Advancing Human Development through ASEAN Community: Thailand Human Development Report 2014

This report’s review of the recent past suggests an agenda for advancing human development in Thailand over the years ahead: improving the quality of education; sustaining the successes in healthcare; completing the framework of social protection; confronting the issues of environmental decline and climate change; and tackling inequalities.

But there is a new feature on the political landscape that needs to be taken into consideration in this task. At the end of 2015, Thailand will become part of the ASEAN Community. ASEAN has been in existence for over half a century as a security grouping, and more recently as an evolving free trade area. But its transformation into a “Community” signals something new and potentially momentous in the region. What are the implications of this innovation for advancing human development in Thailand? That is the focus of this report.