The government will spend Bt800 million to conduct a new nationwide census which could be used to formulate public policies in preparation for the country's aging society.
The government will spend Bt800 million to conduct a new nationwide census, which will be used to formulate public policies in preparation for the country's ageing society.
More than 70,000 people will be hired to help with the task, for example by campaigning for people's cooperation.
The census will cover all residents on Thai soil, not just Thai citizens.
"So you can expect to see the size of the population much bigger than the figure from the last census," Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday.
The last census was conducted in 2000. Back then, it showed Thailand had 60,917,441 people as its population.
"We have to take alien workers into consideration too. Their number in Thailand has been rising fast," Abhisit said, "Their presence has a huge impact in providing of public services too."
The premier said it would take just a bit over one month to gather information in the field but it would take many more months to analyse the information.
"It will be good if everything is completed within a given time frame given. However, accuracy must be a priority. We have to rely on the census information for quite a long time," he said.
Abhisit said insights from the upcoming census would be used to help the government manage the national budget and design social-welfare measures in preparation for the country's ageing society.
"The information from the census will help with policy-making both at local and national levels and in various aspects," Abhisit said. He added that the private sector could also use the information for planning business expansion or introducing new businesses.
The premier insisted that the census was usually more accurate than smaller surveys conducted for specific purposes, such as for delivering help to farmers or elderly people.
The first census in Thailand was conducted in 1911 during the reign of King Rama V. About 8,131,247 people lived in Thailand at that time.
In modern days, HM the King Bhumibol Adulyadej has also paid attention to censuses. He asked for briefings when the last two censuses were conducted in 1990 and 2000.