Last updated December 2010
Abstract:
In the 1960s, the average Indonesian woman had between five and six children. By the mid-1990s, the average number
of children had declined to close to three per woman. A large part of this reduction in fertility has been attributed
to the extensive family planning program that was initiated in the late 1960s under the regime of President Suharto.
Contraceptive use among married women increased from 5 percent in the late 1960s to approximately 55 percent in
the mid-1990s. While there is an extensive literature on the impact of the Family Planning Program on fertility rates
and contraceptive use, there has been very little investigation of the program’s impact on other aspects of a woman’s
life, such as labor force participation. This research investigates the impact of the Indonesian Family Planning
Program on the labor force participation decisions and contraceptive choices of women.
Contact Information:
Uma Radhakrishnan,
uma.radhakrishnan@census.gov, University of Virginia