UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)
|
| UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) |
|
ISO: THA
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The electronic preparation of this document has been done by the
Population Information Network(POPIN) of the United Nations Population
Division in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme
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AS WRITTEN
Country Statement
of
THAILAND
by
His Excellency, Dr. Arthit Ourairat
Minister of Public Health
Head of the Thai Delegation
to the International Conference on Population and Development
Cairo, Egypt, 5-13 September 1994
Mr. President;
Secretary-General of the Conference;
Excellencies; distinguished representatives and delegates;
ladies and gentlemen:
On behalf of the Thai delegation I would like to extend to you,
Mr.President, and the other members of the bureau, my sincere
congratulations on your election to office. I would also like to
congratulate Dr. Nafis Sadik, the Secretary-General of the International
Conference on Population and Development, for her untiring preparations
for this Conference; and I would like to voice our gratitude to the
secretariat of the ICPD for the efficient manner in which the
documentation has been prepared and for all the efforts that have been
made to maintain dialogue with the participating governments. Before
presenting our Country Statement, I would also like to express our deep
appreciation to the Government and people of Egypt for their warm
welcome and the kind hospitality extended to our delegation.
Mr. President,
Thailand has long recognized the importance of population issues,
which are interrelated with almost every aspect of national development.
Because the International Conference on Population and Development
highlights the political and social importance of population issues,
Thailand supports its call for immediate and determined action to
balance population, consumption and development patterns; to put an end
to absolute poverty; and to provide for human needs and yet protect and
preserve the environment. The Thai delegation, therefore, fully supports
the approaches as reflected in the main themes of the draft Programme of
action.
Mr. President,
I should like to inform the Conference briefly about Thailand's
population situation, and its policies and strategies in this regard.
Our recognition of the importance of population to national
development preceded the holding of the World Population Conference at
Bucharest. The first statement of the Thai Government's population
policy was made in March 1970. It stated clearly that family planning
would be the main strategy to reduce the rapid population growth rate.
Subsequently, the Ministry of Public Health was given the responsibility
for establishing the National Family Planning programme, which has made
possible a decline in the population growth rate from around 3 per cent
per annum in 1970 to 1.3 per cent in 1994. The Thai population is
currently about 58 million, and most likely will grow to 70 million
within the next two decades.
Throughout the past two decades, the Programme has in general
achieved the targets set for it under each of the Government's Five-Year
National Economic and Social Development Plans. The success of the
Programme is due to the rapid socio-economic changes that have been
taking place in Thailand which have caused couples to view large numbers
of children as an economic burden, especially in term of providing them
with a good education. The success of the Programme is also due to a
favorable cultural setting, including a relatively high degree of female
autonomy, and to the organized efforts of the National Family Planning
Programme in providing the contraceptives and information couples need
to limit family size.
During the previously mentioned period, the prevalence rate for
modern contraceptive methods rose sharply from 14 per cent to 75 per
cent, and the total fertility rate declined sharply from 6 children per
woman to only 2.2. This means that Thailand is-well within striking
range of achieving replacement level fertility.
The decline of the total fertility rate in Thailand has been
pervasive, occurring almost equally in urban and rural areas. However,
although all regions have shared in the fertility decline, some marked
differences are still apparent. For example, in the Northeastern and the
Southern parts of the country, the total fertility rate remains
relatively high at 3.
Nonetheless, more and more people are now aware of the benefits of
having fewer children: having a small family enables parents to give
their children( more in terms of health. education and welfare. With the
infant mortality rate dropping from 80 per 1,000 to 35 per 1,000 live
births during the last three decades, it is obvious that the health
situation has improved. Yet we hose to do more in the future in the
areas of providing primary health care; better nutrition, water and
sanitation; disease control; immunization; and health education.
Mr. President.
Thailand's focus is not limited to the size of the population alone.
The Government is also concerned about urban migration, human resources
development, the environment and improving the role and status of women.
While we continue to reduce our rate of population growth, we are also
committed to improving the "qualitative" aspects of our people's lives;
he think that the size of the population is not so important as its
well-being. In this context. the current Five-Year Plan is aimed at
fostering sustainable development, equitable distribution of the
benefits of that development, improvement in the quality of life of the
people, and conservation of natural resources and the environment in
addition to reducing the population growth rate to around 1.2 per cent
per annum by the end of this development Plan in 1996. We are now trying
to reach more effectively certain disadvantaged groups in the
population, while continuing to implement other aspects of the
Programme.
As I mentioned previously, other population issues also continue to
be important in the process of national development and improving the
quality of life of Thailand's population. Those issues are complex and
interlinked. For example, the Government is trying now to halt the
environmental degradation that has plagued us as a consequence of our
rapid economic development. Other serious problems resulting from rapid
economic growth that demand attention are drug addiction, unemployment,
juvenile delinquency and exploitation and AIDS.
Urban migration is another issue that the Government is addressing. It
is associated with related problems ranging from worsening traffic to
cramped living conditions, and from problems ranging from reproductive
health and fertility to environmental degradation. In our efforts to
promote balanced development, the Government has laid out strategies for
decentralized growth and the establishment of economic activities
outside major urban centers such as Bangkok.
In seeking to upgrade the quality of life of the people, we cannot
stress enough. the importance- of human resources development. Education
is perceived by most Thais as the main vehicle for social mobility and
as a prerequisite for a secure job. In this context, I should mention
too that the decline in the proportion of children in the total
population has made it possible for the Government to plan to expand
basic education from six to nine years in a gradual and systematic
manner, and to increase the transition rates of children from the
primary level to lower secondary school enrollment from about 46 per
cent to no less than 73 per cent by the end of the Seventh Plan. In
addition, the Government is promoting a variety of formal and non-formal
education and training opportunities at all levels.
An additional benefit of implementing such human resources
development strategies will be further improvements in the role and
status of women. As I mentioned previously, female autonomy is
relatively high in Thailand. But because we recognize the importance of
women's contributions to development, women's concerns are integrated
into all aspects of the development process. I could describe these at
length, but suffice it to say that increased educational opportunities
are at the heart of our approach.
Mr. President,
We have found that not all population problems concern those at
younger ages. Owing to the success of our fertility-reduction Programme,
the age structure of the Thai population is now changing to one with a
higher proportion of older people than ever before. In view of the
strains placed on the traditional support systems for the elderly, owing
to Thailand's rapid industrialization and increased opportunities for
male and female employment, the Government plans to provide support for
the elderly; for example: strengthening the family as a social unit and
fostering greater involvement of families in care-giving, the provision
of geriatric health care services as well as improving the overall well-
being of the elderly through social security measures.
Thailand looks forward to playing a more active role in the
future in the areas of multilateral cooperation, particularly by helping
to bridge the gap between the more developed countries and developing
countries through the exchange of expertise, the sharing of information
and knowledge, and the provision of training.
Mr. President.
I should mention that Thailand is one of the signatories of the
Bali blueprint for national and regional approaches to achieve a number
of important population goals such as the ones I have outlined. In this
context, it is an honor for me to express my delegation's strong support
also for the proposed Cairo Programme of Action and its recommendations,
which reflect the approaches needed globally to attain such population
goals into the next century.
In conclusion, please allow me also to express our
appreciation for having been given the opportunity to participate in the
ICPD, and to thank the. United Nations system for all its help in
enabling developing countries such as Thailand to work towards achieving
our population and development goals in the past and, hopefully, in the
years to come.
Thank you.