Indonesia is still in the top 5 of the country with the largest population in the world. It was at number 4 competing with Brazil in 5th place. The total population of Indonesia when it reaches 255,461,700 people which is 3.47% of the world population is Indonesian. With a population growth rate of 3 million per year, Indonesia has been successfully become the overpopulated country. That is a fantastic number. So, why it could happen in Indonesia? Here are the reasons why Indonesia is overpopulated.
- The high rate of unemployment
The high unemployment rate in Indonesia has also caused population density. When many residents do not work, then they will decide to marry at a very young age. Early marriage will lead to an increase in the number of people growing rapidly. This will be different if young people in Indonesia busy workers and career. They certainly will not be in a hurry to get married or think to get married soon. That is why indirectly unemployment affects the density of the Indonesian population.
- Historical Factor
The population of Indonesia has long been known to be in the 4th position of the world and the third in Asia. The highest is China (1.3 billion), followed by India (1.14 billion) and America (303 million). June 2008 recorded population of Indonesia amounted to 237.5 million people with population growth rate in the range of 1.2 or 1.3%. This population density occurs due to high birth rates and the lack of family planning programs, the number of Indonesian population ranks fourth in the world reached 238 million people. This is increasingly causing Indonesia difficulties to suppress population growth rate.
- The custom
Indonesia has many tribes and cultural customs that even can’t be counted. Some tribes in Indonesia are located in remote and unexposed areas. Customs in various tribes in Indonesia does not recognize the limitation of the number of children they must have. Due to its location which is very far from the city center, the local government even has difficulty conducting socialization on Keluarga Berencana Program (program of limiting the number of children in each family). This factors could contribute more than 5 % of the increasing the population of Indonesia.
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- Religion and beliefs
The majority of Indonesians choose Islam as their religion. Some Muslims believe that children will bring their own sustenance. That’s why some of them do not agree to do Keluarga Berencana programs that the government recommends to curb the rate of population growth. Some Islamic families in Indonesia can even have 10 to 11 children per mother. Some others even have polygamy, so a father can have up to 15 children in the house.
- The lack of socialization
Although the government has offered family planning program (KB), in fact some residents still do not understand the KB. Some of them even still do not know about how to implement it, what the risks, and what the benefits. Especially for rural communities in Indonesia, they still claim to not understand the flow of registration of this program. It seems that the government is less serious in disseminating KB to all remote areas in Indonesia.
- Poverty
Poverty is also one of the classic problems in Indonesia. Although Indonesia is not categorized as poor country (UN states Indonesia is rich of various natural resources), but in reality the population is still living below the poverty line. Due to the poverty, the poor people tend to do a sex with their couples without thinking that far. They don’t have enough money to buy birth control pills.
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- Contraception is considered taboo
Contraception to prevent or delay pregnancy is still considered taboo by Indonesian society, especially in rural areas. In fact, condoms are contraceptives that can prevent the transmission of sexual diseases such as HIV-AIDS in the family. Mothers are still ashamed to come to the midwife to get information, or buy condoms.
While on the other hand, husbands are also reluctant to use condoms. Condoms for some Indonesian men are still regarded as a barrier to the enjoyment of sexual intercourse. In fact, contraceptives such as condoms, birth control pills, spiral, and others can reduce the rate of population growth in Indonesia.
- The bad distribution of population
The number of population densities between regions in Indonesia has a very high difference, if it is noted that the spread of Indonesian population between provinces with one province is not evenly distributed. In Indonesia alone there is a concentration of population density centered on the island of Java. Almost over 50% of the population of Indonesia inhabits Java. This is a problem if the central government, information, transportation, economy, and various facilities are only in one area. Residents will try to migrate and eventually will have an impact on the equity of development issues.
- The minimum willingness to get sex education knowledge
In Indonesia, sex education is still considered very taboo. Thus, many young men and women in Indonesia are not aware of the dangers of free sex. More than 5% of mothers in Indonesia are very young (under 17 years old). In fact, giving birth at a young age is very risky to the health of mother and fetus. This is why sex education should not only be given to married people only, but also teenagers in Indonesia. Lately, the number of free sex in Indonesia is higher, more or less of some Indonesian teenagers who have free sex even get pregnant out of legal marriage.
- Most of Indonesian women don’t develop their carrier
Most mothers in Indonesia choose to be at home rather than continue their careers. Unlike most mothers of other countries, besides taking care of their homes and children, they also have side jobs that make their days get busier. When many mothers decide to pursue a career, the level of their desire to have more children will be very low. This would be different if the mothers just choose to take care of the child and the homework only, their desire to have a baby again will be higher. This is why population growth in Indonesia is high.
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- Underage marriage
Early marriage in Indonesia still reaches 23%. BPS and UNICEF recorded an indication of child marriage occurring in almost all parts of Indonesia. However, some provinces are noted to have high child marriage rates. Some of these provinces are West Sulawesi (34 percent), South Kalimantan (33.68 percent), Central Kalimantan (33.56 percent), West Kalimantan (32.21 percent) and Central Sulawesi (31.91 percent).
The percentage means one in three girls in the provinces married under age. Currently in the world, there are recorded more than 700 million married women when they have not stepped 18 years. Not only causing Indonesia more overpopulated, underage marriage will also get a high risk to be dropped out from school. It will influence the future of the Indonesian women.
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- Most Indonesians are poorly educated
The lack of education in Indonesia has caused many Indonesian women to marry at a very young age. The mindset embedded in their minds is that women do not have to go to university, because they will only end up being mothers. In addition, they just think that the woman’s job is to care for and educate the child. Even though. There is equal opportunity for women to get education and decent work. This kind of female mindset in Indonesia should be changed.
Those are some reasons why Indonesia is overpopulated. It should be a big task for the government to educate the people of Indonesia to press the birth rate of Indonesia. All these aspects that caused the overpopulated should be fixed well.
