190 rights, it is not sufficient on its own, and other
deprivations must be addressed. Also, increasing children’s welfare at an aggregate level will
not be sufficient without ensuring equal access and opportunity for all children regardless
of their location, gender and socio-economic background. It has been widely acknowledged
that a country’s capability to develop and reach its full potential cannot be judged only by the
quantity of growth but also by the quality of growth. All parts of the community, including
all groups of children, should have equal access to participate in and to enjoy the benefits of
growth. Consequently, the GoI should ensure that development processes and outcomes will
increase the well-being of all children equally.
Indeed realizing children’s rights and increasing their welfare without discrimination in a large
and diverse country like Indonesia entails many challenges. Essentially, the well-being
of children is determined by the collective efforts of parents and extended families, the
community, the local, provincial, and national government, as well as the global community.
Therefore, household poverty and differences in economic development across communities
and regions potentially influence the variation in children’s well-being. In addition to the
regional disparity in economic and physical infrastructure developments, the progress in
realizing children’s rights is also affected by the
Table 7.1: Indicators of economic strength and children’s well-being in Indonesia compared with selected developing countries
Country
Indonesia Malaysia
Vietnam Philippines
Thailand China
India Brazil
Gross national
income GNI
3,956.8 1,326.9
2,994.8 4,992.1
8,000.6 7,258.5
3,337.4
10,607.0
Combined gross enrolment rates
in school
68.2 71.5
62.3 79.6
78.0 68.7
61.0 87.2
Expected years of schooling of
children under 7
12.7 12.5
10.4 11.5
13.5 11.4
10.3 13.8
Under-5 mortality rate
41 6
14 32
14 21
69 22
Under-5 suffering
moderate high
malnutrition
18 na
na 22
7 6
43 2
Child labour 5–14 years
7 na
16 12
8 na
12 4
Source:UNDP,InternationalHumanDevelopmentIndicators,availableat:http:hdrstats.undp.orgenindicators;UNICEF,Childinfo, availableat:http:www.childinfo.orgundernutrition_nutritional_status.php
new decentralized decision-making process. This involves not only the central and regional
government executive institutions but also the political parties sitting in the legislative, as
well as the media, various non-government organizations NGOs, and the communities
themselves to provide the necessary checks and balances. The volatility of the global economy
also affects the domestic economy and indirectly impacts on child well-being. In addition to this,
the government’s capacity to fund programmes related to the improvement of child well-being
is limited by the fact that a large proportion of the central and local government budgets are
allocated to the maintenance of the government administrative apparatus and fuel subsidies.
With poverty and children’s welfare at the top of the GoI’s agenda, this analysis of child poverty
and disparity seeks to increase awareness about neglected and deprived children and to
support strengthened policies and interventions to benefit these children. The intention is to
specifically explore the multiple dimensions of poverty and deprivation facing children in
Indonesia. The following passages draw major conclusions from the gathered quantitative
and qualitative data presented in the preceding chapters and link these conclusions with relevant
policies in order to develop practical and effective recommendations for the reduction of
child poverty and disparities in Indonesia.
191
7.2 The extent and state of child poverty in Indonesia
This study has assessed the situation of multidimensional deprivation facing children in
Indonesia and the country’s progress towards reducing both the deprivations and the disparities.
The findings have revealed the considerable progresses in many dimensions of children’s
well-being. At the national level, over the past few years leading up to 2009, the proportion of
children in income poverty declined significantly, enrolment rates at all levels of education
increased, child mortality rates declined, children’s nutritional status improved, and the proportion
of children living in unhealthy settlements and without proper sanitation declined.
Despite these successes, unfortunately the level of achievement in several other dimensions
is still very low and will require major efforts. As presented in Table 7.2, a high proportion
of children still live below the decent living standard 2 PPP per capita per day, there is
a low level of enrolment in ECE, a low level of access to various sources of information except
television, a low proportion of babies exclusively breast fed, and a low level of possessing birth
certificates. These are important issues that need special attention as more than half of
Indonesian children are deprived. Meanwhile, more than a quarter of children still suffer from
deprivation in regard to other dimensions such as income poverty, secondary school enrolment
rates, healthy settlements and sanitation and under-five mortality. These issues also need
to be addressed. More importantly, special attention should be devoted to some indicators
that have experienced setbacks, including access to safe water,
1
exclusive breastfeeding, measles immunization, cases of diarrhea and
asthma, access to story books, magazines and newspapers, access to artistic performance and
practice, as well as child labour and children with multiple activities school, work and chores.
Poverty is a dynamic phenomenon. Going forward, it is important that the dimensions
where good progress has been achieved should not be taken for granted, but that progress must
be maintained. Moreover, as will be discussed in the following passage, the national figures often
hide the inequality of progress and achievements across groups of children from different
backgrounds and locations. Thus, a deeper disaggregated analysis is always necessary to
ensure that no particular group of children is being neglected and left behind the others.
Table 7.2. Summary of progress in reducing various dimensions of child poverty in Indonesia, 2002–2010
Income poverty Shelter
Sanitation Water
Health condition
Immunization and breastfeeding
Live below 1 PPPcapitaday Live below national poverty line
Live below 2 PPPcapitaday Area 8m2person
Earth floor No electricity for lighting
No proper toilet No access to clean water
Self-reported asthma Self-reported diarrhoea
Incomplete immunizations Not immunized: Hepatitis B1
Not immunized: Hepatitis B2 Not immunized: Hepatitis B3
Not exclusively breastfed 6 months
Not immunized: measles
2003
12.8 23.4
63.5 26.2
15.1 15.5
53.7 29.3
0.4 1.1
20022003
48.5 29.1
41.9 54.7
60.5 2007
18.4
2009
10.6 17.4
55.8 23.9
10.8
7.5 35.6
35.1 0.8
1.7 2007
41.4 19.5
28.3 39.7
67.6 2010
25.5
Average annual change
-2.9 -4.3
-2.0 -1.5
-4.7 -8.6
-5.6
3.3 16.7
9.1 -2.4
-5.5 -5.4
-4.6
2.0 6.4
Data sources
SUSENAS SUSENAS
SUSENAS SUSENAS
SUSENAS SUSENAS
SUSENAS SUSENAS
SUSENAS SUSENAS
IDHS IDHS
IDHS IDHS
IDHS RISKESDAS
1 This definition does not include packagedbottled water see Chapter 2
192
Nutritional status
Mortality rate
Not enrolled in school
Dropout and discontinued
Schooling children without
access to certain sources of
information 5–17 years
Working children 10–17 years
Underweight Stunting
Wasting Overweight
Neonatal Post-neonatal
Under 5 years old Age 3–6 years ECE
Age 7–12 years primary Age 13–15 years junior
Age 16–17 years senior Age 7–12 years
Age 13–15 years Age 16–17 years
School text books Science books
Story books Newspapers
Magazinestabloids Television
Radio Art practice or display
Total Economic work only
Economic work and household chores
Economic work and schooling Economic work, household chores
and schooling 18.4
38.8 13.6
12.2
2003
23.0 20.0
54.0
2003
76.2 3.8
21.0 43.4
1.6 20.1
42.8 40.1
81.9 82.2
90.5 90.7
9.5 51.9
88.5 12.3
7.0 2.3
2.1 0.9
17.9 35.6
13.3 14.0
2009 19.0
15.0 44.0
2009 67.8
3.0 13.5
32.8 1.1
12.7 32.1
25.1 66.5
84.9 95.0
95.2
6.2 83.4
92.4 10.5
4.6 2.3
2.1 1.6
-0.5 -1.4
-0.4 2.5
-2.9 -4.2
-3.1 -1.8
-3.5 -6.0
-4.1 -5.2
-6.1 -4.2
-6.2 -3.1
0.5 0.8
0.8 -5.8
10.1 0.7
-2.4 -5.7
0.0 0.0
13.0 RISKESDAS
RISKESDAS RISKESDAS
RISKESDAS
IDHS IDHS
IDHS SUSENAS
SUSENAS SUSENAS
SUSENAS SUSENAS
SUSENAS SUSENAS
SUSENAS SUSENAS
SUSENAS SUSENAS
SUSENAS SUSENAS
SUSENAS SUSENAS
SUSENAS SUSENAS
SUSENAS SUSENAS
SUSENAS Working children
10–17 years
Lack of birth certificate
Total Economic work only
Economic work and household chores
Economic work and schooling Economic work, household chores
and schooling Child Labour
5 years old
2004
8.7 4.4
2.0 1.8
0.5 4.2
2007
59.4
2009
10.4 2.2
3.4 3.5
1.3 4.7
2009
52.3 3.9
-10.0 14.0
18.9 32.0
2.4 -6.0
SAKERNAS SAKERNAS
SAKERNAS SAKERNAS
SAKERNAS SAKERNAS
SUSENAS Source:NationalSocio-EconomicSurveySUSENAS;IndonesiaDemographicandHealthSurveyIDHS;BasicHealthResearch
RISKESDAS;NationalLabourForceSurveySAKERNAS Notes:PPP=Purchasingpowerparity;ECE=earlychildhoodeducation
Average Annual change
Data sources
193 In spite of the progress already made, a
substantial number and proportion of children in Indonesia suffer from multiple deprivations. The
estimates presented in Chapter 2 indicate that only around 15 per cent of children in Indonesia
are completely free from all seven dimensions of deprivation – education, child labour, health,
shelter, water, sanitation and income. Around a quarter of all children suffer from one dimension
of deprivation, and another quarter suffers from two dimensions. In total, almost 70 per cent of
all children in Indonesia suffer from one to three dimensions of deprivation. Since the proportion
of children that live on less than 2 PPP per capita per day accounted for around 55 per cent in
2009, the multiple deprivation figure indicates that even children from non-poor households
by income measures, suffer from other forms of deprivation non-income. Further analysis shows
even among the top three income
2
quintiles i.e., the three wealthiest a significant proportion of
children more than 30 per cent do not have access to safe water and are not enrolled in early
childhood education ECE. Indeed, the correlation analysis indicates
a strong correlation between the various deprivation dimensions, and that household
income remains the most significant determining factor for other types of deprivation. Household
attributes – such as female-headed household, large number of household members, and low
educational background of the household head – were found to be strongly correlated with income
poverty. Female-headed households, however, performed better than male-headed households
in terms of nutrition and education-related dimensions. There was a higher prevalence of
various types of deprivation among children from poorer households, with the exception of
access to clean water, prevalence of overweight children, exclusive breastfeeding, and enrolment
in early childhood education. It is important to note, however, that even in the dimensions that
have been progressing well nationally, such as the U5MR, the ownership of birth certificates,
and school enrolment rates among children aged 12–15 years, the gaps between children from the
poorest and the richest quintiles are substantial
Figure 7.1: Selected indicators of child deprivation showing disparities among households by wealth quintiles, 2009
Source:SeeTable7.2. 90
80 70
60 50
40 30
20 10
No proper toilet No proper shelter
No access to protected clean water Early marriage before 18 years old
Neonatal mortality rate Post-neonatal mortality rate
U5 mortality rate Self-reported diarrhea
Not having immunization: measles Not having complete immunization
Underweight Stunting W
asting Overweight
Not receive exclusive breastfeeding Not enrolled in school: 3-6 years old
Not enrolled in school: 7-12 years old Not enrolled in school: 12-15 years old
Not enrolled in school: 16-17 years old No birth certificate
W orking children SUSENAS
56 55 63
27 56
77
26 32
35 41
17 48.52
1.92 1.41
13.9 47.1
43.1 62.6
82.5
46.14 59.13
5.32 25.48
16.3 23.51
15.16 58.15
70.14
5.88 1.46
24.1 16.8
10.6 8.3
5.7 22.7
10.5 10.22
5.15 7.48
3.12 30.3
Percentage of Children
Q1 Poorest Q2
Q3 Q4
Q5 Richest
2 The term ‘income’ in this chapter refers to an estimate using expenditure as a proxy