VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Papuan children and TNI members (ANTARA News Papua/HO-Pendam XVII/Cenderawasih)

Population in the Indonesian province of Papua currently reached 4.30 million, or rose by some 1.47 million, from that in 2010, according to Statistics Indonesia (BPS).

The current figure of the province's total population was based on the outcome of the 2020 Population Census, Head of the BPS-Papua Office Adriana Helena Carolina stated here on Saturday.

The province's annual population growth rate is recorded at around 4.13, or still exceeds Indonesia's average population growth rate that stands at 1.25 percent, she stated.

Some 92.83 percent of Papua's total population, or equal to 3.99 million people, have residential address as stipulated in their Family Cards (KK) and Identity Cards (KTP), Carolina pointed out.Meanwhile, the remaining 7.17 percent, or 308 thousand residents, live in places whose addresses do not match with those mentioned on their KK and KTP, she remarked, adding that this fact revealed that the migration rate was high enough.

The result of last year's population census also demonstrated that members of the so-called Millennial and Z generations constituted the vast majority of Papua's population, she remarked.

The millennials comprise 32.09 percent of Papua's total population, while those from the Z generation constitute 30.38 percent of the province's total populace.

The 1.37 million millennials are all categorized as those from the productive age group, while 1.30 million members of the Z generation are from the unproductive and productive age brackets.Some seven years after 2021, those belonging to the Z generation will all have reached the productive age group.

This reality would present opportunities and challenges since they would potentially become the actors of Papua's future development, she remarked.

The BPS recorded that 54.1 million Indonesians had registered for last year's population census conducted online from February 15, 2020, to May 29, 2020.

"This number is very large since it is equivalent to almost twice as much as Australia's population. It is a very encouraging achievement, bearing in mind that this is the first population census conducted online in Indonesia," BPS Head Suhariyanto stated on August 31, 2020//ANT