more and more elderly, single and childless

This is the reality that emerges from the biennial report of the National Council for Economic and Social Development. Those who do not intend to marry have gone from 35.7% in 2017 to 40.5% last year. Government policies ineffective in reversing the trend. For more and more Thais, the concept of “individual income, without children” prevails.

Bangkok () – Thais are getting older and having fewer and fewer children. Now there are also more and more singles. A situation “photographed” by the biannual report of the National Council for Economic and Social Development, which indicates how the development of society has reduced the declared desire to get married. In fact, the number of those who do not want to get married at all has gone from 35.7% of citizens of reproductive age in 2017 to 40.5% last year. And this occurred despite exhortations and official measures to boost births, indicating that the trend can be reversed with great difficulty.

Thailand already ranks first in the proportion of elderly population among low- and medium-developed Asian economies. Data from the World Bank and local institutions clearly show how the birth rate has plummeted by three-quarters to reach 10 per thousand in 2023, when Thailand has become a “nation of the elderly” in statistical terms. with a population greater than 60%.

The tendency of Thais to adhere to the concept of “Single Income, No Kids” is increasingly evident, despite the fact that the country continues to propose to society a traditional ideal of an extended, cohesive and solidarity with their elders. The transition from an agrarian society to a predominantly urban one, from a traditional value system to an increasingly globalized one, and the economic problems that affect many citizens, especially those who live outside the rural context, mark the decisions of the population. between 15 and 49 years old about marriage and procreation.

Urgent and exceptional measures are needed, and the Government led by Srettha Thavisin has indicated how the issue has moved to the top of its agenda. In fact, the consequences are already noticeable and, for the moment, are limited in part to greater openness to immigrants to “rejuvenate” the workforce and prevent it from being reduced to the point of discouraging investment or slowing down crucial economic sectors. However, it is precisely the government initiatives, and not just those of an executive in office for less than a year, that have come under the scrutiny of the National Council for Economic and Social Development, which has indicated that the incentives have been up to now totally insufficient, even more so in comparison with the option of other realities to financially support families with children. Low levels of average income, along with the rising cost of living and a national economy in crisis, are other factors.