Thailand country profile
Thailand is at an historic watershed. Decades of rapid development have moved the country from being a recipient of donor aid to the brink of being a donor country itself. Now ranked 74th on the UN Development Programme’s Human Development Index, Thailand is firmly established as a middle-income country. However, huge disparities remain, and the benefits of economic progress have not been shared by all children in Thailand. This is particularly true for the children of ethnic minorities, migrants, refugees and the very poor. These children are still denied many of their basic rights to survival, protection and development. Economic growth over the last two decades has been impressive. Poverty has fallen by around two-thirds since 1990, despite the 1997 economic crisis, from which Thailand has recovered well. This prosperity, combined with a growing awareness of and commitment to child rights, has resulted in successive governments investing in the wellbeing and future of children. This investment has brought huge, often life-saving benefits to millions of children. Since 1990, achievements have included: • a 50 per cent per cent fall in infant mortality;
UNICEF is proud to have assisted the government in securing these many acheivements and notes them with great pleasure. However, our work is not yet finsihed. For example, there are still an estimated 1 million children not in primary school or who are enrolled late. A disproportionate number of them are from minority groups in remote or very poor areas, often along Thailand’s borders with Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia and Myanmar. Children in these groups also account for the vast majority of the nearly 1 million children without birth registration documents – which severely restricts their access to education, health and other services. Challenges for children • Birth registration
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