Tasikmalaya

"Tasikmalaya maintains a small town feel, with streets teaming with cars, bicycles, horses and carts, trishaws and peddlers selling everything imaginable"

Tasikmalaya, located on the western side of the tropical island of Java, this city has a population about 350,000 people.  Although this may seem large by the Western standards, Tasikmalaya maintains a small town feel, with streets teaming with cars, bicycles, horses and carts, trishaws and peddlers selling everything imaginable.  

Rice fields and volcanoes surround the city and fish ponds abound, supplying local people with one of their major sources of protein. Visitors never fail to notice the gracefulness, warmth and friendliness of the local Sundanese people.

Unfortunately, the Asian economic crisis of 1997 has left people jobless and without hope for the future.  Malnutrition is more and more becoming a serious problem, especially amongst children.

Children often have been pulled out of school to help support their families and political instability has allowed the problem of violence between ethnic and religious groups to grow to alarming levels. The future looks rather bleak for the average low income Sundanese family in West Java.

Tasikmalaya is a regency that is part of West Java Province, Indonesia. Geographically, Tasikmalaya Regency lies on south-east part of West Java. The Tasikmalaya Regency is adjacent to:

It covers an area of 2,563.35 km2. North to south landscape distance is 75 km, and west to east landscape distance is 56.25 km. Tasikmalaya Regency area is lying between 07º10’00” south latitude and 08º00’00” east longitude.

The total amount of population in Tasikmalaya Regency (after Tasikmalaya City Government established) is 1,565,906 which consists of 778,553 men and 787,373 women, with population growth 1.28%, and income per capita Rp 2,921,295.

From total population in Tasikmalaya Regency, the total amount of employed population is 608,650, and total amount of unemployment is 34,464. The farming is the biggest employment provider which is absorbed 41% of workforce.
Human Development Index, which is the indicator of population prosperity, of Tasikmalaya Regency is decreased from 66.80 to 57-58. The population growth from census in 1971 to census in 1980 is 2.17%, while population growth in 1980-1990 is 1.31%. Based on counting in 1990-1995 is decreased into 1.28% per year. It shows that population growth is relatively under controlled comparing with national population growth in 1990-1996 which is 1.98%.

Age Structure

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          The population growth of Tasikmalaya Regency is natural population growth. It means that it is dominantly influenced by fertility and mortality, while migration factor can be ignored due to Tasikmalaya Regency is not industrial area which is pull factor for workforce from other regions. On the contrary, Tasikmalaya Regency is not minus area which is push factor of population to emigrate

Population Dissemination
          Naturally, population dissemination is influenced by availability of natural resources which directly support human life. Fertile lands, flat coast lines, river banks, and the surroundings of water sources have a high population density. Along with human civilization, in addition to natural conditions mentioned above, artificial structures and infrastructures (such as education, economy, and social facilities) do influence population dissemination. Those conditions also affect on population dissemination in Tasikmalaya Regency which is not distributed evenly to all sub districts. Some sub districts have high population density are Singaparna (3,019 per km2), Rajapolah (2,583 per km2), while sub districts have low population density are Pancatengah (198 per km2), and Cipatujah (244 per km2). Average density of population in Tasikmalaya Regency in 2001 is 611 per km2. Population density of south Tasikmalaya is lower than north and center side.

Occupation
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