Factors Causing High Population Growth – The cause of population growth is the increase or decrease in the number of population which can be influenced by several factors, such as births, deaths and migration.
As calculated by the population census up to last December 2020, the total population of Indonesia has reached 271,349,889 people, according to what has been calculated by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The census says that Indonesia is in the fourth position as the country with the largest population in the whole world. Its position is below China, India, and even the United States.
However, the pace of population growth in Indonesia has actually slowed down in recent decades. Reported by Antara, from 2010 to 2020, the average rate of movement of Indonesia’s population growth has only moved by 1.25 percent. This percentage has decreased from the 1971-1980 period which was 2.31 percent.
“One of the reasons for the decrease in the rate of population growth is a government policy aimed at suppressing the rate of population growth through the Family Planning Program which has been implemented since the 1980s,” said BPS head Suhariyanto.
In its own definitive sense, population growth is an increase or decrease in the population. The causal factor is the number of births (births), deaths (mortality), and even migration (migration) between one region to another, as quoted from “Number and Population Density of Indonesia” which has been published by the Ministry of Education and Culture.
Understanding of population growth by Members
Many thinkers expressed their opinions and thoughts on population growth. This is due to population growth is an important thing in a state order. Each country has different needs and capacities at this stage of population growth.
Some of the theories include:
Malthusian theory
Prior to Malthus himself, the idea of population growth was only a reproduction which was an attempt to replace people and people who had died because of the relatively high number of deaths. Some of the views on population prior to Malthusian theory as well as the discordance in practice before and after Malthus’s time.
- The teachings of Confucius in ancient China in 500 BC stated that the high population growth reduced the output value of production. This teaching also states that the government has a responsibility to be able to maintain the stability of the population and the area of land where the population lives and does activities. So, the solution is by migrating to a place with a small population.
- Plato and Aristotle had the opinion that the quality of humans in producing goods was more important than the quantity of society itself, especially maintaining the welfare of the people. So the large population is not necessarily efficient in carrying out a production activity.
- In the 17th century, since the emergence of Mercantilism which spread the pronatalist doctrine which had a view on population growth which was very important because it became an instrument for increasing people’s income. Pronatality itself is a theory which states that the national income is the same as that of all production results minus the wages received by the workforce. Because labor wages at that time tended to fall, so that the labor force itself would rise and countries that had dense populations would benefit.
- The next idea came from William Godwin, he believed that the food supply could increase drastically with the advent of advanced technology. He also added that this would not cause overpopulation or overpopulation because society would naturally continue to limit births. Meanwhile, poverty and unemployment are not caused by overpopulation, they are caused by unequal social institutions.
Teori Adam Smith
In the 18th century Adam Smith and the Physiocrats argued against the Pronatalist doctrine. These people view that population is not a very vital issue that affects the welfare of a society, but it is the land factor which is very closely related to a level of production.
Adam Smith added that there is a harmonious relationship between population growth and economic growth, in which population growth is strongly influenced by economic growth.
He also said that population growth was influenced by the demand for labor or the demand for labor and the demand for labor was influenced by the productivity of a piece of land.
Neo-Classical Theory
Some of the Neo-Classical thinkers have the view that in the long term economic development will experience a stationary state, namely in a state where the form of the economy will not experience growth but is static. According to classical economic thinkers, this form of high population growth will result in the population doubling in a generation and will reduce the level of development back to a lower term. So as a result, at this level workers will get very minimal wages.
Population Density Factor
The number of population growth is a rate of increase in a region or country in a certain period of time. Population increase is a change in the total population as well as its increase and decrease which is caused by the following factors.
Below are the factors that influence the density of the population:
Death (mortality)
There are so many factors that cause this death, usually influenced by age, the surrounding environment, where you live, whether there are infrastructure to support life. Examples include food, hygiene, health. In addition to these factors, it can be influenced by major events such as other unexpected natural disasters.
Usually this factor has a low percentage. If the death rate increases, the population number will decrease, but conversely if the death rate decreases, the population number will also increase because the birth rate has increased drastically. Death is the permanent loss of signs of human life.
birth (fertility)
The factor of this birth can be said to be the main factor causing population growth in this world because the average growth of the population is the cause of the high birth rate compared to the death rate because there is still an embedded ideology that advocates having many children.
If the birth can be accelerated with health technology, then automatically the increase in the population can increase drastically due to the increase in the birth rate. Births that increase the population and factors that can inhibit births (antinatal) and support births (pronatal).
Factors supporting birth (pronatality)
Marriage at a young age, because there is an assumption that late marriage will cause embarrassment to the family. Children are often seen as a source of energy to help parents. Furthermore, with the assumption that many children have a lot of fortune and children will be a source of pride for parents.
Factors inhibiting birth (anti-natality)
There is a family planning program that can support limiting the number of children, as well as provisions on the age limit for marriage, for women who are at least 16 years old and for men who are at least 19 years old. There are restrictions on civil servants, namely they are only allowed to have 2 children. Postpone marriage until the end of education and until allowed fatherly get a job.
Migration
Migration is an event of moving a group from one area to another. In many cases, a group migrates to be able to find new sources of food reserves to avoid scarcity that occurs due to population density. Apart from migration, there is another term for population dynamics called mobility.
This definition of mobility has a broader meaning than migration because it includes the permanent as well as temporary movement of an area. A review of regional migration is very important, especially related to density and uneven distribution of the population.
Types of Population Growth
Population growth can be divided into three types, which are explained as follows:
1. Natural Population Growth
Population growth is obtained from the calculation of the difference between birth and death rates in one year which is called natural population growth. Growth is expressed in thousandths. The simplest can be done by observing residents in our environment.
In one year, there are how many births occur. For example, currently the population in area A is 1000 people, then calculating the difference between the birth and death rates will find the population growth rate in area A. For example, if the number of babies born is 40, then the population who died is 20. then using the formula below population growth in the village is 40-20 per thousand, or 20 per thousand or 2%.
The calculation can be used the formula:
P = L – M
P = Population growth
L = Born
M = Dead
2. Non-Natural Population Growth
For non-natural population growth is obtained from the difference in the number of people who do immigration (in-migration) and emigration (migration out). Non-natural population growth is called population growth due to migration.
Calculation of non-natural population can use the following formula:
P = I – E
P = Population growth
I = Immigration
E = Emigration
3. Total population growth
Total growth is a population growth that is calculated from the difference between the number of births and deaths plus the difference from non-natural growth.
Calculation of the total population can use the following formula:
P = (L – M ) + (I – E)
P = total population growth in one year
L = number of births in one year
M = number of deaths in one year
I = Immigration
E = Emigration
The rate of growth of the total population in Indonesia is not too much different from the natural rate of population growth, because the number of migrants (immigration or emigration) will not be so large that the effect will be very small and can be neglected. The growth of the population can usually be expressed as a percentage (%) and is generally calculated for a period of time per year.
In terms of population, there is a term population growth and population growth. Population growth in percent (%) and for population growth the amount will be stated with a certain number. For example, Indonesia’s population increased to 250 million in 2014 with a population growth rate of 1.49% per year.
Birth and death are a major factor in population growth which is strongly influenced by health conditions, environmental quality, and education. Health in the community is very much influenced by environmental conditions and awareness of health through education.
Unkempt environment, slums, factory waste that is above a reasonable threshold, untreated sewers and others are examples that cause various diseases to come. This has an impact on the death rate from an area which can cause the death rate to be high.
The country of Indonesia itself has a population that continues to grow every year. This resulted in the Indonesian state continuing to be active in improving the quality of the population for development purposes. Education is a suitable and strategic way to be able to improve the quality of the Indonesian population.
The total population of Indonesia in 2010 was recorded at 237.6 million people with a total growth rate of 1.49%. If the rate of population growth remains constant, then the figure is 1.49%, so that in 2045 Indonesia’s population is expected to reach 450 million people. The population growth that occurred was far higher than Indonesia’s ideal growth of 0.5%.
China is still considered to rule this world with the largest population at this time. The country occupies the first position with a population of 1.355 billion.
For the country India itself is in second position which has a population of 1.236 billion. Meanwhile, the US is still in third position with a population of 318,892 million. Indonesia is in fourth position with a population of 253.60 million people, followed by Brazil which has a population of 202.65 million (Population Reference Bureau, World Population Data Sheet 2014)
Impact of Population Growth
Rapid or uneven population growth without being matched by the attainment of high quality human resources resulting in the emergence of various kinds of problems in the population. The fast, irregular population has a negative impact on the environment, and all of this is caused by the increasing needs of the growing population.
The following are some of the impacts of population growth:
Chemistry
Poverty is the inability of a person to be able to meet basic material needs at certain standards. This standard is better known as the poverty line, which is the level of spending on basic needs, including clothing, food, adequate shelter.
To be able to tackle the problem of poverty, the Indonesian government is planning an Presidential Instruction for Disadvantaged Villages. This program is executed in two stages. First, the government determines which village has the highest concentration of the poorest population. The number of villages that are left behind is up to a third of the total number of villages in Indonesia.
Second, the government then gathers residents in underdeveloped villages into a shelter under village welfare institutions, such as KUD, farmer groups, and so on. Then the government will provide a budget for each lagging village that can be used by groups there to be able to start businesses that are sustainable, environmentally friendly, even appropriate.
The environment is polluted to meet human needs
Humans certainly have a lot of needs. From clothing, food, boards, with an increasing population, of course, their needs will also increase, one example is the need for paper for printing in offices and schools.
Paper made from trees. Trees are cut down to produce paper for human use. This has been faced by the government, however, if the population increases, of course more trees will be cut down. So that government programs cannot run smoothly due to the increasing amount of paper needed.
Even in dense areas, the denser the population, the more waste continues to grow. The increase in population will also affect the development of government development in Indonesia.
The development carried out in the regions as well as in cities in Indonesia is one of the programs undertaken by the central and even regional governments to be able to advance the country’s infrastructure. The more active development is carried out the lower the quality of nature. This is due to the low level of people’s concern for the natural surroundings and the development carried out by the residents is not in accordance with the appropriate regulations.
Clean water is reduced
People who live near the river will use the river water to carry out their daily activities, such as washing, bathing, etc. If someone who lives by the river then throws garbage into the river, the water will be polluted and the living things that live in it will die. Contaminated water will be thought of as trivial, but there will be many losses that can occur, for example there will be floods, as well as various kinds of diseases.
Unemployment
The low level of health and the high rate of malnutrition in the community, in general, can have an impact on the low level of thinking and working skills of the population. So in some developing countries and poor countries, the quality of human resources is still low, both in skills and knowledge. This is what causes the high unemployment rate. Because in general it is difficult for these residents to float in the world of work.
On the other hand, the cause of the high unemployment rate is the low quality of education of the population and high population growth. With population growth that is not balanced with employment growth, resulting in a high level of competition and employment opportunities will tend to decline. To be able to overcome this problem, two efforts are needed, namely efforts to improve quality and create jobs.
How to balance population growth
According to Thomas Robert Malthus, population growth is like a geometric progression (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, …) while the increase in the amount of food production is like an arithmetic progression (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, … ). This of course will be very worrying for the future where we will lack stocks for food.
Things to do to reduce the rapid growth of population:
- Intensifying family planning and family planning programs, limiting the number of children in a family in general and en masse, so as to reduce the number and birth rate.
- Postpone the period of marriage in order to reduce the number of higher birth rates and establish a marriage law that contains rules and stipulates the limit between the ages of marriage.
- Improving the form of health services and facilities for family planning acceptors.
- Facilitate and improve services in the education sector, so that the desire to marry can be inhibited and make it compulsory to study basic education for the community from 6 years to 12.
Things that must be done to be able to keep up with the increase in population:
- Add to the creation of jobs
With the increase in the standard of living of the people, it is hoped that the trust of many children will be lost – a lot of fortune. In addition, it is also expected to increase the level of education that can change the pattern of thinking in the field of population.
- Increase awareness and education of the population
By becoming more aware of the impact and effects of uncontrollable growth, it is hoped that the general public will voluntarily contribute to the success of the family planning movement.
- Reducing population density with the transmigration program
By spreading the population in areas that still have low population density, it is expected to be able to reduce the rate of unemployment due to the discrepancy between the number of residents and the number of jobs available.