Riau is a province in Indonesia located on the east coast of the central Sumatra island. The coastal area borders the Strait of Malacca. Until 2004, the province also included the Riau Islands, a large group of small islands (the main islands include Batam Island and Bintan Island) located in the East of Sumatra and South Singapuraof Singapore. The archipelago was expanded into its own province in July 2004. But for now the major islands left in Riau Province include: Rupat Island, Bengkalis Island, Padang Island, Merbau Island, Pulau Tebing Tinggi, and Rangsang Island.

The capital and largest city in Riau province is Pekanbaru, and another major city after Pekanbaru is the city of Dumai. Based on the results of the Riau Central Bureau of Statistics in 2022, the population of Riau province amounted to 6,493,603 people, with a population density of 75 people / km2, and at the end of 2024 amounted to 7,069,297 people.

Riau is currently one of the richest provinces in Indonesia, and its resources are dominated by natural resources, especially petroleum, gas alamnatural gas, karetrubber, palm oil and fiber plantations. However, rampant logging has reduced forest area significantly, from 78% in 1982 to just 33% in 2005. An average of 160,000 hectares of forest are cut down every year, leaving 22%, or 2.45 million hectares in 2009. Forest logging with the aim of clearing oil palm plantations and paper production has led to very disturbing smog in the province for many years, and spread to neighboring countries such as Malaysia and Singapore.