Thailand’s birth rate drops to lowest ever

Suwit Rattiwan

 

 

BANGKOK (NNT) - Thailand’s total fertility rate (TFR) has dropped to lowest ever below 600,000 for the first time and took the country’s TFR down to 1.51, which is extremely low.

 

According to the World Health Organization and World Bank, if a country’s TFR goes under 2.1, its proportion of elderly will surge and problems associated with migrant workers will rise.

 

Dr Kamthorn Pruksananonda, chairman of a sub-committee on reproductive medicine at the Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said Thailand’s TFR used to be 5.1 and without any intervention, the 1.5 rate is forecast to fall further to 1.3 in less than a decade.

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2021-02-14

 

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What are the causes? Social? Chemical? Pandemic? They need to find out before they can address the situation.

People cant afford to have children like they did in the past as they just cant afford too with the prices of everything going up all the time . The days of there being multiple children (more than 2 or 3) are gone forever even up country where in the past some would have over 10 children to help on the farm .

i would like to volunteer my body to fight this problem. i will work endlessly at helping the rate go up. 

In time of uncertainty and turmoils, couples don't say to each other hey, let's have more kids, this is a good times to make more babies, and beside, not that Thailand is in real needs for a population growth now is it?...

34 minutes ago, phetphet said:

What are the causes? Social? Chemical? Pandemic? They need to find out before they can address the situation.

Maybe it´s just as simple as the people have lost faith in their own country.

Edited February 14, 20215 yr by Dagfinnur Traustason

Maybe not such a bad thing, less for the govt to rob!

 

 

1 hour ago, keith101 said:

People cant afford to have children like they did in the past as they just cant afford too with the prices of everything going up all the time . The days of there being multiple children (more than 2 or 3) are gone forever even up country where in the past some would have over 10 children to help on the farm .

Poverty is rarely, if ever the cause of a reduced TFR. In fact the opposite is the case. Economic growth tends to reduce TFR. Well known examples of that within this region are Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea and Japan.

 

Thailand is following a trend set by many before it of increased urbanization drawing the population in seeking a better economic life. That trend runs in parallel with increased mechanization back home on the farm, making rural life economically less attractive. Lots of kids get in the way of that process.

This isn't particularly a Thai thing; what's interesting, though, is it tends to be a developed world thing, what that says about Thailand I don't know.

Finally a good news thread. 

 

 

Edited February 14, 20215 yr by quake

Are FERTILITY rate and BIRTH rate not two different things?

 

You can be fertile but not have babies, or you can even have babies if not particularly fertile, just unlucky.

Edited February 14, 20215 yr by KannikaP

10 minutes ago, nausea said:

This isn't particularly a Thai thing; what's interesting, though, is it tends to be a developed world thing, what that says about Thailand I don't know.

Thailand is firmly in the transition phase and the TFR reflects that. It has reduced from 6.15 in 1960 to where it is today, 1.51. What it says is 'Thailand is developing'. 

32 minutes ago, quake said:

Finally a good news thread. 

 

 

Why do you consider that good news?

18 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

Are FERTILITY rate and BIRTH rate not two different things?

 

You can be fertile but not have babies, or you can even have babies if not particularly fertile, just unlucky.

Yes, it´s totally different. You are soo right. However, that has to do with the education programme, which has had the same low level since birth.

Edited February 14, 20215 yr by Dagfinnur Traustason

Just now, Dagfinnur Traustason said:

Why do you consider that good news?

to many people on the planet already

and Thailand has to many people as well.

less of them the better. ok now

 

This is hardly unique to Thailand. Of the 226 nations in the world, only 99 have fertility rates above the replacement rate.  The highest fertility rates are in sub-Saharan Africa, while other countries (Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong) have such low fertility rates that their populations will soon begin to spiral downward in size (that certainly has implications for national finances, pensions, RE prices and a host of other things). There are no European countries whose fertility rate is at or above the replacement rate. Populations in the EU are only rising because of immigration.

 

Though not a perfect correlation, there is some correlation between prosperity and low fertility. Whether it's the reduced need to produce children to support the parents or lifestyle changes that can make the thought of parenthood a kind of burden, the trend in economically stronger countries is towards lower fertility. Other factors could be new opportunities in the workplace for women, or simple narcissism where some women, understandably, might prefer to keep their bodies looking better for longer.  of course there's also cost. (Personally, even if I could, the last thing I would ever want to do is have my body be totally out of control for 9 months, with the damage it wreaks on the body, the mood changes, the uncomfortable burden of not being able to roll over....seems to me the only reason humans are not extinct is some combination of instinct and condom breakage, or 7-11 being closed at the moment of passion.) While there is evidence of some loss of male potency over the last century (diet? chemicals in environment?), that factor is not significant in terms of overall fertility rates.

 

There is a saying "If my demons leave me, I fear my angels will soon follow".  One could use that here regarding fertility rates. Obviously the world can only accommodate a finite number of people, given the finite nature of resources, so losing the likelihood of overpopulation is a departing demon.  Most societies, however, are kind of built on a Ponzi Scheme of sorts, where a (previously) growing number of young people paid for the care of older people, either because of cultural factors or mandated social programs like Social Security and Medicaid. Most nations have always been a pyramid in terms of the ages of its people, the young collective substantially larger than the old. Pyramids are beginning to invert, and that has all sorts of repercussions for which no society is prepared.

Just now, Walker88 said:

Though not a perfect correlation, there is some correlation between prosperity and low fertility. Whether it's the reduced need to produce children to support the parents or lifestyle changes that can make the thought of parenthood a kind of burden, the trend in economically stronger countries is towards lower fertility.

That's just not true, the only direct correlation is between women having the choice to breed or not.

In countries where women can choose when to breed, the reproduction rate low.

2 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Thailand’s birth rate drops to lowest ever

Maybe yaba and meth is making the young guys impotent!

1 minute ago, quake said:

to many people on the planet already

and Thailand has to many people as well.

less of them the better. ok now

 

Not much better. Why take overpopulation out on Thailand? Here you have to see the real problem in China, India and Indonesia as well as Pakistan.

Take for an example Pakistan with a total land area of approx. 771 000 sqkm, and a population of 233,5 million people. Then you compare that to Thailand with a total land area approx. 511 000 sqm and a population of 70 million people. That gives you a result in Pakistan of 302,85 persons per sqkm and Thailand with 137 persons per sqkm.

Now you can continue the calculations on your own, and I am pretty sure that you very quick will understand how wrong you were, and that the problem with overpopulation is not related to Thailand.

Just now, Dagfinnur Traustason said:

Not much better. Why take overpopulation out on Thailand? Here you have to see the real problem in China, India and Indonesia as well as Pakistan.

Take for an example Pakistan with a total land area of approx. 771 000 sqkm, and a population of 233,5 million people. Then you compare that to Thailand with a total land area approx. 511 000 sqm and a population of 70 million people. That gives you a result in Pakistan of 302,85 persons per sqkm and Thailand with 137 persons per sqkm.

Now you can continue the calculations on your own, and I am pretty sure that you very quick will understand how wrong you were, and that the problem with overpopulation is not related to Thailand.

you think to mut

I'm trying, OK

19 minutes ago, quake said:

you think to mut

Nah, that´s wrong. I give you the facts, after you post before thinking.

Good news 

 

Have no respect for countries that continue to breed, especially living in poverty 

It is obvious that the decline in the birth rate is mainly due to the significant decrease in sex tourism over the last year.

6 hours ago, rooster59 said:

and problems associated with migrant workers will rise.

 

so what?  blame migrant workers AGAIN ???  

 

thailand already import SLAVE LABOUR for jobs thais think they are too good to do

 

and the have the SAME RELIGION anyway...

 

not like importing massive uneducated moslim population in a western country with already many unemployed or unwilling to work

7 hours ago, mr mr said:

i would like to volunteer my body to fight this problem. i will work endlessly at helping the rate go up. 

Count me in, too.  As long as the wife agrees.

”Wham, bam—thank you, m’am!”

David Bowie

It's the modern trend making deliveries to the back door rather than the front.......

cost lots to rise and pay scale too low to keep up with yearly inflation

 

I find it hard to believe If I ride past the schools in Hua Hin at throwing out time.........Absolute gridlock and pandemonium.

Yeh, pandemics, babies, last thing on my mind, that and whether I would rise to the occasion.

Edited February 14, 20215 yr by 4MyEgo