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| FILE PHOTO: A woman wearing a mask carries a baby at a bus station after many workers crowded the terminal station to return to their cities after many activities have been closed due to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bangkok, Thailand March 22, 2020. (File photo by: REUTERS/Challinee Thirasupa) |
[Asia News = Reporter Reakkana] BANGKOK: Thailand is scrambling to encourage its people to have more babies to arrest a slumping birth rate, offering parents childcare and fertility centres, while also tapping social media influencers to showcase the joys of family life.
The campaign comes as the number of births has dropped by nearly a third since 2013, when they started declining. Last year saw 544,000 births, the lowest in at least six decades and below the 563,000 deaths, which were also swelled by coronavirus-related fatalities. While Thailand's demographic path is similar to other Asian economies like Japan or Singapore, as an emerging market relying on cheap labour and a growing middle class, the implications for Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy are far more profound.
Senior health official Suwannachai Wattanayingcharoenchai told Reuters that the government recognised a need to intervene. The plans include opening fertility centres, currently limited to Bangkok and other major cities, in 76 provinces and also using social media influencers to back up the message, officials said. Thailand is not alone in the region struggling with low fertility rates, but is less wealthy than some more developed countries that have been forced to rely on migrant workers to support their economies. Meanwhile, The ratio of working-aged to elderly people last year was 3.4, but by 2040, officials forecast it could be 1.7.
