THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
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Thailand urged to upskill and automate workforce as population recession bites

Thailand urged to upskill and automate workforce as population recession bites

Thailand is entering an ageing society and a population recession, the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) has warned.

The population is forecast to shrink over the next 30 years as the birth rate drops lower than the death rate, said the national planning agency.

The NESDC states that Thailand’s population of around 70 million will decline at the rate of 0.2 per cent per year in the next three decades. By 2040, the Thai population is expected to number just 65.4 million people.

The council divides the population decline according to age group.

The number of children (0-14 years) will fall from 11.2 million (16.9 per cent of the population) in 2020 to 8.4 million (12.8 per cent) in 2040.

The number of senior citizens (60 plus) will increase from 12 million (18 per cent) to 20.42 million or 31.28 per cent of the population in 2040.

3. The working-age population (15-59 years) is forecast to decline from 43.26 million (65 per cent) to 36.5 million (56 per cent) in 2040, a drop of 6.7 million.

Meanwhile, the ratio of working-age to elderly people is also declining. The 2020 ratio of 3.6 working-age people per one senior citizen is forecast to drop to 1.8:1 in 2040.

The declining ratio means the government must plan to upskill the workforce and boost automation, said the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI).

Nonarit Bisonyabut, a senior research fellow at TDRI, said Thailand must focus on more productive workers and technology due to its ageing society. But the government should also look after those unable to adapt to technology, by increasing payments for the elderly and offering a new-born child subsidy, he added.

He urged the government to make three tax changes to prepare for population recession:

Raise the land and building tax and lower the ceiling, while preventing distortions such as registering city land as agricultural plots; introduce a wealth tax; and tax use of new technologies such as robots and drones.

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