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ISTANBUL

As Indonesia celebrates the long-term success of its national family planning efforts, senior officials say the country must now shift focus toward preserving a balanced demographic structure – maintaining a stable birth rate and preventing a shortfall of young and productive population.

Indonesia’s population stood at 279.8 million in 2024, according to data from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), seeing a continuous and steady rise over past decades.

However, the pace of that growth has begun to taper off, a dip brought about by government policies “to tackle the issue of population, including family planning and reproductive health, as well as family development,” Ukik Kusuma Kurniawan, an official with the Indonesian Population and Family Development Ministry, told Anadolu.

“In terms of number, we still have a nominally increasing figure, but in terms of growth rate, it’s declined already,” he said in an interview at the International Family Forum recently held in Istanbul.

This reflects the success of the government’s family planning programs, the official added, while emphasizing the growing urgency of maintaining demographic stability in the decades ahead.

“We also want to maintain the fertility level … for the next 20 years, until 2045,” said Kurniawan, who is the deputy for family development strategy policy, population control, and family planning at the ministry.

“Otherwise, we will have a declining proportion of young people of productive age. That’s become the fear.”

Indonesia’s total fertility rate – the average number of children born to a woman – now stands at 2.1, according to Kurniawan, which is generally considered the replacement level for a stable population.

- ‘Grand design of population development’

Another key demographic challenge Indonesia now faces is population density.

There is a particularly stark disparity between rural and urban areas, with the figure standing at “14,000 people per square kilometer” for the capital Jakarta, Kurniawan said.

To address this imbalance, the government is implementing what he referred to as a “grand design of population development,” which aims to better regulate population density and improve distribution across the archipelago.

Kurniawan also outlined a range of new policies and programs under the government’s strategic framework. These include continued investment in family planning services, reproductive health education, and broader family support systems.

Among the newest initiatives are five “quick wins,” he explained, aimed at strengthening families and addressing the needs of modern households.

These include a fostering family program, a community-based daycare system to support working mothers, policies to encourage greater involvement from fathers in childcare, empowerment programs for the elderly, and the launch of a “super app” utilizing artificial intelligence to provide integrated family services.

While stressing the need to maintain a careful balance between curbing overpopulation and ensuring a sustainable working-age demographic, Kurniawan also expressed hope that global cooperation could play a role in supporting family development policies.

“I would use this event, the International Family Forum in Istanbul, to raise awareness and also to develop more networks for any form of collaboration between countries,” he said.

Kurniawan also praised Türkiye’s leadership on family-related initiatives, including its environmental and social programs, specifically mentioning the Zero Waste Project led by Turkish first lady Emine Erdogan.