Childfree Is Not A Pandemic Effect, BKKBN: 90 Percent Of Indonesians Marry Because They Want To Have Offspring

JAKARTA - Head of the BKKBN Hasto Wardoyo denied the concept of being free of children or Childfree which has gone viral lately as an impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. He thinks that the concept of childfree actually scares prospective new parents.

According to Hasto, Indonesia, which adheres to eastern culture, is far from this child-free concept. The reason, the intention of getting married is to have children.

"Eastern people, we Indonesians are generally procreation to get offspring," said Hasto in an online discussion, Friday, September 3 evening.

Hasto admits, there are indeed some countries that decide to get married because they just want to get peace, peace and protection. Mainly in women.

"But in Indonesia, it's more about procreation. When asked, married Indonesian men tend to want peace or sexual satisfaction or to get offspring? The result is that more than 95 percent want offspring. Women are slightly lower in number but still above 90 percent," explained Hasto. .

"If a woman is asked if she wants to get married, whether it is important to get protection or to have children, she still wants to have children even though they are lower than men. That is our characteristic," he continued.

Hasto also explained that 80 percent of Indonesians are pregnant in their first year of marriage. Meanwhile, 10 percent are not pregnant not because they don't want to get pregnant but because they don't get pregnant.

"Not pregnant, not pregnant, not pregnant, now that's our phenomenon. So I'm not sure that childfree is the effect of the pandemic because our condition is like this," he said.