Indonesia wants more children

Jokowi plans to redesign family planning programme to boost country’s birth rates

JAKARTA: To reap the maximum benefit from the so-called demographic dividend, a condition where the proportion of the working age population to dependents is significantly larger than in previous generations, the administration of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo plans to redesign the family planning programme to encourage families to have more children.

National Development Planning Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said on Tuesday that Jokowi considered the current family planning campaign, which encourages families to have only two children and has been in place since the late 1970s, inapt for maintaining balanced population growth, as it could lead to a reduction in the working age population right when the country expected to reap the maximum gain from the demographic dividend in 2030.

“The goal is to maintain the overall fertility rate at 2.1 children per couple until 2025 for a stable demographic bonus,” Bambang said.

Indonesia’s population is now composed of more working-age people than ever before, both in absolute numbers at 157 million and as a proportion of the total population, accounting for 56% of all Indonesians.

Indonesia continues to be in the declining period of the dependency ratio, with its population projected to pass 300 million in the next 20 years. But in spite of the expected strong population growth in the near future, a lower projected fertility rate and higher life expectancy will lead to citizens aged 65 years and above making up a larger share of the population.

Responding to Bambang’s proposal, the National Population and Family Planning Board (BKKBN) said it would begin a review on how to run an effective programme that could balance population growth.

BKKBN deputy for population control Wendy Hartanto said the agency would first collect data on which regions had higher fertility rates, before conducting a review on the effectiveness of the family planning campaign.

Wendy noted BKKBN data shows higher fertility rates were currently seen in poverty-stricken rural regions, where low-income couples tended to have more than two children. Meanwhile, in urban areas, where most couples with middle to high income live, couples tended to have one child.

So far, the BKKBN has targeted its family planning programme at lower-income couples by giving them free access to contraception.

Sri Moertiningsih Adioetono from the University of Indonesia’s Demographic Institute however said the government should not rush into making decisions based on the assumption that there would be a significant drop in the coun- try’s population.

“At the current pace of growth, we will experience a drop only between the year 2065 and 2075,” Sri said.

She said the government was justified in reviewing the existing family planning campaign but should not consider stopping the programme.

“If family planning doesn’t work, we will face a population explosion, which will burden the country, as we have to invest more for the future.”

The government, she said, should focus on maintaining a population structure “that would allow the economy to grow, meaning that there are enough people to work”. — The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network