Jakarta (ANTARA) - Citing the country’s total fertility rate of 2.1 births per woman, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has emphasized that there is no “sex recession” in Indonesia. The total fertility rate is the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime.
“The fertility rate in Indonesia stood at 2.1 births per woman. The pregnancy rate among two million married couples reached 4.8 million. This means that there is no sex recession in Indonesia,” he informed here on Wednesday.
He said he believes that a nation’s population is its economic strength. However, he emphasized that population growth must be followed by maintaining the quality of human resources Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the nutritional intake of pregnant women, babies, and children.
He said that pregnant women, babies, and children must be given an adequate amount of proteins, such as fish, eggs, and meat. "The most important thing is quality. Babies or pregnant women must be provided protein, fish, eggs," he added.
The President further stressed that babies and children should not be fed improperly and asked the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKN) and integrated health service posts (posyandus) to increase outreach to the public.
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He also highlighted a story about a mother who gave her seven-month-old baby instant milk coffee. “Be careful about this. Therefore, once again counseling is important. Her mother said that coffee milk sachets are useful because they contain milk. Be careful with children, their kidneys and hearts are not strong yet," the President said.
The world is currently going through a “sex recession,” a phenomenon that could impact declining birth rates because of more people choosing not to have sex. East Asian countries such as Japan, China, and South Korea have reported declining birth rates and have expressed concern over the population crisis looming in their countries.