The aims of this study are to estimate levels and trends of childlessness as well as to examine
the influence of socioeconomic development on childlessness. Data used are the Population and
Housing Census conducted by the National Statistical Office of Thailand from 1970 to 2000.
The level of childlessness was measured by the proportion of childlessness at the end of reproductive
age (aged 45-49 years). Multivariate analysis-logistic regression analysis-was conducted
to examine the influence of socioeconomic development on childlessness. The findings show that
the level of childlessness, using the proportion of women aged 45-49 who are childless as the
indicator, increased between 1970 and 2000 : 6.5 %, 7.2%, 9.4%, and 13.6 % in 1970,1980,
1990, and 2000 respectively. The findings also demonstrate that socioeconomic development,
as measured indirectly by using the proxy variables of birth cohort, education level and occupation,
significantly influenced the increase of childlessness.