14 December 2025
By Aditya Prabowo – rri Voice of Indonesia
KBRN, Jakarta: The Deputy Chairperson of the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI), Jasra Putra, has revealed that millions of Indonesian children are exposed to smoking from a very early age. He warned that this condition poses a serious threat to the realization of Indonesia Gold 2045.
“Based on the Indonesian Health Survey (SKI) conducted by the Health Ministry, the number of child smokers has nearly reached 5.7 million. These are active smokers, and what is more worrying is that the age of beginner smokers is very young,” Jasra said in a statement on Sunday, December 14, 2025.
He stressed that children are starting to smoke at an age when they should still be in their fundamental growth and development phase. Jasra warned that the high rate of child smokers could hinder Indonesia’s long-term national development agenda.
“We find children as young as seven, even five, who have already started smoking. This is an emergency situation for child protection and clearly an obstacle for Indonesia 2045,” he said.
Jasra emphasized that Indonesia already has a strong legal foundation to protect children from tobacco. He noted that prohibitions also extend to the education sector as part of the seven pillars for establishing smoke-free areas.
“We already have Law No. 17/2023 on Health and Government Regulation No. 28/2024 as its derivative regulation. This regulation is very strict, limiting the age for smoking to 21 years and prohibiting tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship,” Jasra explained.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry has warned that the percentage of smokers aged over 15 continues to rise each year. Currently, 70.2 million adults in Indonesia are tobacco users, with 68.9 million of them active smokers.
“The data from 2013 to 2023 shows that while prevalence in percentage terms supposedly decreased, the raw number of smokers rose by 5 million due to population growth, from 57.2 million to 63.1 million,” said Siti Nadia Tarmizi, Director of Non-Communicable Diseases at the Health Ministry.
Nadia noted that the increase of 5 million smokers is equivalent to, or even exceeds, the population of small countries. For comparison, Singapore’s population is approximately 5.9 million.
“The number of child and adolescent smokers, those aged 10 to 18, has also increased, from 2 million in 2013 to 5.9 million in 2023,” Nadia concluded.
Indonesia Gold 2045 (Visi Indonesia Emas 2045) is the country’s long-term national vision to become a sovereign, advanced, fair, and prosperous nation by the year 2045, which marks the centennial of Indonesia’s independence. It is essentially Indonesia’s roadmap for development over the next two decades. (Annaila Azzahra/Lasti Martina)