also an assistant professor at Politeknik Statistika STIS, Jakarta, Indonesia. She teaches several subjects, such as microenomics, macroeconomics, and time series analysis.

Nachrowi Djalal Nachrowi

Nachrowi Djalal Nachrowi is a professor of economics at the Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia. Recently, he is interested in doing research in the area of finance, labor economics, economic development, energy economics, environmental economics, econometrics, manufacturing industries, and international trade.

I Dewa Gede Karma Wisana

I Dewa Gede Karma Wisana is an associate professor at the Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia. He received his B.S. degree from Universitas Indonesia, M.Sc. in Resources and Development Economics from Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway and Ph.D. in Economics from Australian National University (ANU), Australia. He teaches several subjects, such as Labor Economics, Intermediate Econometrics, and Population Economics.

Dwini Handayani

Dwini Handayani is a lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia. She received her Doctorate Degree in Economics from Universitas Indonesia. Her fields of expertise are in gender, labor economics, and population studies.