How are Austronesian languages distributed among Indonesia and the Pacific islands?

The Austronesian language family is one of the world's largest, characterized by its vast geographic spread across the Indonesian archipelago and the Pacific islands. Approximately 900 of the roughly 1,200 total Austronesian languages are divided about equally between Indonesia and the islands of the Pacific.12

Distribution in Indonesia

In Indonesia, Austronesian languages are spoken throughout most of the archipelago. While western Indonesia is home to major languages with millions of speakers—such as Javanese, Sundanese, and Malay—the number of speakers per language decreases significantly in eastern Indonesia, where it drops to a few tens of thousands.13

Distribution in the Pacific

In the Pacific, these languages are categorized within the Oceanic languages group, which includes about 450 languages. Their distribution is as follows:4
* Melanesia: The great majority of Pacific Austronesian languages are found here, particularly along the coasts of New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago. These are often interspersed with non-Austronesian Papuan languages.2
* Polynesia and Micronesia: The remaining languages of the Oceanic group are spoken across these regions, extending as far as Hawaii and Easter Island.42