About Bali Island

Demographics about Bali Island

The population of Bali is 3,151,000 (at 2005).

Religion
Unlike most of Muslim-majority Indonesia, about 92% of Bali’s population adheres to Balinese Hinduism, formed as a combination of existing local beliefs and Hindu influences from mainland Southeast Asia and South Asia. Minority religions include Islam (5.7%), Christianity (1.4%), and Buddhism (0.6%). These official statistical figures do not include immigrants from other parts of Indonesia.

Language
Balinese and Indonesian are the most widely spoken languages in Bali, and many Balinese people are bilingual or even trilingual. There are severeal indigenious Balinese languages, most widely spoken is modern common Balinese. The usage of different Balinese languages was traditionally determined by the Balinese caste system and by clan membership, but this tradition is becoming part of history.

English is a common third language owing to the island’s large tourism industry.

Culture
Bali is famous for dance, as well as painting, scuplture, and woodcarving. Balinese gamelan music is highly developed and varied. The dances portray stories from Hindu Epics such as Ramayana. Famous Balinese dances include Pendet, legong, baris, topeng, barong, and Kecak (the monkey dance).
Bali’s culture is facing many challenges today. National education programs and prevailent mass media as well as it’s own tourism industry are strong motors of Change. Mass immigration (transmigrasi from other parts of Indonesia, mainly from Java, will change Bali forever. More than 1 million immigrant guest workers, predominantly muslims, live permanently on Bali today.