Poverty is a strong correlate of high fertility, and a major factor encouraging the
small-family norm in Southeast Asia has been significant economic growth and its
associated changes such as expanded household incomes, increased educational
opportunities for children and heightened survival of children. Among the countries
where these forces have had a clear impact on fertility trends are the Republic of Korea,
Singapore and Thailand. One topic that generated particular interest and discussion was
the effect of the Southeast Asian economic crisis of the late 1990s, which led to a
worsening of poverty in some countries and among some population sub-groups.
According to information introduced at the Conference, progress in improving education
and health, particularly among children, was slowed. In countries lacking a strong
population policy, such as the Philippines, fertility decline appears to have been impeded,
at least temporarily, by the economic crisis. In Thailand, by contrast, a country with very
strong government commitment to ICPD goals, the economic crisis seems to have
resulted in somewhat low fertility.
There is wide inter-country variation in fertility levels and trends in the Southeast
Asia region. In the Lao PDR, the average number of births per woman remains 7, infant
and child mortality is still high, and Government has only recently accepted the need for
a population policy. In strong contrast, Vietnam, where reproductive health care,
protection of the elderly, and gender issues are major socioeconomic policy concerns, the
crude birth rate is now 43 per cent below its 1960 level. There is also considerable
variation, much of it ethnic, within countries. In Singapore, although fertility decline
continues for all three major ethnic groups (Chinese, Malay and Indian) despite a strongly
pro-natal government policy, the policy appears to have had some success for the Malay
population. The implication of this regional and national-level variation is that “one size
fits all” population policies may be neither feasible nor desirable.
China represents a unique case in the region, not only for its population size but
also because it experienced extremely rapid fertility decline while the country was still at
a relatively low level of economic development. A review of the Chinese experience