In 20 years, the ratio of working age to seniors will be halved in Thailand
Thailand is facing an increasingly ageing population. Unlike other Asian countries, it is ill-equipped to cope with it. Thai authorities must rethink urban welfare policies.
Bangkok (AsiaNews) – Thailand has one of Asia’s fastest ageing populations.
The ratio of working age to senior people is expected to be halved from 3.6 in 2020 over the next 20 years, this according to the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC)
The demographic challenge it faces is not dissimilar from that of Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore, but these countries are richer and their shift was more gradual.
In Thailand, action is hampered by cultural and economic factors and the speed at which the population is ageing, making it hard to reform welfare policies while taking into account certain trends in society.
A low birth rate casts a heavy shadow on those on the cusp of retirement. Welfare agencies are already struggling to step in where family and neighbours once played an essential role to help increasingly lonely seniors.
Thais over 65 now number 7.5 million or 11 per cent of a population of 70 million, but are expected to reach 30 per cent by 2040.
Suthida Chuanwan, a researcher at the Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University, told a recent seminar in Bangkok that social enterprises can play a greater role, something backed by several studies.
The expert notes that a quarter of lonely seniors are at risk of insecurity, anxiety, or depression. There are more and more “elderly families”, households with people over 60 living full-time under the same roof, without any real outside support or adequate home care assistance.
The situation calls for seniors-oriented economic, social, and healthcare support initiatives, above all in large cities, starting with the capital Bangkok, where ties with relatives and acquaintances are less close than in the provinces.
In rural areas, seniors remain more integrated into the social fabric and can better enjoy recreational and social activities centred on them.
Action is essential since many of the seniors who have led a healthy lifestyle might not have had the opportunity or the means to save for the future.
For Jongjit Ritthirong, also a researcher at the Institute for Population and Social Research, this is a challenge for Thais authorities since they are now called to invest more in social assistance to avoid future unsustainable cost increases associated with the increasingly ageing population.
.png)
10/01/2007
