Guidelines for Appropriating Budget for the Elderly in Thailand

Abstract

The purposes of this research were to study the guideline for appropriating budget for the elderly in Thailand. The methodology was mixed method divided into 3 steps consisting of (1) Document research for content analysis i.e. elderly policy, budget allocation according to the expenditure strategy to the elderly, and the overall economy of the country. (2) Qualitative research used in-depth interview with 23 key informants related the allocation budget for the elderly. (3) Quantitative research by analyzing statistical data. (4) Confirmation of research results by interviewing 6 informants including budget analysts, director of budget development and management division, local government promoters and statistician. The instrument in this research were 2 in-depth interviews. Data analyzed using descriptive statistics including frequency and percentage. Reference statistics were multiple regression. It was found from the research show that : strategy 4 on solving poverty problems, reduce overlap and create from within, create an integrated plan to equality to support the elderly society. The elderly budget allocation consists security of economy and society, development of long-term care system for the elderly, creation of an environment that is conducive to the lives of the elderly society. Organization that have been allocated budgets for the elderly consists of the ministry of social development and human security, ministry of public health, ministry of interior, ministry of education, ministry of labour, department of local administration, social security office, national health security office, Thai Health Promotion Foundation, Government Pension Fund, National Saving Fund, Bangkok. The amount of budget allocated by the government to various agencies for use with the elderly in each year increases or decreases resulting from the number of elderly, inflation. Factors used in estimating the elderly budget are taxes, number of elderly, social security, provident fund, national savings fund, retirement mutual fund, pension insurance, inflation, household income, economic growth, birth rate, mortality rate. The important factors related to the elderly budget are government policies, economic, financial, social and technological advances, environment and legal. Factors that can predict budget allocation are income from taxation, amount of elderly, gross domestic product in Thailand, household income, mortality rate (number of case/year), the average budget for the elderly in Thailand per person per month. The average error is 4.75 percent which is appropriate to calculate the elderly budget of Thailand.