Public Policy related to Fertility in Thailand: Past, Present and the Way forward

Abstract

Thailand has been implementing public policies related to fertility for several decades. At present, Thailand is facing low fertility threats and is attempting to mitigate these problems. Understanding the experiences from the past may provide useful knowledge to handle challenging issues. This study aims to review the past and present of those policies classified into three periods by the main policy objectives, consisting of pronatalist, family planning and challenging periods. Moreover, this study analyses the policy effectiveness of each period by applying the Mazmanian and Sabatier’s conditions of effective policy implementation. Results indicate that the public policies under the pronatalist and family planning periods can meet all conditions in the checklist, showing the effectiveness of the policy implementation at that time. By contrast, policies under the challenging period can only meet some conditions, showing that some improvements need to be performed. Thus, if the missing conditions are alleviated with the harmonious cooperation between policy makers and other program supporters, programs can achieve their goals