 The Demography of Indonesia in Comparative PerspectivePeter McDonald Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, 2014, vol. 50, issue 1, 29-52 Abstract: Having reduced its fertility rate over the past 40 years, Indonesia has reached a new demographic crossroad. Its fertility rate is now around 2.5 births per woman, which, if sustained, would add substantial numbers to Indonesia's population in the future. There are concerns within Indonesia that the present level of population growth is an obstacle to continued economic development and, accordingly, that fertility should be reduced to the replacement level of 2.1 births per woman as soon as possible. Yet a comparative perspective indicates that countries such as Singapore, Japan, and Thailand are concerned about the effects that their very low rates of fertility are having on their labour forces and their rates of population ageing. This article suggests that with the right policy settings Indonesia can avoid this outcome yet continue to reduce its fertility. It discusses the implications of Indonesia's population growth and distribution for its economy, as well as the poor quality of demographic data. Date: 2014 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:bindes:v:50:y:2014:i:1:p:29-52 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/00074918.2014.896236 Access Statistics for this article Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies is currently edited by Firman Witoelar Kartaadipoetra, Arianto Patunru, Robert Sparrow, Sarah Xue Dong and Sean Muir More articles in Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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