Demographics
Though a large island compared to all other islands in the Riao archipelago, it is sparsely populated. As the Dutch ruled over the islands for a long period, their influence is distinctly discerned in the island. Population of Bintan Island is about 350,000 with the citizens mostly belonging to the Malay, Bugis, Chinese and the Orang Laut ethnicity. An observation made on the distribution of different ethnic groups in Bintan is that Indonesians have migrated in large numbers to the island and as result Malays, the original settlers of the region, are now a minority in Riau Archipelago as a whole. This is attributed to the fact that the island is close to Malaysia and Singapore in particular and Indonesians flock to the place to get a foot hold to go to Singapore. In the capital city of Tanjung Pinang, the urban population had jumped from 98,871 in 1998 to 134,940 in 2004.
Read more about this topic: Bintan Island