WUNRN
By JAMES
HOOKWAY –
March 10, 2014
BAAN TAM TA
KEM,
Birthrates
have fallen in
Out here among
the green rice fields and plantations of rural
Other pockets
of the developing world also have seen sharp declines in fertility rates,
including
"Aging is
occurring nearly everywhere, and it's happening faster than many people
think," says Babatunde Ostimehin, executive director of the United
Nations' population program. "If governments don't respond, they could end
up facing a crisis."
Demographers
such as Michael Teitelbaum at Harvard Law School and Jay Winter, a history
professor at Yale University, note that already more than half the world's
population lives in aging countries where the fertility rate is less than 2.1
children per woman—the rate required to replace both parents, once infant
mortality is taken into account.
This is both
an opportunity and a threat. On one hand, it could help preserve natural
resources in nations that have been taxed by rapid population growth. But some
economists blame a slowdown in population growth for contributing to such
disparate events as the Great Depression and
Some developing
nations that built their economies on an expanding supply of young people
entering the workforce are rethinking their growth plans.
Chile's
government last year announced plans for a "baby bonus" for parents
who have a third child, following the lead of countries such as France and
Australia, which already have incentives for parents to have more children.
Fertility
rates rise and fall. The improving economy in the
In the
developing world, fertility rates are likely to continue falling. More people
are moving to crowded megacities where housing and education are increasingly
expensive, and the cultural changes sparked by these migrations are difficult
to reverse.
"
In
Retirees make
up a significant and visible proportion of the demonstrators who regularly take
to the streets in
"There
are a lot more of us now, and we have a voice," said Suchakree Somkong, 74
years old, waving a yellow royal banner with his friends at one recent protest.
"This is old-people's power."
Younger Thais,
meanwhile, are struggling to makes ends meet even as unemployment rates remain
consistently low. For many, having more children—or any at all—isn't going to happen
soon.
Angsana Niwat,
38, moved to
"If you
want to work, you need to find somebody and pay them to look after the
kids," says Ms. Angsana, who no longer works. "Then you have to think
about paying for extra tuition to make sure they get into a good university.
It's a struggle to make ends meet." She is dipping into her savings from
her old job in public relations, she says, because her husband's business
installing mirrors barely pulls in enough money to cover mortgage payments.
Some academics
such as Therdsak Chomtohsuwan, an economics professor at
In rural
villages, community leaders are trying to devise ways to cope with the changes.
In Baan Nong
Thong Lim, a 35-year-old monk at the local Buddhist temple began teaching
elderly villagers last July how to adjust to life with fewer young people
around to care for them. The monk, Phra Weera Sripron, gave lessons on how to
coax lime trees to yield fruit all year round by constraining their roots in
upturned cement pipes, and how to grow mushrooms, a cash crop, in homemade,
darkened gazebos.
"At the
same time we teach them about self-sufficiency and other Buddhist
principles," says Phra Weera, who sports close-cropped salt-and-pepper
hair with his saffron robe. "There are many more people coming in to the
temple now."
Local
villagers agree. "When we came to the temple before, we would just
contribute merit for the next life," says Sanit Thipnangrong, a
58-year-old grandmother. "But by doing this, we can improve our prospects
in this life and not wait around for anybody else to help us."
Some Thais
contend that rather than trying to persuade people to have more children, the
nation needs to figure out how to make do with fewer.
Mechai
Viravaidya, a veteran health campaigner, picked up the nickname "Mr.
Condom" in the 1980s when he launched a program to encourage Thai women to
have fewer children and to protect against AIDS. He traveled the country
teaching the proper use of contraception to nudge down birthrates and improve
living standards.
"People
aren't going to start having more children," he says. "That horse has
already left the stable. What we are doing here is teaching elderly people in
rural communities to learn more, earn more and increase their own
productivity."
To that end,
Mr. Mechai founded the
The goal is to
teach Thai youngsters—and their parents, grandparents and guardians, who drop
in frequently—how to produce more. Lecturers from nearby colleges stop in
regularly to tell students how to find markets for their products and earn
cash. Mushrooms and bean sprouts are potentially big earners, Mr. Mechai says.
"The yield on bean sprouts is 700%," he says. "That's better
than marijuana."
The school
also aims to redress some of the shortcomings of the country's education
sector. In last year's Program for International Student Assessment tests, run
by the international Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development,
Thailand, with a per capita income of just over $5,000 a year, lagged far
behind competitors such as China, South Korea and Singapore, ranking 48th of
the 65 countries participating.
In the nearby
A decade ago,
the area was mostly thick jungle. But now land has been cleared to raise a
variety of crops, including limes and orchids. The villagers also produce local
delicacies such as crickets fried with rock salt and fiery chili peppers, and
homeopathic remedies such as pillows stuffed with herbs that they sell as far
away as
Prisoners at a
nearby jail were taught new agricultural techniques while in detention, and
police chief Col. Narongchit Maneechote put his latest batch of recruits from
the police academy to work digging out weeds and planting saplings on the
police station's grounds.
"When
people used to see police officers with some extra money, they thought we were
getting it from protection rackets for illegal lotteries," Col. Narongchit
said. "Now they know it comes from farming."
Such self-help
programs are small steps. "But it's getting closer to the answer,"
says Mr. Therdsak of
In Hua Ngom, a
village of about 6,000 in Chiang Rai province in
"At first
we thought it was something to do with the crisis," says Mr. Winai,
referring to the Asian financial problems in the late 1990s that threw
One
73-year-old woman, he recalls, flung herself down a water well. "She
wasn't poor," he says. "She was wearing several gold necklaces. But
deep down she was overcome by the pressure of living on her own."
There have
been no suicides in recent months, he says, as older residents learn about home
farming and study languages such as English. But birthrates remain stubbornly
low. Last year, only three children were born in Hua Ngom.
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