Bangkok--26 Jul--124 Communications Consulting
95% of Thai consumers save regularly for their children’s education. Close to 9 out of 10 of those with kids send them to extra-curricular classes
According to the latest MasterCard Survey on Consumer Purchasing Priorities, 95% of Thai consumers save part of their income towards their children’s education, preceding other countries in Asia/Pacific region[1]. Over half of Thai parents currently spend 11-30% of their household income on their kids’ education, and close to 9 of 10 Thai consumers send their children to extra-curricular classes as an investment for their brighter future.
Findings from Thailand indicate the highest level of regular saving towards children’s education among Thai consumers (95%), followed by consumers in Malaysia (94%), Indonesia (83%) and Singapore (83%). Moreover, close to 9 of 10 of Thai parents send their children to extra-curricular classes (89%) — most for foreign language (49%), musical instrument (42%) and sport (40%). In terms of higher education, studying within the country is highly preferred as 64% of Thai parents plan to send their kids to universities within the country. Only a small proportion intends to send their children abroad for education (19% for America and 15% for Europe).
Apart from the plan of educational investment on their little ones, Thai adults also pay attention to their own academic knowledge and skills. The survey reveals that over a half of Thai respondents (53%) claim to be interested to attend an educational course over the next 12 months, with the equal proportion prefer full-time and part-time format of courses. The top 3 main reasons that drive these consumers in pursuing additional studies are to further their education (49%), the course is related to profession that they would like to be in (35%), and the course is related to their hobby/self-improvement (17%).
“I am delighted to learn that Thai consumers give tremendous importance to education, either for themselves or for their children. When compared to other countries in Asia/Pacific region, Thais lead in terms of regular saving towards their children’s education. From my point of view, expenses related to education are certainly a good investment as to pave a brighter future for the people and the country itself. Academic spending is worth what we pay for because it will lead to the development and prosperity of societies within Thailand as well as all over the world,” said Antonio Corro, country manager for Thailand & Myanmar, MasterCard Worldwide.
On a regional level, overall, a third of Asia Pacific consumers intend to take up an educational course in the next one year, and almost three-quarters of these consumers save regularly for their children’s education. On average, this makes up 13% of their monthly household income. As for a higher level of education, majority of Asia Pacific parents plan to send their children to local universities while about a quarter, overall, are still undecided.
MasterCard Survey on Consumer Purchasing Priorities is conducted bi-annually in order to understand consumer outlook on spending priorities — travel, dining & entertainment, education, money management and luxury shopping across key demographics in Asia, Middle East, and Africa. Among the total respondents, 408 residents in Thailand between the ages of 18 and 64 years old who own a bank account were interviewed through online channel. Quotas place on age, gender, and ethnicity as per banked population. The data collection period was between March and April 2013. The survey and its accompanying reports do not represent MasterCard’s financial performance.