Public Health Minister Dr. Suwanchai Wattanayingcharoenchai stated on Monday that the government is ready to deal with the problem by promoting "Smart Families," passing legislation, and creating policies in accordance with the country's second National Reproductive Health Development Policy and Strategy.
The policy's stated goal is to increase the number of healthy pregnancies, the number of women who give birth with the intention of keeping their babies, and the number of children who receive the kind of nurturing care they need to reach their full potential as productive citizens.
In addition, the Ministry has passed an Act for Prevention and Solution of the Adolescent Pregnancy Problem to bring together stakeholders in an advisory council.
Within a decade, the enactment of this law is projected to cut in half the birthrate among teenagers 15 to 19. The ministry's goal is to bring the birthrate of teenagers down to below 1.5 per thousand by 2027.
As a bonus, the policy and method will let teen moms go back into school and get financial aid if they have children.
Thailand briefs Apec on its "Smart Families" initiative
Suwanchai defined Thailand's population strategy as having three distinct periods.
He said that previous prime minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram had pushed for more births in Thailand because he wanted the country's population to grow from 14.5 million in 1937 to 26.3 million in 1960.
When the population continued to rise after that, however, Thailand backed family planning programs in an effort to slow it down. Foreign nations took notice of the policy's effectiveness as the contraceptive rate rose from 14% to 72% between 1970 and 2000 as part of the National Family Planning Programme.
According to Suwanchai, the population size and composition are more intricate in the third stage. Inadequate fertility rates provide a problem for the new demographic program.
Imprudent pregnancies, pregnancies among adolescents, unwanted pregnancies, and unsafe abortions were all issues.
According to the World Population Prospect 2022, he said, Thailand has one of the world's lowest fertility rates. Thailand's fertility rate was lower than all but 20 other nations.
Thailand briefs Apec on its "Smart Families" initiative
On the first day of Apec Health Week, Thai Deputy Public Health Minister Sathit Pitutecha said that 17 of the 21 Apec members were experiencing a demography problem due to a fertility rate lower than the replacement rate, and could lead to a reduction in population and have long-term impact on the economy.
Sathit said that Thailand, which is likewise an aging country and will soon become an old society, has the same challenge. According to him, in 2020 we will have a total fertility rate of 1.24, which is less than the 1.6 needed for replacement.
He said that each year fewer babies are being born. In 2017, he said, there were almost 700,000 births, but by 2021, that number had dropped to about 540,000.
There has been a steady decline in the birthrate, and very soon it will be equal to the deathrate. He cautioned that if action is not taken soon, the death toll might rise and the Thai population could be cut in half.
He predicted that even while the workforce's numbers would decrease, their workload would rise, and that they would be expected to serve society's children and elderly.
In the next 40 years, Sathit predicts that the number of individuals able to work will decrease by 15 million, while the number of persons 65 and older would grow by 12 million.
Thailand's economy, finances, and society may all be affected by the country's rapidly shifting demographics.
Thailand briefs Apec on its "Smart Families" initiative
From Monday till Friday, the Millennium Hilton Bangkok in Thailand is hosting the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Health Week.
Experts in the fields of public health and family planning, as well as representatives of the civil society sector, educational institutions, international organizations, and the commercial sector are among the Apec members who are expected to provide their perspectives on topics such as population.