Older Persons in Thailand: A Demographic, Social and Economic Profile

Population aging is proceeding at a rapid pace in Thailand posing important challenges for the government and society as a whole. On the positive side, the material well-being of older persons in Thailand has been improving. Older Thais live in better quality houses with far more appliances and amenities compared to a decades or two ago. The recent spread of telephones improves their ability to maintain contact with children and relatives who live elsewhere. Still, a large rural and urban gap in material well-being remains. Also of concern, given current widespread reliance on children for material support, is that future elderly will have far fewer children to depend on. Hopefully efforts by family and state will complement each other and allow Thailand to adapt constructively to the inevitable ageing of its population.