Human Development Key to National Advancement

Every country, including Indonesia, must be able to address demographic issues and build resilience against changes in the demographic structure by being committed to investing in human resources.

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI (RAD)

Density of residents at Asemka Market, West Jakarta, to shop for children's toys, Monday (25/5/2020). As one of the countries posting high population growth, Indonesia is urged to manage its huge population and take advantage of the demographic bonus, or demographic dividend, which the country is starting to experience.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The United Nations has forecast that the world population will reach 8 billion people by November 2022. As one of the countries posting high population growth, Indonesia is urged to manage its huge population and take advantage of the demographic bonus, or demographic dividend, which the country is starting to experience.

A demographic bonus puts the country on a trajectory towards challenges, such as improving the quality of education and health and handling the more-than-expected increase in the nonworking population.

During an event in Jakarta to commemorate World Population Day on Monday (11/7/2022), Sri Moertiningsih Adioetomo, a professor of demographic economics at the University of Indonesia, said that Indonesia had a great opportunity to take advantage of its demographic bonus by tapping into the larger number of working-age people than nonworking people.

She urged the government to take up the challenge by investing in human resources (HR), which was still lacking.

“Our return on investment in human capital development is not growing as fast as the aging population. This country is growing older before it gets richer. Government intervention is needed. It should not just leave it to the people," said Sri.

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According to the 2020 Population Census, the proportion of citizens of working age (15-64 years) was 70.72 percent of the population. The dependency ratio is 41, which means that there are 41 nonworking citizens for every 100 working-age citizens.

However, this condition needs to be anticipated because the proportion of the elderly in the population is continuing to grow. The 2020 census shows that the proportion of elderly people aged 60 years and above increased from 7.6 percent in 2010 to 9.9 percent in 2020. This means that Indonesia had around 26 million elderly people in 2020. By 2045, it is estimated that the country will have 63 million elderly citizens.

Sri said another phenomenon that urgently needed to be addressed was the lifecycle deficit, as the working-age population would need to have a higher income than expenditure. She said productive-age Indonesian would be working to not only meet household needs, but also to support their elderly parents.

“The government needs to [increase] human resource investments. It must be done from an early age, that is, the first 1,000 days of life. Every US$1 invested in the first 1,000 days [of life] has a return on investment of $7," said Sri, referring to a person’s life from conception until 2 years.

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

Students raises their index finger as he gathers in the field on the first day of the new school year 2022/2023 at State Elementary School 11 Pondok Bambu, Jakarta, Monday (11/7/2022).

Childhood stunting remains an obstacle to human resource development in Indonesia. According to data from the Health Ministry, stunting cases reached 37.2 percent in 2013. With the demographic bonus projected to peak in 2030, when those who were still below 5 years old in 2013 would be contributing to support economic and national development (Kompas.id, 11 April, 2022).

The stunting prevalence fell to 27.67 percent in 2019, according to the Indonesian Child Nutrition Survey.

In terms of education, according to the Indonesian Youth Statistics in 2020, around 74 percent of youths were junior high school (SMP) or senior high school (SMA) graduates. Only one-tenth of youths had completed university education (Kompas.id, 17 March 2021).

Sri said that government intervention from early life could contribute to improving human resource quality in the future. With the improved quality of workers, citizens could hope for more security in their lives after work. As the risk of disease could be minimized, they would not become a financial burden as elderly citizens.

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If these and other demographic issues were not addressed, the economic burden on the state would be greater. It was feared that the demographic bonus, which should result in benefits from a large productive population, would not materialize. At the same time, the country would have to deal with an aging population.

Wendy Hartanto, an expert with the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN), pointed to the country’s urgency to make optimal use of the demographic bonus. She stressed that quality human resources would not only support national development, but also contribute to the world.

With several countries still struggling to develop productive resources to offset an aging population, he said, Indonesia could contribute qualified human resources in strategic positions at the global level.

“What needs doing now is to map the characteristics and skills needed to improve human resources. It is important to do this so that investments in the younger generation is effective and on target,” he said.

KOMPAS/KRISTIAN OKA PRASETYADI

Activities of workers at a fish canning factory peeling skipjack tuna skin at PT Samudra Mandiri Sentosa, Bitung, North Sulawesi, Monday (17/2/2020).

BKKBN population control deputy Bonivasius Prasetya Ichtiarto said that demographic resources were the core of national development. The national development program was human-centered, he said.

According to him, a number of factors must be taken into account to create sustainable development for the welfare of the people. These factors included balanced growth in quality population, even population distribution, universal social protection, as well as balanced intergenerational transfer.

Referring to Presidential Regulation No. 153/2014 on the grand population development design, he said: "This grand design is important as a tool to monitor and evaluate the implementation of development in the demographic sector.”

Eight billion people

Anjali Sen, the Indonesia representative at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said that the dynamics in the world demography saw around two-thirds of the world's population now living in countries with low fertility rates. Sen added that Indonesia was among those countries with a growing young population.

“Eight billion people is huge, but let's not be preoccupied with that number. We must be able to work together to take advantage of the opportunities and mitigate the negative impacts,” she said.

We must learn from history in order to prevent the same mistakes that our predecessors made.

Sen said that the current demographic changes should be used to achieve demographic resilience, so citizens could live decent lives with guaranteed rights and freedom of choice.

She warned that the government should pay more attention to emerging demographic problems, such as cases of elderly citizens not having a proper pension, or vulnerable groups being marginalized.

"We must learn from history in order to prevent the same mistakes that our predecessors made," she said.

This article was translated by Musthofid.