Thailand bids to avert 'population crisis' as birth rate crashes

Thailand is scrambling to encourage its people to have more babies to arrest a slumping birth rate, offering parents childcare and fertility centres, while also tapping social media influencers to showcase the joys of family life.

The campaign comes as the number of births has dropped by nearly a third since 2013, when they started declining. Last year saw 544,000 births, the lowest in at least six decades and below the 563,000 deaths, which were also swelled by coronavirus-related fatalities.

While Thailand’s demographic path is similar to other Asian economies like Japan or Singapore, as an emerging market relying on cheap labour and a growing middle class, the implications for Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy are far more profound.

“The data reflects a population crisis … where the mindset towards having children has changed,” said Teera Sindecharak, an expert on demography at Thammasat University.

Senior health official Suwannachai Wattanayingcharoenchai told Reuters that the government recognised a need to intervene.

“We are trying to slow down the decline in births and reverse the trend by getting families that are ready to have children faster,” he said, describing plans to introduce policies so that newborns get the full support of the state.

The plans include opening fertility centres, currently limited to Bangkok and other major cities, in 76 provinces and also using social media influencers to back up the message, officials said.

Such policies may come too late for people like Chinthathip Nantavong, 44, who decided with her partner of 14 years not to have children.

“Raising one child costs a lot. A semester for kindergarten is already 50,000 to 60,000 baht (US$1,520 to US$1,850) and then it reaches millions later,” she said, adding that other countries have better care facilities and welfare policies.

SOURCE: REUTERS