When it comes to the birth rate, the government must think outside the box
A decline in birth rates is an issue experienced by countries across the world, and Thailand is no exception. From 1963 to 1983, the average birth rate in Thailand was about 1 million a year. Fast forward to 2022, the total number of newborn babies dropped to 502,107 — the lowest in 71 years — while the death rate the same year was 595,965.
Sustarum: Learn from Scandinavia
To sustain the country’s demographic scale, the total fertility rate (TFR) should be no less than 2.1 children per woman. In the 1960s, Thailand’s annual TFR was about 6.1 births per woman but the rate has dropped dramatically to 1.4–1.5 in the past decade.
The government has introduced policies to raise the country’s birth rate, but they have yet to bear…
