Thailand’s lowest ever total fertility rate (TFR) has prompted the Public Health Ministry to come up with activities aimed at promoting dating among singles and fertility health among married couples who still don’t have any children.
The TFR is the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime.
Thailand’s birth rate last year dropped below 600,000 for the first time and took the country’s TFR down to 1.51, which is “extremely low”, said Dr Kamthorn Pruksananonda, chairman of a sub-committee on reproductive medicine at the Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
The World Health Organization and World Bank have said that if a country’s TFR goes under 2.1, its proportion of elderly will surge and problems associated with migrant workers will rise.
These two problems are now clearly evident in Thailand, he said.
“When Japan’s TFR hit…
