West Java Dominated by Young People: What Groups Are They?

Data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) shows that the population of West Java reached 48.27 million in the 2020 Population Census (SP 2020). Of this number, Gen Z and millennials are the most dominant groups.

BPS states that the proportion of Gen Z in West Java reaches 26.86% of the total population. Meanwhile, millennials reach 26.21%.

Borrowing the classification from William H. Frey (2020), BPS defines Gen Z as children born between 1997 and 2012. Meanwhile, millennials were born between 1981 and 1996.

Below these two generations is Gen X, with a population proportion reaching 21.07%. This group was born between 1965 and 1980.

This is followed by post-Gen Z, which reaches 12.87%. This generation was born from 2013 to the present.

The smallest groups are baby boomers and pre-boomers, with numbers of 11.6% and 1.39%, respectively.

Baby boomers are people born between 1946 and 1964, while pre-boomers were born before 1945.

BPS adds that the population growth rate (PGR) of West Java was 1.11% in September 2020. Males are more dominant, at 24.51 million or 50.66% of the total population of West Java, and females number 23.76 million or 49.23%.

The highest population density in West Java is in Bogor Regency with 5.43 million people, and the lowest is in Banjar City with 200,970 people.

BPS also mentions that of Indonesia's total population of 271.35 million in December 2020, 151.6 million or 56.10% of the total were concentrated on Java Island.

"The highest population is in West Java Province and the lowest is in North Kalimantan Province with 0.70 million people," wrote BPS West Java in its report.

A Target for Population Migration

Not only is it the most populous province, West Java is also the largest recipient of lifetime migration between 2020 and 2022.

Based on the BPS report, *Indonesia Migration Statistics from the 2020 Population Census Long Form*, lifetime migration to West Java was recorded at 5.18 million people.

Of this number, males dominated, at 2.67 million people. Meanwhile, there were 2.51 million women.

BPS explains that inward migration is the influx of people into a destination province per 1,000 inhabitants.