"We are witnessing a large number of (people of) the working age (population), but this will be a demographic disaster if we do not manage it," Karnavian noted in his statement received here on Tuesday.
The minister made the remarks at the 2024 National Working Meeting of the Association of Indonesian City Governments (Apeksi) at the Balikpapan Sport and Convention Center (BSCC) in East Kalimantan on Tuesday.
Karnavian cautioned that if the demographic bonus is not utilized optimally, then such a condition will become problematic in the future.
He underscored the need to pay attention to several aspects in order to empower the demographic bonus, such as providing education, paying attention to citizens' health, and opening jobs for the productive age population.
"If this is carried out, then we will be a great production engine, and by 2045, we will be the fourth-largest economy in the world," he affirmed.
Karnavian remarked that the huge number of productive human resources is one of the requirements for the country to become strong economically.
According to the minister, the next requirement is abundant natural resources to support production, which also needs to have expansive areas to accommodate large production machines.
He said that Indonesia is one of the countries that has all of the required conditions. "Looking at these three conditions, not more than 10 countries of the 200 countries in the world have all of them," he pointed out.
Karnavian also emphasized that regional heads must pay attention to the demographic bonus that is a considerable resource in the development efforts.
Furthermore, he encouraged regional heads to focus on building the quality of the workforce through education and health improvement.
"The young workforce must be educated, trained, and healthy," he stated.
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Translator: Narda S, Kenzu
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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