Thailand has made remarkable progress in reducing poverty from 58% in 1990 to 6.8% in 2020, driven by high growth rates and structural transformation.
Yet 79% of the poor remain in rural areas and mainly in agricultural households, according to the Rural Income Diagnostic released by the World Bank yesterday.
The diagnostic indicates Thailand's poverty reduction has slowed since 2015, with poverty increasing in 2016, 2018 and 2020, mirroring a slowing economy, stagnating farm and business incomes, and the Covid-19 crisis, respectively.
