Thailand’s Ageing Policy in Active Ageing Perspectives
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Abstract
Approaching a completely aged society, the Thai government attempts to promote active ageing in the elderly population. This article assesses Thailand’s ageing schemes in the perspectives of Active Ageing Index (AAI). AAI is a composite index which reflects the overall living wellness of the elderly, covering their characteristics multi-dimensionally. The focus is to explore whether such schemes are in coherence with the behavioral attributes of the elderly in Thailand. The ordered logistic regression of data from the Survey of the Older Persons in 2017 recognizes influential behavioral attributes, emphasizing the need to revise policy perceptions. The findings show that variables related not only to health care and direct income provisions but also to decent choices of work, lifelong learning opportunities and community participation and involvement contribute to higher AAI level. Quantity-wise, Thailand has accomplished a wide coverage of health care and income security. Nevertheless, these policies remain passive and incoherent with the overall active ageing behavioral attributes. There is still a policy space to “actively” engage the elderly in the move. By increasing old-age-friendly infrastructures and market incentives in the forms of subsidies and tax schemes for the key players, namely, the elderly, themselves, and the business sectors will promote policy coherence.
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