BANGKOK (Bloomberg): With the birth rate in Thailand falling fast, one political party jockeying for position ahead of the country’s snap election next month reckons it has the answer: step in to help citizens find love.
Under a proposal unveiled via a social media post over the weekend, Mongkolkit Suksintharanon, a prime ministerial candidate of the New Alternative Party, said if elected, his administration would assist in arranging husbands or wives for people without a suitable partner.
And if the relationship doesn’t work out, the party would look to provide a replacement match.
Mongkolkit said by phone on Monday that the proposal could potentially help double the birth rate in Thailand to around 800,000 babies a year.
The unorthodox idea, from a small candidate seeking attention, may sound extreme.
But the notion of state-sponsored matchmaking to spur marriages and birth rates underscores a dawning realization that Thailand must do something to address its rapidly aging population, which is increasingly dragging on long-term economic growth.
Larger, more established parties have put forward more conventional policies that ultimately seek the same result, including monthly stipends to support mothers and children.
With one of the world’s lowest fertility rates, Thailand is no longer producing enough children to offset deaths, and more than 20% of people are over the age of 60.
Unlike many advanced economies, the country relies very little on immigration beyond temporary foreign labor, leaving it especially vulnerable to population decline.
The New Alternative Party says its matchmaking policy, launched in pastel tones with pictures of loved-up couples of both sexes smiling and embracing, would be open to both opposite-sex and same-sex couples.
It would also allow participants to choose between Thai and foreign partners. — ©2026 Bloomberg L.P.