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170197
Wed, 03/23/2011 - 10:27
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https://oananews.org//node/170197
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RI MAY FACE POPULATION BOOM IF BIRTHS REMAIN UNCHECKED
News Focus: RI MAY FACE POPULATION BOOM IF BIRTHS REMAIN UNCHECKED
By Suharto
Jakarta, March 23 (ANTARA) - The Indonesian National Family Planning Coordinating Board (BKKBN) has renewed its call for the country to take concrete steps to control new births or face a population boom.
"If nothing is done to curb new births we will see a population boom in the next few years," BKKBN Chief Sugiri Syarief said after opening a coordination meeting between BKKBN and the Indonesian Women`s Congress (Kowani) early this month.
Quoting the results of the 2010 census, Sugiri said the nation had a population of 237.6 million with an annual growth rate of 1.49 percent last year, outstripping the national projection of 234 million.
He said if the population growth rate remains at 1.49 percent the country will have a population of 450 million in 2045. This means that one of every 20 people in the world will be Indonesian.
The population growth rate in the past 10 years is 0.09 percent higher than in the previous decade and 0.29 percent higher than the estimate of 1.2 percent by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).
"The national birth rate control missed the target because in the past ten years BKKBN received no attention from the government," deputy for population to BKKBN chief Ida Bagus Permana said in the middle of this month.
Permana said BKKBN is trying hard to keep down the population growth out of concern that the Indonesian population may swell to 270 million in 2025 as projected by the United Nations.
Since the downfall of President Soeharto in May 1998 following widespread student protests against his 32-year rule, nationwide campaigns for birth control has faded. Birth control has since been entrusted to each regional government.
However, many regional administrations are still reluctant to establish local family planning units (BKKBD) as mandated by the 2009 Demography and Family Planning Law.
The rapid population growth rate will not only put pressure on the government`s efforts to implement national food security program, create more jobs and lower poverty rate but will also jeopardize environmental conservation efforts in the world`s fourth most populous nation.
The United Nations has predicted the global population will reach seven billion this year, and climb to nine billion by 2050.
To feed all those mouths, "we will need to produce as much food in the next 40 years as we have in the last 8,000," AFP quoted Jason Clay of the World Wildlife Fund as saying at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
"By 2050 we will not have a planet left that is recognizable" if current trends continue, Clay said.
The high population growth rate of 1.49 or 3.5 million to 4 million per year will spark food scarcity, the Indonesian Farmers` Union (HKTI) said in its website quoting BKKBN chief Sugiri Syarief as saying.
Sugiri said the country`s population of 237.6 million in 2010 will bring about a wide range of implications, particularly growing demand for basic necessities such as food, healthcare and education.
The high population growth will also have an impact on the shrinkage of farm land, putting food supplies on the line, he said.
For its part, simultaneous efforts must be made to strengthen food security on one hand, and control population growth on the other. Otherwise, domestic food production will fall short of consumption, he said.
Dr. Khairil Anwar Notodiputro of the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) told a seminar some time ago Indonesia may face a multidimensional crisis in the next 15-30 years if it fails to anticipate huge population.
"For Indonesia, the 237.6 million population means an early warning that in the next 15-30 years it will face a multidimensional crisis if anticipatory steps are not taken from now on," he said.
The multidimensional crisis will be related among others to socio-economic, socio-political, security and environmental problems. "This means that the future of Indonesia will largely depend on whether the 237.6 million population will become larger or the country can control the population growth."
Coordinating Minister for People`s Welfare Agung Laksono said the country`s grand design of population growth which will serve as guidelines to overcome population problems will be completed this year.
"Each ministry and institution involved in the arrangement of the design will later be united to find out the way how to control population growth," Agung said.
Permana said it will take about 50 years for BKKBN to bring the country`s population to zero growth. Yet it is not easy for any developing country to bring down its population growth to zero percent, he said.
Even, China which is now applying a "one-child" policy which generally limits people to one offspring, with exceptions for certain groups is not yet able to reduce its population growth, he said.
"This is because the population of China like that of Indonesia is dominated by the productive age group. Such is not the case with developed nations whose population is mostly made up of senior citizens," he said.
With the productive age group dominating the Indonesian population, the chance to get married and have children is very large. Therefore, the country`s family planning targets fertile couples, he said.
(T.S012/A/H-NG/A/R013/T.SYS)
By Suharto
Jakarta, March 23 (ANTARA) - The Indonesian National Family Planning Coordinating Board (BKKBN) has renewed its call for the country to take concrete steps to control new births or face a population boom.
"If nothing is done to curb new births we will see a population boom in the next few years," BKKBN Chief Sugiri Syarief said after opening a coordination meeting between BKKBN and the Indonesian Women`s Congress (Kowani) early this month.
Quoting the results of the 2010 census, Sugiri said the nation had a population of 237.6 million with an annual growth rate of 1.49 percent last year, outstripping the national projection of 234 million.
He said if the population growth rate remains at 1.49 percent the country will have a population of 450 million in 2045. This means that one of every 20 people in the world will be Indonesian.
The population growth rate in the past 10 years is 0.09 percent higher than in the previous decade and 0.29 percent higher than the estimate of 1.2 percent by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).
"The national birth rate control missed the target because in the past ten years BKKBN received no attention from the government," deputy for population to BKKBN chief Ida Bagus Permana said in the middle of this month.
Permana said BKKBN is trying hard to keep down the population growth out of concern that the Indonesian population may swell to 270 million in 2025 as projected by the United Nations.
Since the downfall of President Soeharto in May 1998 following widespread student protests against his 32-year rule, nationwide campaigns for birth control has faded. Birth control has since been entrusted to each regional government.
However, many regional administrations are still reluctant to establish local family planning units (BKKBD) as mandated by the 2009 Demography and Family Planning Law.
The rapid population growth rate will not only put pressure on the government`s efforts to implement national food security program, create more jobs and lower poverty rate but will also jeopardize environmental conservation efforts in the world`s fourth most populous nation.
The United Nations has predicted the global population will reach seven billion this year, and climb to nine billion by 2050.
To feed all those mouths, "we will need to produce as much food in the next 40 years as we have in the last 8,000," AFP quoted Jason Clay of the World Wildlife Fund as saying at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
"By 2050 we will not have a planet left that is recognizable" if current trends continue, Clay said.
The high population growth rate of 1.49 or 3.5 million to 4 million per year will spark food scarcity, the Indonesian Farmers` Union (HKTI) said in its website quoting BKKBN chief Sugiri Syarief as saying.
Sugiri said the country`s population of 237.6 million in 2010 will bring about a wide range of implications, particularly growing demand for basic necessities such as food, healthcare and education.
The high population growth will also have an impact on the shrinkage of farm land, putting food supplies on the line, he said.
For its part, simultaneous efforts must be made to strengthen food security on one hand, and control population growth on the other. Otherwise, domestic food production will fall short of consumption, he said.
Dr. Khairil Anwar Notodiputro of the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) told a seminar some time ago Indonesia may face a multidimensional crisis in the next 15-30 years if it fails to anticipate huge population.
"For Indonesia, the 237.6 million population means an early warning that in the next 15-30 years it will face a multidimensional crisis if anticipatory steps are not taken from now on," he said.
The multidimensional crisis will be related among others to socio-economic, socio-political, security and environmental problems. "This means that the future of Indonesia will largely depend on whether the 237.6 million population will become larger or the country can control the population growth."
Coordinating Minister for People`s Welfare Agung Laksono said the country`s grand design of population growth which will serve as guidelines to overcome population problems will be completed this year.
"Each ministry and institution involved in the arrangement of the design will later be united to find out the way how to control population growth," Agung said.
Permana said it will take about 50 years for BKKBN to bring the country`s population to zero growth. Yet it is not easy for any developing country to bring down its population growth to zero percent, he said.
Even, China which is now applying a "one-child" policy which generally limits people to one offspring, with exceptions for certain groups is not yet able to reduce its population growth, he said.
"This is because the population of China like that of Indonesia is dominated by the productive age group. Such is not the case with developed nations whose population is mostly made up of senior citizens," he said.
With the productive age group dominating the Indonesian population, the chance to get married and have children is very large. Therefore, the country`s family planning targets fertile couples, he said.
(T.S012/A/H-NG/A/R013/T.SYS)
