Medan - Demography

Demography

The city is Indonesia's fourth most populous after Jakarta, Surabaya, and Bandung, and Indonesia's largest city outside of Java island. Much of the population lies outside its city limits, especially in Deli Serdang.

The city has diverse communities, reflecting its history. However, The Mandailings also live here in big numbers and working at the most strategic government position. In addition, there is a large ethnic Javanese community, largely made up of the descendants of people transported from Java in the last century to be employed as contract workers at various plantations in North Sumatra. They are usually known as Jadel (Jawa Deli/Deli Javanese) or Jakon (Jawa Kontrak/Contract Javanese), and, with other Javanese communities in Sumatra, Pujakesuma (Putra Jawa Kelahiran Sumatera/Sumatra-born Javanese). Their presence in Medan can be marked from various Javanese toponymies in Medan, such as Harjosari, Sarirejo, Sidodadi, Sidomulyo, Sidorame, Sidorejo, Sitirejo, Sudirejo, Tanjungrejo, Tanjungsari, Tegalrejo, Tegalsari, etc.

A highly visible component of Medan's population is the large number of Chinese, who are very active in the business sector, and unlike the ethnic Chinese in many other parts of Indonesia, they continue to speak Hokkien. The city also host a sizable community of Tamil descendants who are commonly known as keling. A well-known Tamil neighbourhood is Kampung Keling. In addition to Indonesian, Malay, Mandailing, Minangkabau, Karo, Javanese, Hokkien, Tamil, Aceh, and English are spoken.