The Impact of Family Size on Wealth Accumulation in Rural Thailand

An analysis of survey and focus group data collected in 1988 in two rural sites in Thailand indicates that couples with few children are better able to accumulate wealth than those with greater numbers of children. The study is based on partially matched samples of couples in intact marriages who began their childbearing during the 1960s or early 1970s. Family size is inversely related to the amount of consumer goods acquired and the amount of savings accumulated as well as to the quality of the couple's housing. These associations persist after controlling for other important determinants of the household wealth level including the couple's economic status early in the family building process. Couples' perceptions of the impact of family size on their economic well being largely agree with the objective findings from the survey analysis.