8.1 million people in Thailand poor, 4.4 million below poverty line: Study

The report on Thailand’s poverty situation in 2021, which was released this year, said that the number of people living below the poverty line had dropped from 4.7 million in 2020 to 4.4 million last year.

“This is all thanks to the government’s economic stimulus measures to ease the financial burden on poor people, such as measures to increase purchasing power and utility bill cuts,” NESDC said.

However, NESDC found that poverty from other dimensions other than just income in Thailand is far more severe.

Citing its Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) which identifies four dimensions of poverty, namely education, health, quality of living and financial stability, it said 8.1 million Thais are suffering from poverty.

“As many as 36.9% of them are the elderly, while 51.5% are those who do not contribute to the economy, like children, the mentally ill, the ill, or the unemployed,” NESDC said.

To solve these issues, NESDC has advised the government to improve information systems and launch policies to boost people’s quality of life.

“Government agencies should come up with policy packages that solve multidimensional poverty, such as improving financial literacy among people,” it added.

Agencies