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Published on July 7, 2007

The finding was made in a National Statistical Office (NSO) survey of 40,511 households nationwide from December 2005 to February 2006. The survey also found that 12 per cent of Thai children suffer from chronic malnutrition and nine per cent of those under five have underweight.

Thai children are lagging in terms of physical and mental development, Saisuree Chutikul, a senior local Unicef representative, told the seminar, which was aimed at improving the health of children in 25 selected provinces through Unicef-assisted programmes.

Twelve per cent of the children suffering chronic malnutrition are below average height, and 4 per cent are below average weight.

All children born to poverty-level families were found to be underweight, compared with only 25 per cent of children in families with normal financial status.