BANGKOK, March 21 (Xinhua) -- "When I first had my twins, I thought it would be great to have another daughter, but now I've given up that idea," said Chayada.
The 36-year mom felt overwhelmed recently when she and her twin boys were diagnosed with COVID-19. The three were quarantined in a windowless ward for 10 days, which made her think of her pre-pregnancy life when she was a university teacher and dreamed of pursuing a PhD.
"It is difficult to balance work and family life, and that's one reason why most of my friends decided to have one child or stay childless," she said.
Chayada is one of the young people in Thailand, who have attributed their reluctance to have babies to their high living costs and lagging income growth.
According to the National Statistical Office, only 540,000 babies were born last year in Thailand with a population of nearly 70 million.
"What we are seeing now is an accumulation of changes over the past 50 to 60 years," said Worawan Chandoevwit, advisor in the social security sector of Thailand Development Research Institute.
In 1965, the fertility rate for Thai women was around 6.1, while it fell to a record low of 1.51 in 2019, data released by the World Bank showed.
Worawan said that the substantial fertility decline is largely driven by two underlying factors -- population control measures implemented in the 1970s and rapid economic growth in the 1980s, which led to increased mobility and a rising proportion of women in the workforce.
"The declining fertility rate became a natural trend," she said, adding that while the cost of raising children in urban areas is rising every year, the mindset about childbearing is also changing.
Nowadays, an increasing number of women in Thailand are prioritizing building their careers over having kids.
To reverse the trend of declining birth rates, the Thai government has launched campaigns to encourage childbirth by opening more childcare and fertility centers nationwide as well as hiring social media influencers to promote the joys of having children.
It is hard to change the situation by merely encouraging people to have more children without giving enough support, Worawan said.
For a young mom like Chayada, being away from work for so long has made it impossible for her to return to the office. "I don't feel confident enough to go back to work, because of missing years of work experience and demanding skills, " she said.
Government operations and social awareness towards stay-at-home moms are still lagging compared to the direction in which society is moving, experts said.
"Apparently, this situation won't change overnight," said Worawan.
Measures such as offering more opportunities for parents to work from home could help promote higher birth rates. Prospective parents need to have the perspective that circumstances change for the better through financial and practical support, Worawan said. ■