Looking at total fertility, Figure 9 shows that Thailand has made very significant progress (and
more so than the other developing countries in East Asia and Pacific) with reducing total fertility
during the 1980s, reducing total fertility from 3.4 births per woman in 1980 to 2.1 births per
woman in 1990. While total fertility continued to decrease during the 1990s (reducing total
fertility to 1.8 births per woman in 2000), fertility rates have remained at about 1.8 births per
women during the first ten years of this millennium. While Thailand’s fertility rate is today still
lower than the average fertility rate of other developing countries in East Asia and Pacific, the
difference has become marginal in recent years, and if trends continue as shown in Figure 9, the
difference may soon be eliminated.