National Family Day in Indonesia Date in the current year: June 29, 2024

Indonesia is a multinational and multicultural country, and family has historically played an important role in the culture of all ethnic groups that inhabit the country. In collectivist cultures such as Indonesia, one’s actions are believed to impact the perception of their entire family, so people are expected to give their family a good name, respect and help their elders, and be loyal to their family.

Although some Indonesian women are moving away from their traditional roles as housewives and childcare providers, Indonesian society remains largely patriarchal, with the exception of a few ethnic groups with a matriarchal culture. In rural areas, women usually marry very young, most often entering an arranged marriage. Moreover, child marriage remains a critical problem in some regions of the country.

Indonesians traditionally have had large families because children have been viewed as a source of fortune. These views resulted in a high fertility rate, which is a major factor in creating widespread poverty. As a result, Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous country, after China, India, and the United States. Given its current population growth rate, it is projected to outrank the United States and become the third most populous country in by 2043.

To prevent overpopulation, Indonesian government has started to promote the image of a nuclear family consisting of parents and one of two children as the ideal family; young couples are actively encouraged to carefully plan pregnancies and weigh the pros and cons before deciding to start a family.

In 1967, the government of Indonesia launched a family planning program that includes providing wide access to modern contraception, especially in remote areas, and creating a network of clinics where women can get necessary reproductive care such as having an IUD installed or getting an abortion (however, it should be noted that abortions in Indonesia are permitted only in exceptional cases, such as serious fetal abnormalities, situations where the pregnancy threatens the mother’s life, or pregnancy resulting from rape).

Despite the best efforts of the Indonesian government, the effectiveness of the family planning program began to decline in the 2010s for a number of reasons, including pressure from religious groups. As of 2017, only 57 % of Indonesian women of childbearing age used modern contraception, and 13 % of women who would like to use contraception did not have access to it.

So, National Family Day was established first and foremost to revive the family planning program and to raise awareness of the importance of contraception and responsible parenting. On June 29, family clinics, local authorities, healthcare organizations, and other stakeholders hold family planning awareness events throughout the country.