T

he population of Bali has exploded due to an influx of migrants to the island, forcing the administration to seek an alternative to control the burgeoning population.

A census in May revealed the island’s population to be around 3.89 million people, a figure that was up by almost 20 percent from 3.15 million 10 years ago.

Governor Made Mangku Pastika admitted the administration was perplexed by the problem, but was aware the rapid increase was due to high migration rates.

“This is an extraordinary increase. We have been successful with the family planning program to lower the birth rate. Therefore, this situation is due to migration,” Pastika said Saturday at the provincial administration’s 52nd anniversary.

The rising population has caused social problems including housing issues and traffic jams, he said.

“We have to start thinking about how to control this, otherwise we will become overpopulated.”

He said it was impossible for the administration to prohibit anyone from migrating to the resort island, thus it would take more prudent actions to slow population growth.

“Bali is part of Indonesia, so it’s impossible for us to prohibit anyone to come here.”

He said it was understandable more people were choosing to move to the island, which has experienced economic growth higher than the national average, and is famous for its relaxed and easy going way of life.

Moreover, the island is a well-known tourist destination worldwide.  The presence of lucrative and ever-growing tourism industry has opened up job opportunities that migrant workers, mostly from Java and West Nusa Tenggara, are quick to fill.  

Those opportunities range from low paid positions, such as security workers and domestic staff, to highly paid positions in creative fields such as advertising, design and commercial photography.

Pastika said he had asked the administration’s expert staff to come up with a solution to slow the rampant population growth.

Bali has applied the use of seasonal identity cards (Kipem) for people from outside the island, although the also have an identity card issued by administration in their hometowns. The policy, however, seems to be effective thus far in curbing the number of inhabitants on the island.

Head of Bali’s Statistics Agency Ida Komang Wisnu said the population growth rate reached an average of 2.15 percent annually over the last 10 years, which is considerably high. Ideally, the rate is less than 1 percent per year.

Wisnu said that, while there had not been a specific study to identify the cause of the increasing population, he agreed the reason lay in migration, mostly to the southern part of the island: Denpasar and Badung.

The number of people living in Denpasar is currently around 550,000, while those residing in Badung number 400,000.

Both areas are also the center of the island’s political, administrative, commercial and tourism activities.