Page 59 - AEI Insights 2019 - Vol. 5, Issue 1
P. 59
Ziegenhain, 2019
Birth rate, crude (per 1,000 people)
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014
Figure 1: Birth rate per 1000 people in Indonesia, own graph, Source: World Bank Development Indicators
The declining birth rate is closely connected with the decrease of the total fertility rate of the
Indonesian population. This rate dropped from an average 5.5 children per woman in 1970 to
about 2.3–2.6 children per woman in 2010–15 (Kohler/Behrman 2017: 6) as can be seen in
Figure 2. This means that in only 40 years, the average number of children per woman went
down by 3.
Figure 2: Total Fertility Rate per Woman in Indonesia, Source: World Bank Development Indicators
Population growth in Indonesia is quite uneven. Between 2000 and 2010 it was highest in the
province of Papua (5.46 percent) and lowest with 0.37 percent in Central Java (VDSI 2017). It
can be seen in Figure 3 that the most developed and richest areas of the country (Jakarta, Java,
Yogyakarta, etc.) have the lowest fertility rate, whereas the poorest and least developed areas
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