Fertility differentials among the Karen, a hill tribe minority in Northern Thailand
type: CreativeWork
description: This study identifies factors affecting fertility among the Karen, the largest hill tribe minority group in Thailand, in Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son provinces in Northern Thailand. The study uses quantitative data from the 1986-1987 Census of Hill Tribe Populations, and qualitative information from fieldwork carried out in these two provinces during November 1992 and May 1993. The framework of this study is primarily concerned with consequences of the interventions of Thai government in the hill tribe areas, especially a nation building (integration) policy, a restriction of land use, and family planning. A similar framework is also applied to the study of their contraceptive use. The Karen who have higher socioeconomic status, as manifested by education and the availability of electricity in the households are more likely to have lower fertility. The Karen who have a higher level of wealth as measured by ownership of livestock and modem consumer goods have higher fertility. Economic hardship is one of the important reasons for not wanting many children. Fertility decline among the Karen occurs in the context of mortality decline, but the findings do not support the insurance effect or replacement effect of mortality. The Karen who cultivate a larger amount of land, or own a larger amount of land have higher fertility. The higher fertility of the Karen who use more land is both for family labour requirement, and for old age security. For the Karen, a large amount of land is likely to be land for dry rice and its productivity tends to decrease every year because fallow periods are no longer possible; an increase in labour input in dry-rice land does not increase productivity. The shortage of land is the most important reason for not wanting many children. The Karen who own land also work on their land themselves in most cases; thus family labour is required. The Karen who are highly integrated into Thai society, as manifested by speaking Thai, professing Buddhism and…
abstract: This study identifies factors affecting fertility among the Karen, the largest hill tribe minority group in Thailand, in Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son provinces in Northern Thailand. The study uses quantitative data from the 1986-1987 Census of Hill Tribe Populations, and qualitative information from fieldwork carried out in these two provinces during November 1992 and May 1993. The framework of this study is primarily concerned with consequences of the interventions of Thai government in the hill tribe areas, especially a nation building (integration) policy, a restriction of land use, and family planning. A similar framework is also applied to the study of their contraceptive use. The Karen who have higher socioeconomic status, as manifested by education and the availability of electricity in the households are more likely to have lower fertility. The Karen who have a higher level of wealth as measured by ownership of livestock and modem consumer goods have higher fertility. Economic hardship is one of the important reasons for not wanting many children. Fertility decline among the Karen occurs in the context of mortality decline, but the findings do not support the insurance effect or replacement effect of mortality. The Karen who cultivate a larger amount of land, or own a larger amount of land have higher fertility. The higher fertility of the Karen who use more land is both for family labour requirement, and for old age security. For the Karen, a large amount of land is likely to be land for dry rice and its productivity tends to decrease every year because fallow periods are no longer possible; an increase in labour input in dry-rice land does not increase productivity. The shortage of land is the most important reason for not wanting many children. The Karen who own land also work on their land themselves in most cases; thus family labour is required. The Karen who are highly integrated into Thai society, as manifested by speaking Thai, professing Buddhism and…
author: Rossarin Soottipong
language: en
date published: 1995
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:07:38Z
provider: Australian Catholic University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Australian Catholic University

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/1885/117142