Thailand’s birth rate falls to 71-year low, sparking alarm
Thailand is becoming a greying society as the number of children born last year hit a 71-year low, the Social Development and Human Security Ministry announced on Thursday.
Only 502,000 children were born in Thailand last year, about 30% below the target of 700,000 and the lowest birth rate in 71 years, Anukul Pidkaew, permanent secretary at the ministry, told a press conference.
He was joined by Dr Somchai Jitsuchon, a researcher at the Thailand Development Research Institute.
Both described the low birth rate as a “crisis”.
Anukul said the declining birth rate caused the number of Thai children to fall to 10.9 million, or 16.3% of the entire population, this year. The working-age population is 42.6 million, or 63.6% of the population. The number of elderly people is 13.5 million, or 20.2% of the population.
If the current birth-rate trend continues, children will account for just 13.3% of Thailand’s population in 2040, the working-age population will fall to 55.5%, and the elderly population will rise to 31.1%, Anukul said.
Anukul said that 2022 was the second year in a row in which the number of deaths in Thailand exceeded the number of births.
According to the National Statistical Office, 540,000 children were born in Thailand in 2021, down from 580,000 in 2020, and 600,000 in 2019.
The office said 560,000 Thais died in 2021.
The economic crisis caused by the pandemic appears to have made parents think twice about having children, while Covid-19 increased the death rate, Anukul said.
He listed four key causes for the declining birth rate:
- Women having more prominent roles in society and the workforce
- The rising cost of living
- An imbalance between working and family life
- Social and economic inequality
Anukul said his ministry would try to encourage more births by expanding coverage of the 600 baht a month allowance for children born to poor families. The programme has been implemented for seven years and covers 2.4 million children.
