“It ‘s awful to get old, but it’ s even worse to get old and poor.”
The United States is reporting that Thailand is now in this state of affairs, according to Bloomberg News. “The problem of the low birth rate is a social problem that occurs mainly in developed countries with high per capita income, but Thailand may be the first country facing aging due to low fertility before economic development,” the media said.
According to demographics released by the United Nations last month, the birth rate per woman in Thailand was 1,535, which was 171 out of 200 countries. Thailand has the lowest birth rate in the world, with Switzerland (170th, 1,535) and Finland (172th, 1.53). “Thailand has a low fertility rate at the level of rich countries,” he said. “Countries that have nothing in common except that their fertility rate is low,” said Bloomberg.
According to Bloomberg, China is the main exception to the low birth rate problem despite the low level of national income. China’s low fertility rate is due to China’s “one child policy”, which declared its suspension in 2015, because the state has suppressed births politically. It is predicted that China will be the fastest ‘poor and old country’ in the world, but it can be overtaken by the slow pace of Thailand’s low birthrate, according to Bloomberg. In fact, in the United Nations statistics, China’s fertility rate was 1.69 per woman, 156th, showing a higher fertility rate than Thailand.
Why did Thailand become a country with a low fertility rate even though it was poor? Bloomberg reported on the reason that he was named as Mr. Condom in Thailand. She is a politician who has been a member of the Thai Senate. He led the poverty eradication movement in Thailand in the 1990s and led the Maternal and Child Health project and family planning projects.
Sheikh said that she was not able to grow up in Thailand due to irreconcilable sex and childbirth, and that she suffered from economic losses from AIDS (AIDS). In the aftermath of this, Thailand ‘s fertility rate dropped sharply in 20 years from 6.6% in the 1980s to 2.2% in the 2000s.
However, it is pointed out that Thailand’s economic development is slowing down. Thailand’s economic growth rate, which had been around 4 ~ 5%, has been steadily falling since the 1990s and now stands at around 3%. In the first quarter of this year, it recorded 2.8%, the lowest in four years. The inflation rate is 1% and the interest rate is 2%. “It’s not like Indonesia or the Philippines, where the Thai economy is developing, but it’s going to resemble Japan,” said Bloomberg.
As a result, the cost of medical care in Thailand is skyrocketing. According to the Economic Development Institute of Thailand, medical expenditure in Thailand has risen by an average of 12% per year over the last 12 years and is now the highest in Southeast Asia. It is an expert opinion that it is not easy to raise health insurance premium to improve it. “GDP per capita in Thailand is $ 6,362,” said Bloomberg. “Switzerland, which has a per capita GDP of $ 78,816, and Finland, which costs $ 48,880, is not easy to raise health insurance,” Bloomberg said.
“There is not much opportunity for Thailand to solve the problem of low fertility and aging,” he told Bloomberg. “Since the coup in 2006, the government has not been dealing with this issue in depth, The elected government has also failed to present its vision. ”
