Children are expensive, stressful and sometimes a pain in the ass so we can understand why single Bangkokians are increasingly opting to not tie the knot.
Unfortunately with every ying there is a yang and now Thailand is facing serious future labour shortages due to its plummeting birth rate.
One proposed solution came from Rangsit University economist Terdsak (how about this name people?) Chomtohsuwan who suggested providing subsidies to parents having their first child while introducing a tax on single people.
Predictably, this pissed a lot of people off, but mostly just the tax on single people part. The subsidies for parents idea seems to have some legs.
Forcing the issue is the recent news that the total fertility rate (TFR), a direct measure of the level of fertility referring to births per woman, is now the lowest in Thai history, according to Pramote Prasartkul, of Mahidol University’s Institution for Population and Social Research (IPSR).
The TFR dropped from more than six births per woman before 1970 to 1.6 at present.
In the Southeast Asian region, only Singapore has a lower TFR rate than Thailand at 1.2. Vietnam is at 1.8, Malaysia is at 2.6, and Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar are more than three.
“Personally, I think women’s social status is higher. They gain good education,” Pramote said. “They don’t want to make a commitment.”
A 2013 survey from the National Statistic Office found 21% of Thai females aged over 15 remain single.
There were more than 1 million birth registrations each year over the past 45 years. But less than 800,000 babies were registered last year.
Urban women tend to prefer single status to those in rural areas. About 30 percent of Bangkok woman are single. More married couples are tending to decline to have kids as well, the survey found.
Due to the low TFR, the IPSR estimates people in the workforce aged between 15 and 59 years will decrease from 67% of the Thai population in 2010 to 55.1% in 2040.
“Still, I think the quantity of births is not as important as the quality of births,” Pramote said. “We must also plan for good welfare, health care and financial security for the elderly.”
Besides the low birth rate, another complication is longer life expectancy.
Thailand was classified as an aging society in 2005 when the number of people aged over 60 reached 10% of the population.
This number is expected to reach 20% by 2027, by which time the country will be an “aged” society. People aged over 65 will reach 20% in 2031, which is classified as a “super aged” society, the Bangkok Post reported.
