Thailand has a population of approximately 67 million with a predominantly
public health service system. Ethnically the country is quite homogeneous with 95%
being Thai and Buddhists and 3% Moslems and around 0.5% hill tribes. The population
growth rate at present is 1.2% per annum. Demographically, the country is
undergoing a rapid transition towards an aging population although the proportion of
elderly population is only around 8% at present.
With respect to the economy, Thailand used to have an average growth of 7%
per year before the 1997 economic crisis. During the late 80’s and early ‘90’s there
were double digit growth of GDP. This resulted in 25 times increase in income per
capita and decrease in the proportion of people below poverty line. However, with
the crisis, the picture has changed dramatically. The country GDP suffered negative
growth in 1997 and 1998. The income per capita in dollar term was projected to be
only 1993 US$. The proportion of people below poverty line was also projected to
increase by 11.6%. Although the recent numbers in 2001-2002 improved to positive
growth, the country has not totally recovered.