The Public Health Ministry has embarked on a campaign to make Thai youths drink milk every day, an initiative the Ministry hopes will result in a taller populace. The program’s goal is to increase the average height of Thai citizens to 175cm for males and 162cm for females within 10 years. A secondary goal of the program is to lengthen the average Thai lifespan to 80 years.
Cholanan Srikaew, the Deputy Public Health Minister, stated yesterday that Thai youths aged 18 were rather short, with an average height of 167.1cm for males and 157.4 cm for females. Cholanan maintains that this is due to Thais only drinking 14 liters of milk per person per year. This amount is small when compared to the average dairy consumption in Southeast Asia, which is 60 liters per year. The global average for milk consumption is 103.9 liters per year, the Nation reported.
