Bappenas: Indonesia's Population Growth Rate Exceeds Global Average
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Minister for National Development Planning/Head of the National Development Planning Agency (PPN/Bappenas) Rachmat Pambudy stated that Indonesia’s population growth rate is above the global average.
“Now the world’s population is over 8 billion, and Indonesia’s population is over 280 million people. If it followed the global population increase trend, we should only have 240 million. This means our population growth rate is above the global average. Well, if it’s above the global average, we must be careful,” he said during the launch of the Country Programme Implementation Plan (CPIP) for the Indonesia-UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) Cooperation Programme Cycle 11 in Jakarta on Tuesday.
In this situation, Indonesia will experience a demographic bonus phase if the predominantly young population generation can be managed well.
Conversely, an ageing population will face declining productivity.
Therefore, he reminded all levels of government to address the increasingly limited environmental carrying capacity amid rising population numbers.
“If we study it, some disasters are not just natural disasters, but man-made disasters due to population pressure. More people mean more need for water, more food, more energy, eventually exceeding the world’s capacity to provide for them. But if the world were managed fairly, it would actually be sufficient,” Rachmat said.
“During disasters, the population that must be prioritised first is also the people. The most attention is given to babies, children, pregnant women, and female adolescents, because female adolescents will face different handling compared to male adolescents,” the Bappenas Head stated.
In this context, cooperation between Indonesia and UNFPA is considered very important to overcome these heavy challenges.
“Indonesia aspires to realise the Golden Indonesia vision, and this effort needs to be supported by strengthening women’s roles in development and utilising population data,” the Minister for National Development Planning said.