Indonesia's Population May Double in 52 Years: Expert

Jul 05, 02:18 PM

Current Headlines: Indonesia's population may double in 52 years: expert

JAKARTA, June 27 (Xinhua) -- The population of Indonesia with about 220 million will double in 52 years if calculated at 1.35 percent growth rate now, a demography expert said here Wednesday.

"The proportion of urban citizens in Indonesia has grown from 17 percent at three decades age to about 50 percent now. The fast expanding cities and urban population brought a lot of social problems, like transportation jams, criminals, pollution, short of education and health care sources," said General President of Indonesian demography expert organization at a seminar.

The State of World Population Report 2007 by United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA) was also launched at the seminar.

As population grows, jobless in Indonesia has reached over 10 million, and there are 2.5 million youngsters coming into the labor market with only 60 percent of them can find jobs.

The Indonesian government has tried its best to solve the unemployment problem by supplying training programs, awarding certificates and introducing jobs, Erman Suparno, minister of Manpower and Transmigration said.

He said the government plans to send over 1 million workers, mainly female house-keepers to other countries this year.

According to UNFPA's State of World Population Report 2007, the global urban population will exceed 3.3 billion, taking up more than 50 percent of the world's population, and the number will reach 5 billion in 2030.

It also points out that urbanization can not be avoided in the process of industrialization by whatever country, but the real challenge is how to solve the possibility properly along with urbanization.

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