Demographics ofThailand
Population	66,052,615 (December 2023)
Growth rate	−0.14 (2022 est.)
Birth rate	7.0 births/1,000 population (2024 est.)
Death rate	8.7 deaths/1,000 population (2024 est.)
Life expectancy	77.66 years
• male	74.65 years
• female	80.83 years
Fertility rate	0.9 children per woman (2024 est.)
Infant mortality rate	6.47 deaths/1,000 live births
Net migration rate	−0.13 migrant(s)/1,000 population
Age structure
0–14 years	16.87%
15–64 years	71.20%
65 and over	11.93%
Sex ratio
Total	0.95 male(s)/female (2022 est.)
At birth	1.05 male(s)/female
Nationality
Nationality	Thai

The demographics ofThailand paint a statistical portrait of the national population.Demography includes such measures aspopulation density and distribution,ethnicity, educational levels, public health metrics, fertility, economic status, religious affiliation, and other characteristics of the populace.

The population of Thailand is approximately 69.7 million people, with an annual growth rate of about 0.3 percent. In addition to Thais, it includes ethnic Chinese, Malay, Lao, Burmese, Cambodians, and Indians, among others. The 2010 decennial census revealed a population of 65,981,600 (up from 60,916,441 in 2000). Post-census adjustments are being made to lower reporting errors.

Thailand's population is mostly rural. It is concentrated in the rice growing areas of the central, northeastern, and northern regions. Its urban population—principally in greater Bangkok—was 45.7 percent of the total population in 2010 according toNational Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB). Accurate statistics are difficult to arrive at, as millions of Thai migrate from rural areas to cities, then return to their place of origin to help with seasonal field work. Officially they have rural residency, but spend most of the year in urban areas.^{[citation needed]}

Thailand's successful government-sponsoredfamily planning program has resulted in a decline in population growth from 3.1 percent in 1960 to around 0.4 percent in 2015.^[1] TheWorld Bank forecasts a contraction of the working-age population of about 10 percent between 2010 and 2040.^{[2]: 4, 6} In 1970, an average of 5.7 people lived in a Thai household. At the time of the 2010 census, the figure was down to 3.2. Even though Thailand has one of the better social security systems in Asia, the increasing population of elderly people is a challenge for the country.^[2][3]

Life expectancy has risen, a reflection of Thailand's efforts to implement effective public health policies. The ThaiAIDS epidemic had a major impact on the Thai population. In 2022, over 500,000 Thai were HIV or AIDS positive, approximately 1.1% of adult men and 0.9% of adult women. Every year, 30,000–50,000 Thai die from HIV or AIDS-related illnesses. Ninety percent of them are ages 20–24, the youngest range of the workforce. An aggressive public education campaign begun in the early-1990s reduced the number of new HIV infections from 150,000 to under 10,000 annually.^[4]The leading cause of death among the age cohort under 15 years of age: drowning. A study by the Child Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention Centre ofRamathibodi Hospital revealed that more than 1,400 youths under 15 years old died from drowning each year, or an average four deaths a day, becoming the top cause of deaths of children, even exceeding that of motorbike deaths. Thailand's Disease Control Department estimates that only 23 percent of Thai children under 15 can swim.^[5] ThePublic Health Ministry said that from 2006 to 2015, 10,923 children drowned. Of the 8.3 million children aged 5–14 nationwide, only two million can swim, according to the Public Health Ministry.^[6]

TheUnited Nations classifies Thailand as an "aging society" (one-tenth of the population above 60), on track to become an "aged society" (one-fifth of the population above 60) by 2025. TheFiscal Policy Office projects that the number of Thais aged 60-plus will increase from 14 percent in 2016 to 17.5 percent in 2020, 21.2 percent in 2025, and 25.2 percent in 2030.^[7] As of 2016^[update] it is estimated that there are 94,000 employees aged 60 years or more in the workforce.^[8]

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found onPhabricator and onMediaWiki.org.

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found onPhabricator and onMediaWiki.org.

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found onPhabricator and onMediaWiki.org.

Although the UN classifies the birth and death registration of the National Statistics Office as incomplete the figures below clearly show the decreasing fertility in Thailand since the end of the 1950s. As of 2024 natural growth in Thailand is negative, which means that the number of deaths exceeds the number of births.

^[16]

Period	Live births	Deaths	Natural increase
January—April 2024	149,751	199,276	−49,525
January—April 2025	134,919	193,070	−58,151
Difference	−14,832 (−9.90%)	-6,206 (-3.11%)	−8,626

¹CBR = crude birth rate (per 1000); CDR = crude death rate (per 1000); NC = natural change (per 1000); TFR = total fertility rate (number of children per woman); IMR = infant mortality rate per 1000 births. Sources:^[17]
Figures highlighted in yellow are projections.

Averagelife expectancy at birth of the total population.^[18]

Thailand’s population declined by 100,000 in 2024 to 65.95 million in 2024.^[19] Annual births fell below 500,000 for the first time since 1949.^[19] In 2024, 462,240 births versus 571,646 deaths were recorded.^[19] Thailand’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR) declined to 1.0, which is lower than Japan’s 1.2.^[19] This makes Thailand an ultra-low fertility country like South Korea and Singapore.^[19] Demographic projections predict that the population could shrink to 40 million in 50 years.^[19] This would be a decrease of 25 million or 1 million people per 2 years.^[19] A survey with over 1,000 Thais showed that 71% regard the low birthrate as a national crisis, while only 35.8% of fertile people plan to have children.^[19] The government's “Having Children for the Nation” campaign proves to be ineffective.^[19]

In 2024, the marriage registry had 263,087 new couples, while 147,621 couples divorced.^[19]

Total fertility rate (TFR) in Thailand by region and year:^[20]

Total fertility rate (TFR) in Thailand byprovince as of 2010:^[22]

Thailand's ethnic origins are diverse and continue to evolve. The nation's ethnic makeup is obscured by the pressures ofThaification,Thai nationalism, and social pressure, which is intertwined with acaste-like mentality assigning some groups higher social status than others. In its report to the United Nations for theInternational Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Thai government officially recognized 62 ethnic communities.^[23]: 3 Twenty million Central Thai (together with approximately 650,000Khorat Thai) make up approximately 20,650,000 million (34.1 percent) of the nation's population of 60,544,937^[24] at the time of completion of the Mahidol UniversityEthnolinguistic Maps of Thailand data (1997).^[25]

Thailand's report to the UN provided population numbers formountain peoples and ethnic communities in the northeast. Thus, though over 3.288 million people in the northeast alone could not be categorised, the population and percentages of other ethnic communities c. 1997 are known and constitute minimum populations. In descending order, the largest (equal to or greater than 400,000) are:

1. Lao (15,080,000, 24.9%) consisting of the Thai Lao^[26] (14 million) and other smaller Lao groups, namely the Thai Loei (400–500,000), Lao Lom (350,000), Lao Wiang/Klang (200,000), Lao Khrang (90,000), Lao Ngaew (30,000), and Lao Ti (10,000)
2. 6 million Khon Muang (9.9%, also called Northern Thais)
3. 4.5 million Pak Tai (7.5%, also called Southern Thais)
4. 1.4 million Khmer Leu (2.3%, also called Northern Khmer)
5. 900,000 Malay (1.5%)
6. 500,000 Nyaw (0.8%)
7. 470,000 Phu Thai (0.8%)
8. 400,000 Kuy/Kuay (also known as Suay) (0.7%)
9. 350,000 Karen (0.6%).^{[23]: 7–13}

Thailand's Ministry of Social Development and Human Security's 2015Master Plan for the Development of Ethnic Groups in Thailand 2015–2017^[27] omitted the larger, ethnoregional ethnic communities, including the Central Thai majority; it therefore covers only 9.7% of the population.^[27]

There is a significant number of Thai-Chinese in Thailand. However, Chinese origins as evidenced by surname were erased in the 1920s by royal decree, about one-sixth of Thais may have Chinese origins.^[28] One scholar estimated that the Sino-Thai population, itself around 14 per cent of the total, was composed of around 56 percentTeochew, 16 percentHakka, 12 percentHainanese, 7 percentHokkien, 7 percentCantonese and 2 percent other.^[29] Significant intermixing has taken place such that there are few pure ethnic Chinese, and those of partially mixed Chinese ancestry account for as much as a third to a half of the Thai population. Those assigned Thai ethnicity in the census process made up the vast majority of the population in 2010 (95.9 percent); two percent were Burmese, 1.3 percent other, and 0.9 percent unspecified.^[30] Thus, the ethnosocial and genetic makeup situation is very different from that which is reported or self-claimed.

The vast majority of theIsan people, one-third of Thailand's population, are of ethnicLao^[26] with some belonging to theKhmer minority. They speak theIsan language. Additionally there have been more recent waves of immigration from Vietnam and Cambodia across porous borders due to wars and subsequent poverty over the last few decades, whose immigrants have tried to keep a low profile and blend in.

In more recent years the Isan people began mixing with the rest of the nation as urbanization and mobility increase. Myanmar's numerous ethnic wars between the army and tribes who speak more than 40 languages and control largefiefdoms or states, has led to waves of immigrants seeking refuge or work in Thailand. The makeup ofMyanmar nationals is complex and includes, for example, people of Nepali ethnicity who escaped Nepal, entered Myanmar, and then emigrated to Thailand.

Following the2014 Thai coup d'état, Thailand's Department of Employment released figures showing that 408,507 legal workers from Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia worked in Thailand. An additional 1,630,279 Myanmar nationals of all ethnicities, 40,546 Laotians, and 153,683 Cambodians were without legal work authorization, but also worked and resided in Thailand.^[31] Some 180,000 Cambodians were said to have left Thailand post-coup due to crackdown rumors, indicating government figures were an under count.^[32] These statistics are merely a single snapshot and hardly authoritative as there is constant movement and much eluding of authority.

The language of the central Thai population is the educational and administrative language. Other dialects of Thai exist, most notably theSouthern Thai language. Several other smallTai (notThai) groups include theShan,Lue, andPhu Thai.

Malay- and Yawi-speaking Muslims of the south are another significant minority group (2.3 percent), yet there are a substantial number of ethnic Malays who speak only Thai. Other groups include theKhmer; theMon, who are substantially assimilated with the Thai, and theVietnamese.

Smallermountain-dwelling tribes, such as theHmong andMien, as well as theKaren, number about 788,024. Some 300,000 Hmong were to have received citizenship in 2010.^{[citation needed]}

Thailand is also home to more than 200,000 foreigners—retirees, extended tourists, and workers from, for example, Europe, North America, and elsewhere.^[33]

Thailand is dominated by languages of theSouthwestern Tai family.Karen languages are spoken along the border with Burma,Khmer is spoken near Cambodia (and previously throughout central Thailand), andMalay in the south near Malaysia.

TheThai hill tribes speak numerous small languages, many Chinese retain varieties of Chinese, and there are half a dozensign languages. Thailand has 73 living languages.^[34]

The following table shows first languages in Thailand with 400,000 or more speakers according to the Royal Thai Government's 2011 Country Report to the Committee Responsible for theInternational Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.^[23]

The following table employs 2010 census data. Caution should be exercised with Thai census data on first language. In Thai censuses, the four largest Tai-Kadai languages of Thailand (in order,Central Thai,Isan (majorityLao),Kam Mueang,Pak Tai) are not provided as options for language or ethnic group. People declaring one of these as a first language, including Lao, are assigned to "Thai".^[35] This explains the disparity between the two tables. For instance, self-reporting as Lao has been prohibited, due to the prohibition of the Lao ethnonym in the context of describing Thai citizens for approximately one hundred years.^[36][37] This was due to the promotion of "Thai" national identity to cement Siamese claims over the Lao city-states of what is now northern and northeast Thailand following the1893 Franco-Siamese crisis and subsequent threats posed by French Indochina to the Lao tributary states of Siam. The birth of a homogenizing Thai ethnocentric national identity sufficient to begin transforming Siam from an absolute monarchy into a modern nation-state was achieved by assimilating the Lao with this Thai "identity", equivalent to what is now known as theTai–Kadai languages, under a "Greater Thai Empire", and can be traced back to at least 1902.^[38] This homogenization began affecting the Thai census from 1904 onwards. The 2011 UN report data is therefore more comprehensive and better differentiates between the large Tai-Kadai languages of Thailand. As a country submission to a UN convention ratified by Thailand, it is also arguably more authoritative.

Theravada Buddhism is the official religion of Thailand. 93.5 percent are estimated to be Buddhist; 5.4 percent Muslim; 1.1 percent Christian; and 0.1 percent other or have no religion.^[40]

In addition to Malay and Yawi speaking Thai and other southerners who are Muslim, the MuslimCham of Cambodia in recent years began a large scale influx into Thailand. The government permits religious diversity, and other major religions are represented, though there is much social tension, especially in the Muslim south.Spirit worship andanimism are widely practiced.

The largest foreign community are the Burmese, followed by the Cambodians and Laotians.^[41]

As of March 2018^[update], Thai government data showed that over 770,900 Cambodian migrants, meaning five percent of the total population of Cambodia, currently live in Thailand. Some NGOs estimate that the actual number may be up to one million.^[42]

Laotians are particularly numerous considering the small size of Laos' population, about seven million, due to the lack of a language barrier. The Chinese expatriate employee population in Thailand, mostly Bangkok, has doubled from 2011 to 2016, making it the largest foreign community in Thailand not originating in a neighbouring country. Chinese hold 13.3 percent of all work permits issued in Thailand, an increase of almost one-fifth since 2015.^[43] Japanese expats are on the decline, and now rank sixth, behind Chinese and British. One in every four foreigners working in Thailand formerly were Japanese, and the figure has now dropped slightly to 22.8 percent of the foreign workforce as of late 2016.^[44]

Foreign residents in Thailand, according to the 2010 Census. It was found that there were 2,581,141 of foreign origins, composing around 3.87 percent of Thailand's population.^[45] Migrants fromCambodia,Laos andMyanmar, the most prevalent, accounted for 1.8 million foreigners.^[41]

Research byKasikorn Bank estimated that in 2016, there were 68,300 foreigners over 50 years old—the minimum age for a retirement visa—holding long-stay visas living in Thailand, a 9% increase over the preceding two years. In 2018, Thailand issued almost 80,000 retirement visas, an increase of 30% from 2014, with Britons accounting for the majority of the new visas.^[46]

In 2010 there were 27,357 Westerners living in the northeastern region, 90 percent living with Thai spouses, according to research by the College of Population Studies atChulalongkorn University in 2017.^[47]

As of 2016, up to 145,000 Taiwanese expatriates live in Thailand.^[48]

Foreign residents by country of origin 2010^[41]

Nationality	Population	Percentage
Myanmar	1,292,686	50.08%
Cambodia	281,292	10.90%
Laos	222,432	8.62%
China	141,553	5.48%
United Kingdom	85,836	3.33%
Japan	80,898	3.13%
India	46,326	1.80%
United States	40,230	1.56%
Netherlands	25,000	1.34%
Germany	24,383	0.94%
France	22,486	0.87%
Vietnam	17,662	0.68%
Philippines	17,574	0.68%
Malaysia	8,182	0.32%
Norway	2,952	0.11%
Sweden	2,952	0.11%
Others	174,236	6.75%
Stateless	117,315	4.54%
Unknown	2,147	0.08%
Total population	2,581,141	100.00%

• World Bank: Thailand

• Demographics of Thailand
• Demographics of Asia

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