PRESS RELEASE THE NATIONAL RESEARCH AND INNOVATION AGENCY NO: 074/SP/HM/BKPUK/VII/2022 Maximize Demographic Bonuses Through Education, Health and Economy The National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) through the Deputy for Development Policy will hold the 5th Series of Development Talk Seminar, at the Auditorium of Widya Graha Building, 2nd Floor, BRIN Gatot Subroto Campus, Jakarta. The theme brought up in this session is Utilization of Demographic Bonuses in Developing and Advancing the Nation, Friday (29/07). Jakarta, 28 July 2022. The 2020 Population Census (SP) shows that Indonesia's population has reached 270.20 million people. This is an increase by 32.56 million people, compared to the 2010 SP results of 237.5 million people, with a population growth rate of around 1.25 percent per year. Although there is a slowdown compared to the 2000-2010 period of 1.49 percent, the total population of Indonesia is estimated to reach around 318.9 million people in 2045. Chairman of BRIN, Laksana Tri Handoko, revealed that the percentage of the elderly population in the 2010 SP continued to increase from 7.59 percent to 9.78 percent. This shows that Indonesia has begun to enter into an aging population structure. "The 2020 Population Census indicates that the productive age reaches 70.72 percent, hence Indonesia is still in the period of demographic bonus. This means that the productive age is higher than the non-productive age, while the demographic bonus will end in 2036," he said. Handoko added that to overcome this problem, various programs and strategies need to be carried out, so that human quality can support, and play a role in development. The quality aspect can be done with social protection insurance, one of which is improvement of easily accessible health services. Handoko furher revealed dominance of the productive age of Indonesian population as a potential demographic bonus. “This means that we are faced with a challenge, to improve the quality of productive age, so that we can provide bonuses for national development. The measurement of population quality refers to achievement of the Human Development Index (HDI), namely education, health, and income/economics," he elaborated. “I really hope that this activity can be a medium for us to understand the problems and various strategic issues we have now and in the future. Hopefully this opportunity can be optimized to find a comprehensive solution, in formulating the right policy. The results of this activity can be used as inputs and reference for policy makers," he added. BRIN's Deputy for Development Policy, Mego Pinandito stated that Education is the main component, because it will change the mindset of a nation, to be better and focused. To advance the younger generation, it is important to improve the quality of education. “Easy access to education, supported by complete educational infrastructure, and qualified educators will create a quality society,” he added. In the health sector, continued Mego, as a long-term investment, every human being needs health. The government is trying to improve the level of public health with various programs such as national health insurance, access to health, coverage of medical personnel, etc. This is done in order to increase human life expectancy. “On the other hand, employment plays a very important role, as the means to meet the needs of people’s daily life. The government must prepare employment for the people in this regard. Of course, the community must also have competitiveness and ability to be more creative to create jobs,” he hoped.