West Papua Province and Southwest Papua Province

Southwest Papua (Indonesian: Papua Barat Daya) is the 38th province of Indonesia and was split off from West Papua on 8 December 2022. The province comprises the Greater Sorong area (Indonesian: Sorong Raya) which consists of Sorong City, Sorong Regency, South Sorong Regency, Maybrat Regency, Tambrauw Regency, and Raja Ampat Regency.

Southwest Papua encompasses the protected region of the Raja Ampat Islands. The province of Southwest Papua is centered around its capital, Sorong. Sorong is one of the most developed cities in Papua.

West Papua’s capital city is Manokwari, a coastal town with its majority residents are Christians. The province is bordered to the north by the Pacific Ocean, to the west by Southwest Papua Province, the Halmahera Sea and the Seram Sea, to the south by the Banda Sea, and to the east by the province of Central Papua and the Cenderawasih Bay. Manokwari has an estimated population of 561,403 in mid-2022. West Papua is the least populous province in Indonesia after Southwest Papua, which was a part of West Papua until separated off in 2022.