The Government is preparing to announce childbirth promotion as part of the national agenda in March 2024, in line with its policy to develop the quality of the population and human capital.

Deputy Government Spokesperson Kaenika Oonchit said that the birth rate in Thailand has continued to decline. In 2022, only 485,085 babies were born, and this number was the lowest in more than 70 years. 

She pointed out that Thailand’s population has been on a decline since 2021, as the birth rate fell below the death rate. If this situation continues, the population is likely to drop by half in the next 60 years to only 33 million. As a result, the country would be at risk of labor shortages, thus affecting economic, social, and national stability in the future.

In order to tackle this problem, the Ministry of Public Health has assigned the Department of Health to launch the campaign “Give Birth, Great World,” aimed at promoting childbirth and with hospital care of good quality. Under the campaign, all hospitals under the supervision of the Ministry of Public Heath will set up clinics for childbirth promotion. 

These clinics will offer counselling services to couples, which also include childbirth planning, diagnosis of pregnancy, and treatment of infertility. Some hospitals will be developed further to enable them to provide in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intra-uterine insemination (IUI) services. 

The Deputy Government Spokesperson said that the Government is also considering other measures to promote childbirth, in terms of financial support for couples to ease the burden of raising children. Legal amendments will also be made to laws that currently prevent access to assisted reproductive technology for single women and men, as well as members of the LGBT community who want to have children. 

The problem of the low childbirth rate is said to have an impact not only on public health but also on socio-economic factors.