Recently I have been seeing more and more articles about Thailand’s declining birth rate. The numbers are now roughly on par with Japan, a country that has spent decades as the classic example of an aging society.

The usual explanation seems fairly straightforward. Economics. A lot of younger Thais simply do not feel financially secure enough to have children. Housing is expensive, wages have not kept pace with rising living costs, and raising a child has become a much bigger financial commitment than it was for previous generations. In rural Thailand, where families of six or seven children were once fairly common, many couples now stop at one child or have none at all. In fact, fewer than half of Thai couples are now having children. Just a couple of decades ago that would have seemed almost unimaginable.

To put things into perspective, here are some approximate fertility rates.

Cambodia: 2.5

UK: 1.41

Thailand: 1.10

Japan: 1.10

Singapore: 0.87

South Korea: 0.80

What got me thinking about this even more was a conversation I had today with a Thai man in his mid 40s. He told me he came from a Muslim family of 12 children and that he was the youngest. His family was from Bangkok, not even the provinces.

Just think about how extraordinary that sounds today. How many couples in Bangkok would even contemplate having 11 or 12 children now?

Probably none.

The interesting question is whether this is actually a problem, or simply an inevitable stage of development that every modern society eventually goes through.

On one hand, fewer children generally means people have more money, more opportunities, and greater freedom to pursue education and careers. On the other hand, every country still needs enough younger people to replace an ageing workforce, pay taxes, support pension systems, and fill essential jobs.

Thailand already seems to be relying more heavily on migrant workers in sectors that younger Thais increasingly avoid. That trend is probably only going to continue.

The difference is that countries like Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong became wealthy before their populations started ageing. Thailand is facing many of the same demographic challenges without having reached the same level of economic prosperity.

It makes me wonder what Thailand will look like 30 years from now when those two trends eventually collide.

Will the declining birth rate turn out to be a major problem, or will society simply adapt the way it always has?

Not for me, who cares?

So the solution is obvious... everyone reading this needs to do their patriotic duty. I'll cheer you on from a safe distance. 😂

Thailand can "borrow" the young from neighbouring countries for the foreseeable and unlike my home country only pay wages, not benefits.

But on an individual level there will be an awful lot of impoverished, childless geriatric Thais in the future.

An aging population will weigh down the taxpayer population causing huge damage and fallout.

Falling birthrate will make it much worse.

I think the DEATH RATE is more of a problem, from my perspective.

Bring the Death Rate down to about zero....

Then, everyone alive today will be happier.

23 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

Bring the Death Rate down to about zero....

Sammy boy is working on this.

22 minutes ago, blaze master said:

Sammy boy is working on this.

So he says.

But....

a. He has no clue how this might be accomplished, the Fountain of Youth, I mean.

b. He has no clue about the societal implications of this, if even he could find the way.

c. Sammy-Boy is a High-School grad, ONLY, and always will be. He lacks the perspective one expects to have from enjoying a first class extensive education, and...the WISDOM that this might impart....

Sam lacks WISDOM, and he still can't comprehend that he cannot buy it, at any price, obviously.

d. Sammy. Oh...Sammy....You need a hoodie....

My Thai family is a prime example. My wife has 2 sisters and 5 brothers, all over 50 now. Only one of the women had children (twin girls); of the men's families, 3 boys and one girl. So far, there is only one grandchild.

The world is too cold, too hot, too populated.... Yet it keeps becoming increasingly easy to live a life without real meaning or happiness. Fertility rates are another fad fear that many need to complicate life.

In this age of advancing technology, declining human fertility rates are not a problem (unless they decline to zero), as long as a country adapts and plans accordingly; sadly, Thailand does not have a good record of adapting or planning appropriately for the benefit of society, only for the benefit of the elite.

Future is AI and robots.

Declining birth rates are no problem.

7 hours ago, Kyoto Kyle said:

The usual explanation seems fairly straightforward. Economics. A lot of younger Thais simply do not feel financially secure enough to have children.

I recently listened to several reports about declining birthrates in the USA, and they proposed a different explanation:

"Recent studies suggest that smartphones account for between 33% and 52% of the total U.S. fertility decline since 2007. Researchers hypothesize that smartphones have fundamentally altered human behavior, resulting in less in-person socializing, fewer romantic relationships, and an increase in digital substitutes for partnered sex."

1 hour ago, ColeBOzbourne said:

Researchers hypothesize that smartphones have fundamentally altered human behavior, resulting in less in-person socializing, fewer romantic relationships, and an increase in digital substitutes for partnered sex.

Whilst I actually do possess one, I rarely use it ,and I have never considered myself a ,full member of the "smart phone fan club"

I always wondered what people with their heads buried in their phones 24/7 were upto and now I know .

a"digital substitute for partnered sex" ! one way of putting it i guess, but if people are indulging to the extent that it affects the birth rate, I feel a ban may be on the cards

23 minutes ago, Bday Prang said:

Whilst I actually do possess one, I rarely use it ,and I have never considered myself a ,full member of the "smart phone fan club"

I always wondered what people with their heads buried in their phones 24/7 were upto and now I know .

a"digital substitute for partnered sex" ! one way of putting it i guess, but if people are indulging to the extent that it affects the birth rate, I feel a ban may be on the cards

Most people do business these days using smart phones. Banning them would crash the world economy leading to a depression.

I have heard this term twice in the last month: "Thailand, getting old before we got rich." It means Thai people are getting old and older with a declining birthdate. In 2025 500K Thai people died and 400K births were in Thailand. This is the classic definition of an aging society. Thailand has depended on the young to care for the old. This is short clip from NHK World about this problem:

https://youtu.be/2AVfzUNqRN4?si=Lyra7CgKmguyy-Ev

2 hours ago, ColeBOzbourne said:

"Recent studies suggest that smartphones account for between 33% and 52% of the total U.S. fertility decline since 2007. Researchers hypothesize that smartphones have fundamentally altered human behavior, resulting in less in-person socializing, fewer romantic relationships, and an increase in digital substitutes for partnered sex."

The decline in Japan's birth rate is similar in that the behavior of younger people has changed, but it isn't really about smartphones per se. Rather, it is about how brutal it has become for younger people to actually find partners and build lives together these days. A lot of it comes down to insane work hours, intense societal pressure, and a growing trend toward a more solitary lifestyle. It’s tough to date when you’re economically stressed and exhausted. While popular culture often points to things like pornography or digital distractions as easy escapes for men, demographic research shows the root issues are much deeper, mostly tied to career instability and the massive cost of raising a family. It’s a huge problem in Japan, and honestly, there doesn’t seem to be any indication that the trend is going to reverse anytime soon.

9 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

I think the DEATH RATE is more of a problem, from my perspective.

Bring the Death Rate down to about zero....

Then, everyone alive today will be happier.

Dude - the other generations had had enough of western boomers decades ago.
We pray there's no cure to cancer etc so that you lot can pass quickly and safely and the world can begin to heal.

Living forever or the world ending after they check out seems to be a boomer fantasy but ain't gonna happen though biden, trump, merz, macron, starmer and the rest of your insane degenerate cohort can no doubt do a lot more damage on your way out.

As to the OP, childless Thais better pray for UBI as thai pensions aren't too great from what I hear.
Maybe the poo yais will choose war insead as a way to clear up all these unfunded. liabilities.

Edited June 30Jun 30 by Tourist2

The whole world's population is scheduled to start falling some time later this century (2080ish?). If current trends continue, that date will come steadily forward.

Thailand is just an example, and not by any means the earliest. The culture has changed (or is changing) almost everywhere in the world, the effect of changing technology & work patterns & the expectations that follow.

People want to enjoy the life they have. Having babies and bringing up children is no longer a normal part of 'enjoying life'.

4 minutes ago, mfd101 said:

People want to enjoy the life they have. Having babies and bringing up children is no longer a normal part of 'enjoying life'.

This seems to be accepted now (by whites at least) but is wrong on many levels.
Engineered housing bubbles, the promotion of gay, feminist and mindless consumer culture etc. is not a coincidence imho.

With automation and AI the masters of the universre don't need so many people so have engineered things to be this way. It's not a coincidence - e.g. China's one child policy was likely dictated to them in exchange for factories / contracts etc..
Malthusians rule.

Yes, Japan has a real social structural problem: a staggering 40% of adults are virgins, a direct symptom of a broken dating culture. The root cause? Utterly socially paralyzed men. Crippled by a fear of rejection and too socially awkward to articulate basic human emotions, many refuse to even ask a woman out unless they are sure they will really like the woman and have a guaranteed, risk-free outcome. This widespread male fragility is actively tanking the country’s dating pool, marriage rates, and birth numbers.

It is the exact same brand of pathetic stagnation seen in Susan Raquel Harris. Still a virgin at 55, she lacks the fundamental social skills required to interact with or tolerate real human beings. Her situation perfectly mirrors this crisis: rather than facing reality, she spends her entire life rotting away on this site, using a screen to hide from the real-world interactions she is too incompetent and incapable of handling.

Check the birthrates in Africa. The trend there is going in the polar opposite direction with major population booms. Same in parts of the Middle East and South America. Basically all the <deleted>e holes and most impoverished parts of the world have growing populations. What could possibly go wrong?

Commentator 1: the aging population will mean we won't have enough people in work.

Commentator 2: AI will take jobs the jobs people once did.

Commentator 3: foreigners will take the jobs "our" people once did.

There won't be enough of what exactly? Africans will be available in great numbers.

46 minutes ago, Tourist2 said:

Dude - the other generations had had enough of western boomers decades ago.
We pray there's no cure to cancer etc so that you lot can pass quickly and safely and the world can begin to heal.

Living forever or the world ending after they check out seems to be a boomer fantasy but ain't gonna happen though biden, trump, merz, macron, starmer and the rest of your insane degenerate cohort can no doubt do a lot more damage on your way out.

As to the OP, childless Thais better pray for UBI as thai pensions aren't too great from what I hear.
Maybe the poo yais will choose war insead as a way to clear up all these unfunded. liabilities.

Even after all these years, Cactus Flower is still the greatest film of our generation.

Enjoy....!!!

34 minutes ago, BilllyGOAT said:

Yes, Japan has a real social structural problem: a staggering 40% of adults are virgins, a direct symptom of a broken dating culture. The root cause? Utterly socially paralyzed men. Crippled by a fear of rejection and too socially awkward to articulate basic human emotions, many refuse to even ask a woman out unless they are sure they will really like the woman and have a guaranteed, risk-free outcome. This widespread male fragility is actively tanking the country’s dating pool, marriage rates, and birth numbers.

It is the exact same brand of pathetic stagnation seen in Susan Raquel Harris. Still a virgin at 55, she lacks the fundamental social skills required to interact with or tolerate real human beings. Her situation perfectly mirrors this crisis: rather than facing reality, she spends her entire life rotting away on this site, using a screen to hide from the real-world interactions she is too incompetent and incapable of handling.

You have never been married nor ever had a gf. Why you act so creepy.

1 hour ago, Rockyroad said:

Most people do business these days using smart phones. Banning them would crash the world economy leading to a depression.

I was not suggesting a ban on smart phones , I was suggesting that maybe a ban on the "digital substitutes for partnered sex" might be looming,

To suggest that preventing people indulging in that sort of behaviour might crash the world economy is clearly ridiculous, the number of people actually "conducting business" or any other useful activity on their smart phones is minute compared to those indulging in less savoury activities

3 minutes ago, Bday Prang said:

I was not suggesting a ban on smart phones , I was suggesting that maybe a ban on the "digital substitutes for partnered sex" might be looming,

To suggest that preventing people indulging in that sort of behaviour might crash the world economy is clearly ridiculous, the number of people actually "conducting business" or any other useful activity on their smart phones is minute compared to those indulging in less savoury activities

Most people use phones to pay bills. QR codes, pay id, bpay etc. Laptops are 2005 tech. Some restaurants won't even accept cash.

3 minutes ago, Rockyroad said:

Most people use phones to pay bills. QR codes, pay id, bpay etc. Laptops are 2005 tech. Some restaurants won't even accept cash.

Laptops are still manufactured to this day,! Retail establishments are perfectly entitled to alienate any customers they wish, If I owned a restaurant I would refuse entry to Kids, and insist on payment in cash

2 hours ago, Bday Prang said:

Whilst I actually do possess one, I rarely use it ,and I have never considered myself a ,full member of the "smart phone fan club"

I always wondered what people with their heads buried in their phones 24/7 were upto and now I know .

a"digital substitute for partnered sex" ! one way of putting it i guess, but if people are indulging to the extent that it affects the birth rate, I feel a ban may be on the cards

Never happen. Pandora is out of the box. I'm sure many would prefer death. The rest will require a psych hospital.

55 minutes ago, BilllyGOAT said:

Yes, Japan has a real social structural problem: a staggering 40% of adults are virgins, a direct symptom of a broken dating culture. The root cause? Utterly socially paralyzed men. Crippled by a fear of rejection and too socially awkward to articulate basic human emotions, many refuse to even ask a woman out unless they are sure they will really like the woman and have a guaranteed, risk-free outcome. This widespread male fragility is actively tanking the country’s dating pool, marriage rates, and birth numbers.

It is the exact same brand of pathetic stagnation seen in Susan Raquel Harris. Still a virgin at 55, she lacks the fundamental social skills required to interact with or tolerate real human beings. Her situation perfectly mirrors this crisis: rather than facing reality, she spends her entire life rotting away on this site, using a screen to hide from the real-world interactions she is too incompetent and incapable of handling.

which one is " Susan Raquel Harris" I don't recall that user name,