title: Has Thailand's fertility decline stalled?
abstract: Thailand is 1 of the third world countries in which a very substantial fertility decline has occurred during the last 2 decades.  However, there has been some recent concern, based on fertility rates derived from 3 national contraceptive prevalence surveys conducted in 1978/1979, 1981, and 1984, that the fertility decline may have lost momentum at a level well above replacement fertility.  New evidence now available from a more recent national survey which permits calculation of retrospective fertility trends, in combination with those from registration data, clearly contradicts the suggestion of a fall in the fertility decline.  Moreover, because expected family size remains low among women currently starting their reproductive careers and evidence shows that the preferred number of children has fallen more or less steadily, low fertility may be expected to be a feature of the Thai population for some time to come.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Knodel
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chayovan
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Frisen
mesh_terms: D001208:Asia; D001210:Asia, Southeastern; D001519:Behavior; D001721:Birth Intervals; D001723:Birth Rate; D003267:Contraception; D003268:Contraception Behavior; D003625:Data Collection; D003710:Demography; D003906:Developing Countries; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005193:Family Planning Services; D005298:Fertility; D011153:Population; D011157:Population Dynamics; D011584:Psychology; D012723:Sex; D012945:Social Values; D013785:Thailand
keywords: Asia; Behavior; Birth Intervals; Birth Rate; Contraception; Contraceptive Prevalence Surveys; Contraceptive Usage; Demographic Factors; Developing Countries; Family And Household; Family Characteristics; Family Planning; Family Planning Surveys; Family Size; Fertility Measurements; Fertility Rate; Fertility--changes; Open Live-birth Intervals; Population; Population Dynamics; Psychological Factors; Sex Preference; Southeastern Asia; Thailand; Value Orientation