Indonesia set to see a ‘pandemic’ baby boom

Stay home and make babies? As condoms and other forms of birth control are unavailable to a growing number of Indonesians during the Covid-19 pandemic, the world's fourth-most populous nation may see a baby boom.

The National Population and Family Planning Board (BKKBN), the authority overseeing the country's family planning programmes, found that in March, about 10 per cent more of its acceptors face difficulty in accessing birth control, based on reports it received from 34 provinces. BKKBN has 28 million acceptors of its family planning methods nationwide.

The one-month decline in contraceptive use alone could push up pregnancies by 15 per cent, or around 420,000 pregnancies, within a month to three months, according to its estimate. A further drop within three months will increase pregnancies by up to 30 per cent, or above 800,000, within another few months.

Indonesia, home to nearly 270 million inhabitants, annually welcomes 4.8 million births.

The decrease in the contraceptive use occurred across all kinds of methods, including contraceptive implant, injection and vasectomy, the board's chief, Mr Hasto Wardoyo, said. Implants were down by 40 per cent, for instance, while vasectomies plunged by 90 per cent.

This also limits low-income earners' access to contraceptive pills, which they can get free from BKKBN via clinics and midwives.

Mr Hasto added: "The danger is seen in people who regularly use contraception and then stop. That will create drop-outs."

The absence of contraception, Hasto noted, may cause unwanted pregnancies, which could take a psychological toll on women and have longer-term repercussions, such as stunted development in children of poor families that cannot afford proper nutrition.