Indonesia’s shifting views on marriage & babies

Depok: Delayed marriages coupled with the growing aspiration of young people choosing to remain childfree may have a substantial impact on Indonesia’s fertility rate.

The last five years have seen a steep decline in the number of Indonesians getting married.

Statistics Indonesia reported the number of registered marriages dropped from 2,016,071 in 2018 to only 1,577,255 in 2023.

Some have interpreted this decline as a sign of progress in reducing early marriages.

While others, including policymakers such as the National Population and Family Planning Agency, are worried about its implications for the country’s fertility rate.

Indonesia’s total fertility rate has reached its lowest level in four decades, at around 2.18 children per woman in 2020. It’s projected to continue falling to 1.97 by 2045.

This trend raises concerns that Indonesia may exit its demographic bonus period — a phase during which the productive age population, 15 to 64-year-olds, is greater than the non-productive population — earlier than previously anticipated. It will then enter an ageing population phase, with the elderly population expected to rise from 6.2 per cent in 2020 to 14.6 per cent by 2045.

Choosing not to get married early or at all

The decline in marriage rates in Indonesia reflects significant socio-economic shifts, particularly increased access to education and employment opportunities for women, and the rising cost of living in urban areas. These factors have led to evolving social norms around marriage, with many people choosing to delay getting married. The mean age at first marriage has gone from 19.3 and 23.8 years for women and men respectively in 1971, to 22.4 and 27.1 years in 2017.

Despite this shift, marriage continues to hold cultural and social value in Indonesia, often marking the transition from youth to adulthood and remaining deeply intertwined with religious and family expectations.