Introduction
Many things affect a country’s economy and Thailand is currently experiencing turmoil with half the nation divided on overthrowing Prime Minister Samak Sun¬da¬ravej (www.crisisgroup.org). With violence and unknown certainty, Thailand’s economy is unsure. There are no stable solutions at this point in time and the war between its people may cause this growing nation into poverty, along with epidemic AIDS outbreak.
Unit 4- Individual Project 3
Thailand was one of the nation’s fastest growing countries along with Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. An average of 4.5% to 5% real GDP growth rate is the cause of political uncertainty and violence in the Southern border (www.state.gov/). Another impact to the country is the fertility rate which is plague with AIDS.
Human capital is part of economic growth in two ways, knowledge and workforce. Education is required to increase knowledge and even more importantly skilled workforce to develop the country (O’Sullivan, Sheffrin, Perez, 2008 p.178). However, with mortality rate of infant so low due to AIDS, Thailand may not be able to get back to a country it was once before.
In researching for two major impacts to Thailand’s economy, the World Bank was able to provide several statistics and figures on its people.
People 2000 2005 2006 2007
Income share held by lowest 20% .. .. .. ..
Life expectancy at birth, total (years) 67 68 68 ..
Fertility rate, total (births per woman) 2.7 2.6 2.5 ..
Adolescent fertility rate (births per 1,000 women ages 15-19) 60 53 53 ..
Contraceptive prevalence (% of women ages 15-49) .. .. 60 ..
Births attended by ...