Income distribution among elderly in Province,

Reena Tadee

Kanchana Thianlai

Burathep Chokthananukon

Background

Aging population situation in Thailand

Thailand is experiencing a slowdown in population growth. Although population growth is on the rising trend, there is a projection that it will only increase by 5 million before it slowly declines. This is projected to happen by 2020. The main reason is that the total fertility rate is lower than the replacement fertility. That means there will be less babies born than people die which will lead to changes in population structure regarding age, education, health, and population distribution etc.

The elderly population in Thailand is on the rising trend which could be said that Thailand has already become an “aging society” (Prasartkul, 2012). The growth of elderly in Thailand is increasing more rapidly than that in the Western countries. The growth rate is a result of the decreasing fertility rate, higher quality of health care which enable people to live longer lives (UNFPA, 2011). Moreover it is also estimated that the number of working age population will be decreasing from an average of 6 working age population per one elder population (year) to 2 working age population per one elder population in 2030. This could be heavier burden to working age population in taking care of the elderly especially the Old-Old and Oldest-Old. This reflects the needs in development in systems that will enable these elderly to be able to take care of themselves in order to live a quality life after their retirement (income security system).

Poverty situation in Thailand

Contrasting to the increase in aging population, Thailand is experiencing a decrease in poverty, absolutely and relatively. It is reported that there were 5.08 million people, which accounted for 7.8% of total population, compared to 5.27 million or 8.12% in 2009. The decline in poverty is due to the economic recovery and the implementation of the Government’s policies that keep the cost of living reasonable and provide better social welfare system to the people. In 2011, the economy has expanded by 7.8%. This growth rate has resulted in an increase in employment, wage, and price of agricultural products which directly had positive impact on income. In the mean time, the Government has continued to keep the cost of living low and provide social welfare to those disadvantaged such as the elderly and people with disabilities etc.

The proportion of children and elderly living under poverty are greater than those working age population—10.2% and 10.9% accordingly. Among all elderly in the rural area of Thailand, 13.8% or approximately 1 million people are considered poor. And given that Thailand is entering the aging society, it is possible that the problem of poverty among the elderly may become severe if not taken care of properly.

Literature review

The study on Income Distribution of Thai aging Household, written by Ratchapan Cheijit, has utilized economic tool in the research that aims to study and compare income distribution of Thai aging households in 2004 and 2006. The analysis is based on secondary data from Household Socioeconomic survey in 2004 and 2006 by National Statistical Office (NSO). The data is collected every two years. This study tries to compare income distribution among households with elderly population and those without to see where there is more disparity. It also compares regions to regions and specifically studies the situation in . The result from this research found that income distribution in Thailand has become worsened in all regions. The worst incidence of income distribution is the North East region, especially among aging household where the gap between the richest and the poorest is seen to be widened with the higher speed compared to other regions. This finding indicates that income distribution in Thailand exist with complexity, not only in general population but also in sub group population such as the elderly (Ratchapan, 2011).

Theoretical framework

There are 2 ways to look at income distribution including:

1. Absolute distribution

The minimum expense that is adequate for one to survive which is referred to as poverty line. Those whose incomes are below this poverty line are considered poor. The ratio between those below and above the poverty line indicates the absolute income distribution. If the ratio is decreasing while the average income is increasing, we may assume that the absolute income distribution is improving (Ratchapan, 2011).

2. Relative distribution

Income of all population is listed from lowest to highest and then divided equally into 5 or 10 levels where the lowest 20% or 10% represent those with lowest income and the top 20% or 10% represent those with highest income. The income in each level is then accumulated and calculated as percentage of income share. The more the percentages of income share in each level differ, the more the inequality in income distribution. The Gini Coefficient is usually used in order to look at inequality in relative income distribution (Ratchapan, 2011).

Methodology

With this research, we were inspired to look at income distribution among elderly in Demography socio-economic cultural surveillance and long term care for the well being of Thai elderly project which conducted data collection in Kanchanaburi Demographic Surveillance System (KDSS) area which includes 100 sample villages throughout 13 districts in Kanchanaburi Province, located in the west of Thailand adjacent to its neighboring country . Its major purpose is to study population transition over time. The first data collection was conducted in 2000-2004. The most recent data was collected in 2011 with the aim to study long term care in elderly. We used this data set in order to study the economic status/situation among these elderly.

With our secondary data from this project, we specifically explore that of income data. In this survey, income refers to money one earns from working e.g. wages, salary etc.

Analysis and result

Out of all 4,423 elderly, 47.4% has reported that they have jobs/work/are employed. We then used this data and arrange them from lowest to highest in order to divide the level of income to bottom 20%, second 20%, third 20%, forth 20%, and top 20% where bottom 20% represents the 20% of population who hold lowest income and top 20% represents those with highest income. We then calculated share of income in each segment in percentage (See table 1)

Table 1: Relative income distribution among elderly in KDSS

Segment %income Cum. % income Bottom 20% 0 0 Second 20% 0 0 Third 20% 2 2 Forth 20% 16.1 18.1 Top 20% 81.9 100

Picture 1: Relative income distribution among elderly in KDSS

However, it turned out that among the population who have jobs/work/are employed, 51% reported that they have average monthly income equal to 0 Baht.

The number is a significant proportion. The question arose: How can they work and have no income? How then do these people get by? Do they have other sources of income e.g. pension or the Elderly cash allowance etc?

We then divided the whole target population further into 2 groups—those who work with income more than 0 Baht (49%) and those with income equals to 0 Baht (51%)—in order to investigate the differences between the two groups.

Those whose income are equal to 0 Baht are mostly men (56.9%) while those whose income are more than 0 Baht are mostly women (52.4%). Regarding the marital status, 84.2% are married among those with income of 0 Baht, the rest are not married—single, widowed, divorced. For those who have income more than 0 Baht, 59.3% are married. As of education, the majority of both groups have an average of education of 4th grade—62.3% among those 0 Baht income and 56.5% among another. It is reported that 5.5 % of those with 0 Baht income has no children while it is 9.3% among those with more income.

We then explored further to see whether these people who have income equals to 0 Baht participate in any household economic activities and share income with their family members or not. We found that 98.7% do participate in household economic activities and share income with other family members, leaving 1.3% (14 people) who do not have any source of income from any economic activities.

KDSS survey actually consists of questions that ask about other sources of income such as remittances from children, the Elderly allowance from the Government, pension, or saving etc.

Conclusion

Although the number of elderly who work/have jobs/are employed is outstanding (51%), but the number of those who work and have income is no less significant (49%). And the majority of those 51% participates in household economic activity and share income with other family members. The minority who do not may have other sources of income that may not be related to work. This indicates that elderly in KDSS area are able to rely on themselves financially. As Thailand is transiting through the aging society, it needs supports from the government in order to enable them to rely on themselves and appreciate their potentiality. This could possibly reduce the burden among family, community, and country.

References

Foundation of Thai Gerontology Research and Development Institute (TGRI). Annual Report: The elderly situation in Thailand 2010. February 2012.

Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board. Poverty situation and Inequality in Thailand 2010.

Pramote prasartkul, Sutthida Chuanwan, and Kanchana Thianlai. Elderly: Inner People to Be Marginalised. The Annual Conference “Maginalised Populations and Social Justice in Thai Society”. Institute for Population and Social Research, , Thailand. 2012.

Ratchapan Choiejit. Income Distribution of Thai Ageing Households. School of Economic and Public Policy, Srinakharinwirot University. 2011.

United Nations Population Fund Country Office in Thailand. Impact of Demographic Change In Thailand 2011. 2011.

Kobsak Pootrakool . Income distribution problem and the solution. Available: http://www.tuhpp.net/?p=374 (Access date: October 29, 2012)