It is widely accepted that the worldwide COVID-19 crisis, together with the Russia-Ukraine war, has pushed up unemployment, energy costs and the cost of living across the globe.

How much the cost of living rose in two years

The original article showed a chart comparing the different components of the cost of living in Australia between March 2021 and March 2023. (Comparable Thai data could not be found — only isolated data points that cannot be set side by side.)

Energy was the component that rose most. In other countries that tracks the inflation rate; in Thailand inflation has not risen that much, but we face the opposite problem of tight money — not much cash circulating in the system — because the Bank of Thailand raised interest rates. That, too, pushes the cost of living up. What stands out is that the very things that keep a person healthy — hygienic food, healthcare, housing and utilities, energy above all — all rose by between 11% and 37%.

Who is hit hardest

Although the rising cost of living touches everyone in society, it does not touch every family equally. Higher-income families can absorb it by cutting non-essential spending and saving more. Lower-income families lose their capacity to save, because the basics now eat the whole income — and sometimes the income is not even enough. Household debt rises, and as loan interest rises with it, still more of the income disappears into interest payments. In the end these problems reach a family’s health; there is no avoiding it.

How financial stress reaches your health

Financial stress reaches health along three routes: material hardship, psychosocial impact, and behavioural impact.

1. Material hardship

People facing material hardship cannot meet their own basic needs, because they cannot pay for them. That hardship shows itself in several forms:

Food insecurity — not getting enough nutrition
Energy poverty — struggling to pay for electricity and gas
Deferred healthcare — putting medical treatment off
Housing insecurity — struggling to find stable housing

Finding yourself in any of these situations can have wide-ranging effects on health. For example:

Food insecurity is linked to a higher risk of poor nutrition, obesity and chronic illness, because households under cost-of-living pressure switch to cheaper, lower-quality food.
Energy poverty is linked to both physical and mental health problems, as people struggle to keep warm in winter and cool in summer.
Putting healthcare off raises the risk of running into more serious illness, longer hospital stays and emergency-department admissions. That is not only worse for the individual — it is also more expensive for our health system.

2. Psychosocial impact

The psychosocial impact is the way cost-of-living pressure works on our minds and on our social relationships.

Difficulty meeting basic needs is strongly associated with higher levels of psychological distress, including symptoms of anxiety and depression.
The effect can worsen over time if the person is under continuous financial stress.
By undermining our ability to function well, the psychosocial impact of prolonged financial stress can start a "vicious circle" that leads to lower productivity and lower income.
Financial stress can damage the relationship between spouses, which in turn can affect the mental health of other members of the household, such as the children.

3. Behavioural impact

For many people these pressures have become a reason to work longer hours for extra income. But long hours reduce overall health — especially among parents of young children, who are already the most time-constrained.

It also leaves less time for the things that keep people healthy, such as regular exercise and cooking proper food.

What can be done about it

Thailand’s economy right now carries both inflation and tight money. Tight money, in principle, calls for the Bank of Thailand to cut rates. Raising rates, as is being done at present, straightforwardly raises the cost of borrowing, which tightens money further — and tight money in turn compounds both the rise in living costs and the effect of those costs on health, in the short run and the long run alike.

So I would close by calling on this country’s monetary and fiscal policymakers to concentrate on making sure that affordable, timely healthcare — and mental health support above all — is available to the people most exposed to soaring living costs.

I wish you all good health. With my best wishes — Dr. Patsama Vichinsartvichai

How the rising cost of living affects your health