Population Ageing and the Well-Being of Older Persons in Thailand ...

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Acknowledgements We are grateful to the National Statistical Office for providing us an advance copy of data from the 2007 Survey of Older Persons in Thailand as well as other relevant data sets for analyses in this report. Albert Hermalin and Mary Beth Ofstedal kindly made available their detailed projections of the characteristics of Thai elderly in the future which are presented in Section 3. We appreciate the opportunity given to us by the UNFPA Thailand and the Country Technical Services Team for East and South-East Asia, especially Mr. G. Giridhar, Mr. G. Mujahid, and Ms. W. Im-em, to prepare this report, for their encouragement, and for their patience and understanding concerning the unavoidable delays in its completion. We also thank Ms. Kiran Bhatia for her thoughtful comments. iv
Foreword This report is the fifth in the publication series entitled ‘Papers in Population Ageing’ issued by the Asia and the Pacific Regional Office (APRO) of UNFPA in Bangkok. The first report covered a sub-regional overview of ageing in East and South-East Asia; the second analyzed the implications of rural-urban migration for intergenerational solidarity; and the third and fourth reports provided an in-depth analysis of the ageing situation in Indonesia and China, respectively. The Country Technical Services Team (CST) for East and South-East Asia in Bangkok issued these earlier reports. This report focuses on the rapid demographic change that has taken place in Thailand during the last three to four decades leading to the country becoming the most “aged” in South-East Asia next only to Singapore. This is explained by the significant declines in fertility (from 6.4 to 1.8) and improvements in longevity (from 52 to 71 years) during the second half of the 20th century. These trends can be attributed to effective government and civil society programmes to improve the health of the population and promote voluntary family planning. This led to population ageing that poses new challenges to families, communities as well as to nations as a whole. Not only will there be more older persons and living longer but there will also be on average far fewer young persons to support them during old age. At the national level, this translates into a dramatic decline in the ratio of the working age population to the population in older ages. The implications of a shrinking tax base and the increasing requirements of resources for health services and social pensions are all too evident from what Japan and Europe are now increasingly faced with. The Government of Thailand is fully aware of these consequences and has formulated policy measures to address them. However, given the speed of population ageing, much more will need to be done in the years ahead. Appropriate policies and programmes in response to population ageing need to be based on solid evidence concerning the economic, social and health situation of older persons and contributions they make to socio-economic and cultural development. It is hoped that this report will contribute to an informed discussion of and further research on such issues and provide the Government with evidence for strengthening policies and programmes. First of all, we wish to thank Professor John Knodel and Khun Nappoporn for this study report. Mr Ghazy Mujahid, our Adviser on Population Policies and Development, Ms. Wassana Im-Em, Assistant Representative in the Thai Country Office and Ms. Kiran Bhatia, our Gender Adviser have added substantive value to this report. G. Giridhar Nobuko Horibe UNFPA Representative Director Thailand Asia and the Pacific Regional Office UNFPA, Bangkok v
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Endnotes 1 On gender and ageing see
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Bibliography Bryant, J. 2005. Proje
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Knodel, John, Napaporn Chayovan, Si
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Verbrugge, Lois. 1989. The Twain Me
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