A master plan is being drafted to improve Thailand's ability to cope with the consequences of two key factors exacerbating the country's problematic demographic trend -- namely, a rapidly ageing population and declining birth rates, the government said yesterday.
Drawn from opinions and proposals made at a brainstorming session organised on Thursday by the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, the master plan will be submitted to the cabinet next month for approval and will then be presented at the 57th session of the United Nations (UN) Commission on Population and Development, to be held in New York City from April 29 to May 3, said Social Development and Human Security Minister Varawut Silpa-archa.
Thursday's forum was attended by representatives of Chulalongkorn University's College of Population Studies, the Institute of Asian Studies and the World Bank.
So far, the master plan for tackling Thailand's ageing society is divided into five elements, namely: empowering people of working age; improving the quality of life and productivity of children and youths; empowering the elderly population; increasing life and work opportunities and improving the quality of life of disabled people; and building a new eco-system for family security development, said Mr Varawut.
Last year, about 77 billion baht was spent on financing the government's care of about 10.3 million elderly people through the provision of monthly living allowances.
While this living allowance scheme for senior Thai citizens still isn't a universal programme, it is projected to require up to 120 billion baht in funding over the next five years if no other effective measures are adopted to help decrease the reliance by the elderly on state welfare, said the minister.
"A paradigm shift is needed," said Mr Varawut.
"We have to change the way we think and act, or else no matter how many times we change the government, the result of our handling of this problem will remain the same," he added.
