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High-level forum to discuss strategies to capitalize on demographic dividend
A high-level forum jointly hosted by the Indonesian Demographers Association (IPADI) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is set to identify strategic ways Indonesia can use to capitalize on its demographic dividend
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high-level forum jointly hosted by the Indonesian Demographers Association (IPADI) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is set to identify strategic ways Indonesia can use to capitalize on its demographic dividend.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla will be present at the event entitled 'Capitalizing on the demographic dividend: Challenges and opportunities toward an advanced, just and prosperous Indonesia', which will be held in Jakarta on Monday.
UNFPA's executive director Babatunde Osotimehin, who arrives in Jakarta on Sunday for the World Economic Forum on East Asia, will lead the discussion and highlight how Indonesia can achieve the dividend and reap the benefits of its associated economic growth.
According to official data, there are currently 65 million young people in Indonesia ' the largest generation of young people that Indonesia has ever seen.
'Investments in the rights and well-being of adolescents and youth, now and throughout their lives, will unleash a demographic dividend of inclusive, sustainable economic growth in many countries, as they see larger numbers of young working-age people relative to children and older persons,' said Osotimehin, who holds the rank of under-secretary general of the United Nations.
He made the statement in his speech during the 48th session of the Commission on Population and Development in New York on April 13.
A decline in the dependency ratio, or a ratio between unproductive people (aged below 15 and above 65) and productive people aged 15-64, will present an opportunity for high saving, high investment and in turn, high economic growth.
The Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) and UNFPA project that Indonesia's demographic window of opportunity will be open until 2030.
It means that the next 15 years will be a critical time where the ratio of people of a working age to those of a non-working age will peak.
'Indonesia's population is now composed of more working-age people than ever before, both in absolute numbers'at 157 million potential workers'and as a proportion of the total population' accounting for 66 per cent of all Indonesians. Combined, these trends pose huge potential for social and economic benefit, which must be leveraged wisely,' said Jose Ferraris, UNFPA's Representative in Indonesia. (ebf)
