RI`s current population estimated at over 237 million

Thursday, 1 July 2010

ANTARA News

The Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) has estimated that Indonesia`s population now totals over 237 million.

"From the clear entry figure, the number has passed 237 million, according to my estimation it will not be more than 238 million," BPS Chairman Rusman Heriawan said here Thursday.

The BPS is currently focusing on the processing of data obtained from the 2010 census which concluded on June 30, 2010, according to him.

"We are intensifying the process so that on August 16, 2010, the president could present the data in detail to the Parliament," he said.

He confirmed that the census has covered 100 percent of the Indonesian population as well as foreign nationals living in Indonesia.

He, however, admitted that there were some difficulties in collecting data of apartments` residents since not all of them, especially those in Jakarta, were willing to be censused.

For their data, the census personnel partly asked information from the apartments` management officers.

The BPS on its website monitored recently said the just-ended 2010 census counted the members of 65 million households throughout the country.

The census was carried out by about 600,000 field officers recruited in the respective localities to ensure their familiarity with the conditions of their working areas.

They are recording among other things information on individual family members, the conditions of their housing facilities and buildings, and the characteristics of households.

The census also aims at evaluating the achievements in efforts to realize the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

This year`s population census is the sixth modern one ever held by Indonesia. The previous censuses were done in 1961, 1971, 1980, 1990 and 2000.

According to the results of the 2000 population census, the country`s population was 205.1 million, placing Indonesia as the fourth most populous country in the world after China, India and the United States.