Deputy Public Health Minister Santi Promphat wants to increase the birth rate in Thailand, by encouraging Thai couples to have children and by making it easier for them to get access to assisted-reproductive services.

Deputy government spokesperson Kaenika Oonchit said today that the deputy public health minister led senior ministerial officials on a visit to the Health Department, during which he briefed departmental officials on a number of key matters, one of which was the encouragement of married couples to have children and increase the birth rate in Thailand.

Santi reportedly told the officials that he wants to see an increasing birth rate added to the national agenda and work is under way to amend regulations which currently make it difficult for women to access assisted-reproductive services or technology.

Kaenika further said that the deputy minister wants women to feel proud and honoured to have children.

The fertility rate in Thailand in 2023 is 1.461 births per woman, compared to 1.476 in 2022 and 1.491 in 2021. The falling birth rate is mainly a result of population control measures implemented in the 1970s and rapid economic growth, leading to increased mobility and the increasing proportion of women in the work force.