Title: Reproductive preferences and fertility trends in post-transition Thailand.

POPLINE Document Number: 121062

Author(s):

Knodel J
Ruffolo VP
Ratanalangkarn P
Wongboonsin K

Source citation:

STUDIES IN FAMILY PLANNING, 1996 Nov-Dec;27(6):307-18.

Abstract:

Estimations, based primarily on the 1990 census, that Thailand's total fertility rate fell below replacement level in the late 1980s sparked alarm about extinction of the Thai race and calls to abandon public subsidies for family planning. Recent low total fertility is considered a temporary phenomenon, however, related to the rapid rise in age at marriage and first birth. Birth registration data suggest that the fertility decline levelled off, probably close to replacement level, during the first half of the 1990s and fertility is unlikely to fall below two children. Although the 1988 and 1993 Social Attitudes Toward Children Surveys documented a consistent trend toward declining family size preferences (64% of 1993 respondents, and 74% of women under 30 years of age, stated a preference for two children), only 5% desired fewer than two children. This lower limit of two children prevailed across regional, educational, and socioeconomic categories and appears to reflect a desire to have a child of each sex. In 1993, three-quarters of married women under 30 years of age expressed a preference for one son and one daughter. Despite this preference, Thai couples who fail to achieve this goal generally subordinate gender ideals to the prevailing preferred limit of two children. Although the Thai Government has succeeded in exhorting couples to reduce their family size, any abandonment of subsidized family planning programs could have a deleterious impact on poor families in rural areas.

Keywords:

Thailand
Fertility Surveys
Fertility Decline
Fertility Preferences
Family Size, Desired
Sex Preference
Demographic Transition
Zero Population Growth
Family Planning Policy
Changes
Developing Countries
Asia, Southeastern
Asia
Fertility Measurements
Fertility
Population Dynamics
Demographic Factors
Population
Fertility Changes
Family Size
Family Characteristics
Family and Household
Value Orientation
Psychological Factors
Behavior
Population Size
Family Planning
Population Policy
Social Policy
Policy
Social Change