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Published on October 26, 2007

Kua Wongboonsin, a population studies expert from Chulalongkorn University, said the problem of dropping fertility rates needed immediate attention.

With the average family now having fewer than two children, the Thai family structure had changed drastically - from the highest percentage of the child population (0 to four years old) in 1970 to the highest projected percentage of elderly in 2010, he said.

Kua said the Thai working population would drop further in the next two or three years, while the number of elderly people would continue rising.

This is bound to create economic and social problems.

Even though the ninth and 10th national economics and social development plans have declared that Thailand had a balanced population structure with an appropriate family size and a total fertility rate of 2.05 children, there was no concrete action plan in the works, Kua added.

He urged the government to implement an income tax reduction plan for families linked to the number of children, tax deductions for working mothers, permission for workers to leave work early to attend to sick kids and child support welfare. These factors would encourage Thais to have more children and help them realise that procreating helpds Thailand's human resources, society and culture.

The Nation