Indonesian Family Planning

This book maps out how family planning has contributed to the reshaping of the Indonesian family as found today. It uses the 2021 Family Enumeration Survey in Indonesia to pinpoint some of the key dimensions of family planning success in the country. In doing so, it points to areas that the newly-elected Prabowo government needs to address to ensure that family planning is truly women’s empowerment, and men’s responsibility. Fifty years ago, the dominant anxiety globally was the threat of overpopulation. The World Bank and the United Nations pressed countries to set up family planning programs to reduce high birth rates. Indonesia was an early recruit to the effort, and now, five decades later, it has achieved outstanding success. The book walks through how The National Family Planning Board trained armies of fieldworkers to promote contraceptive use, delay marriage age, and ensure universal schooling. It shows, as a result, that fertility has fallen below replacement level, education levels have risen dramatically, and the role of women in Indonesian society has blossomed. In highlighting the success of the Indonesian family planning program in reducing fertility, and providing the first analysis of the 2021 BKKBN Family Enumeration Survey, this is a landmark presentation of its key findings. This timely book is a valuable resource for demographers and population studies scholars, and for social scientists studying the fabric of Indonesian society, particularly its gender and family dynamics, and, more broadly, the role of contraception in public health.