Breast-feeding and the family planning sector’s initiative in Indonesia

Breast-feeding averts an average of 28 per cent of the total potential fertility (fecundity) per woman of reproductive age in Indonesia, the fifth most populous country in the world. Contraception controls another 35 per cent, and age at marriage and other factors inhibit an additional 15 per cent of the total fecundity. Only about 22 per cent of the total fecundity is realized in actual births, representing a total fertility rate of about 3.4 per woman in 1987.