Quote:Declining fertility rate threatens Thai population

Thailand will soon face a population crisis because of the growing number of elderly people, decreasing numbers of young, a decline in the working population and the fertility rate dropping from 6.3 in 1964 to 1.61 in 2005, a scholar warned yesterday.

Kua Wongboonsin, a population studies expert from Chulalongkorn University, said the problem of dropping fertility rates needed immediate attention.

With the average family now having fewer than two children, the Thai family structure had changed drastically - from the highest percentage of the child population (0 to four years old) in 1970 to the highest projected percentage of elderly in 2010, he said.

Kua said the Thai working population would drop further in the next two or three years, while the number of elderly people would continue rising.

This is bound to create economic and social problems.

Even though the ninth and 10th national economics and social development plans have declared that Thailand had a balanced population structure with an appropriate family size and a total fertility rate of 2.05 children, there was no concrete action plan in the works, Kua added.

He urged the government to implement an income tax reduction plan for families linked to the number of children, tax deductions for working mothers, permission for workers to leave work early to attend to sick kids and child support welfare. These factors would encourage Thais to have more children and help them realise that procreating helpds Thailand's human resources, society and culture.

he Nation Oct 26, 2007

I'm surprised to read that. Isn't Thailand a "Third World Country" and don't all Third World Countries have a far too high birthrate. At least that's how the cliché goes. In the case of hailand this decline in the birthrate clearly comes with the rapid industrialization. Babies are not only not needed anymore, because people don't work on farms anymore but in factories, babies are in their way then. Advances in modern medicine do their share for a longer life expectancy.

I'm glad some social scientists came up with the problem. Will they be heard?

Quote:Thailand will soon face a population crisis because of the growing number of elderly people, decreasing numbers of young, a decline in the working population and the fertility rate dropping from 6.3 in 1964 to 1.61 in 2005, a scholar warned yesterday.

Exactly what is happening in most Western Countries

In 1995 the population was around 40 mill now the pop is around 60 mill?? If they increase the number of kids born and decrease the number that die by decreasing road deaths and better medicine then thailand will be over crowded in another 10 years. Where are they going to find all the jobs when so many are moving to other countries already??

Dragon Man Wrote:In 1995 the population was around 40 mill now the pop is around 60 mill?? If they increase the number of kids born and decrease the number that die by decreasing road deaths and better medicine then thailand will be over crowded in another 10 years. Where are they going to find all the jobs when so many are moving to other countries already??

The problem they're afraid of is the overaging, the imbalance caused by people living longer and less babies born. Provision of the elder is usually taken care of by the younger generations. They would have to come up with ideas like a longer working life. No retirement at 60 but at 70 for example.