Wednesday, February 10, 2010

February 14, 2009 11:35 AM

Indonesian Population Grows At Alarming Rate

JAKARTA, Feb 14 (Bernama) -- Indonesian Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie said the pace of population growth in Indonesia has reached an alarming level.

If the Indonesian government failed to do something about the population growth rate, the country would face a runaway population boom in the next 10 to 15 years, Antara news agency quoted the minister as saying at the opening of a Family Planning National Working Meeting.

Minister Aburizal said the average birth rate in 2006 was recorded at 2.6 baby per fertile woman, and the figure had remained unchanged until 2007, while the population was increasing by an average of 2.6 million per year.

Meanwhile, Indonesia's National Family Planning Coordinating Board (BKKBN) Chief Sugiri Sjarief admitted that the past five years had seen stagnation in family planning programmes.

Up to July 2008, Indonesia's population is more than 237.5 million.

-- BERNAMA

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