New round of state welfare cards Registration is set to open in late May, with benefits granted only to truly poor individuals.
Following a statement by Mr. Aekpong Rimcharoen, Director of the National Statistical Office, the government has assigned the National Statistical Office and the Fiscal Policy Office to jointly verify, organize, and clean data for all 13.4 million state welfare cardholders to ensure completeness and accuracy, improving aid precision for low-income groups.
Back in 2017, the National Statistical Office received a 700 million baht budget to conduct field screenings of low-income citizens needing assistance under the then-government’s policy. It concluded that 13.4 million people qualified for the state welfare card assistance.
After nine years, the government decided to review and clean up the welfare cardholder data, believing some individuals may have passed away, overlapped, or no longer qualify. The statistics office conducts annual population surveys, and preliminary confirmation from the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security estimates about 1.5 million vulnerable individuals will not require repeated field surveys.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Mr. Aekniti Nitithanprapas said the exact number of beneficiaries in the Thai Chuey Thai Plus program depends on the budget, preliminarily estimated at around 30 million rights. He believes 30 million is sufficient since previous efforts reached up to 28 million. Eligibility details, including whether recipients must be over 18, will be reconsidered. Registration for both the half-half scheme and the new state welfare card round will open together in late May.
Government spokesperson Ms. Ratchada Thanadirek stated that the government has set a clear timeline for assisting citizens, especially the Thai Chuey Thai Plus program, targeted to start on 1 June 2026. Additional funds will be provided to state welfare cardholders to ensure quick delivery to the people and stimulate economic circulation.
Registration for the new round of state welfare cards is expected to begin in late May. Currently, about 13.2 million cardholders remain in the system based on outdated data that has not been updated or screened recently.
This update is viewed as a system reset to improve the accuracy of government assistance and reach those truly in need.
The key conditions for registrants in the previous round included the following:
However, if there are updates regarding "state welfare cards" or "state welfare cards" in the new round, further reports will be provided.