Survey shows progress in adolescent births, but worrying trends in education and child development

However, it also reveals worrying trends in early childhood development, education, nutrition, and child marriage.

The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) is conducted every three years and examines 130 factors affecting the well-being of children and women in Thailand, such as health, development, education and child protection. MICS 2022 collected data from 34,000 households across Thailand between June and October 2022, at the same time as the country began to relax its Covid-19 restriction measures.

“The survey on the situations of children and women conducted in 2022 marks the fifth MICS survey in Thailand,” said Piyanuch Wutthisorn, the Director General of the National Statistics Office. “This survey highlights the well-being of children and women across multiple dimensions, providing valuable insights for policymakers and government agencies. The findings serve as a useful tool for shaping policies and implementing measures aimed at enhancing the quality of life for children in Thailand, as well as monitoring the progress of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”

According to the survey, Thailand's adolescent birth rate decreased from 23 out of 1,000 women aged 15-19 years in 2019 to 18 in 2022. The prevalence of violent discipline at home has continuously decreased from 75 % in 2015 to 58 % in 2019 and 54 % in 2022. The 2022 survey also found that fewer men and women accepted domestic violence as "justified" in some circumstances.

Another positive development was that 29 % of children were exclusively breastfed for the first six months of their lives in 2022, compared with just 14 % in 2019. In addition, the survey found that more mothers continued to breastfeed their babies longer than six months.

However, the results also reveal negative trends in education and child development compared with the last survey, conducted before the Covid-19 pandemic. According to MICS 2022, 75 % of children aged between 3 and 4 attended early childhood education in 2022, compared with 86 % in 2019. In addition, levels of pre-primary school learning dropped. 99 % of children in 2019 benefited from some form of pre-primary education but this had dropped to 88 % in 2022. These troubling trends were reflected in "school readiness" - being adequately prepared socially, emotionally, linguistically, physically and cognitively to begin structured learning - which went down from 99 % to 94 %.

MICS 2022 also revealed that more children of primary education age stayed out of school in 2022 than in 2019. This figure increased from 1 % to 4 %. In lower secondary schools, the out-of-school rates increased from 3 % to 5 %. Yet, the out-of-school rate was highest in upper secondary schools, at 15 % in 2022.

Another concern was an increase in time young children spent playing on electronic devices during the Covid-19 pandemic. Prolonged use of electronic devices can have negative consequences on child development. Around 62 % of children under 5 years now play with electronic devices. 13 % of them now spend three hours or more playing on devices each day, compared with 8 % in 2019.

As more children have access to and spend more time playing with electronic devices, fewer children read books at home, the survey found. About 6 in 10 children have less than 3 children’s books at home. At the same time, fewer parents and household members engaged with their children to promote their learning and development. In 2022, only 31 % of fathers spent time with their children in activities that stimulated learning at home, compared with 34 % in 2019.

Children’s literacy and numeracy skills also deteriorated during the pandemic. In 2022, less than half (47 %) of Grade 2 and 3 children had basic reading skills, compared with 52 % in 2019. Just 40 % of children had basic numeracy skills in 2022, compared with 47 % in 2019.

“Although the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic may have passed, its impact continues to threaten children's well-being and development,” said Kyungsun Kim, Unicef Representative for Thailand. “The MICS 2022 data confirms the devastating and lingering impact of the pandemic, especially on education. It has jeopardised children’s development and pushed many of them out of school.  It is essential that Thailand invests in quality education, health and social protection systems to close the gap and ensure children can live up to their full potential and help the country achieve a prosperous and sustainable future for all."

Other key findings in MICS 2022 include:

Child nutrition remains a major concern as poor nutrition could pose a long-term negative impact on children’s brain development, health and well-being. In 2022, 11 % of children under 5 were obese, up from 9 % in 2019. Stunting, underweight and wasting rates in 2022 were almost unchanged compared to 2019, at 13 %, 7 % and 7 % respectively. 

Early marriages remain an issue in Thailand. In 2022, 1 in 6 young women aged 20-24 (17 %) married before the age of 18 and almost 6 % of girls married before 15 (up from 3 % in 2019).
 

Children not living with parents: Millions of children in Thailand grow up without the care of their parents, mainly due to internal migration. In 2022, almost 1 in 4 children (25 %) under the age of 18 - or around 3 million children - were not living with their parents, with most of them (71 %) living with their grandparents.

Inequality remains a problem, with MICS 2022 highlighting significant disparities among different groups of children depending on the region they live in, their household wealth, their mother’s educational level and their ethnicity.  It also provides data on a range of other critical issues such as child health, immunization coverage, parenting, child discipline and access to social transfers.