The head of the national population and family planning board (BKKBN), Surya Chandra Surapaty, said that Indonesia’s growth rate of 1.49 percent per year was worrying, especially if such massive growth was not accompanied by global manpower competitiveness.
“The population growth rate of 1.49 percent means Indonesia has 4.5 million new babies [each year], equaling Singapore’s population. If [we look at] a 10 year period, that’s 10 Singapores,” he said after a meeting with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, as quoted by kompas.com.