 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Yala province" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(April 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Yala ยะลา | |
|---|---|
| Other transcription(s) | |
| • Jawi | جالا(Jawi) |
| • Rumi | Jala(Rumi) |
| • Chinese | 惹拉(Simplified) |
  _Betong.jpg) From top: Bueng Nam Sai, a natural lake inRaman District, 26 km fromYala City, it was once the habitat of rare species of fishAsian arowana, Sea of MistAiyoeweng, Chaloem Phra Kiat King Rama IX Waterfall inBetong District | |
 Flag  Seal | |
| Motto: ใต้สุดสยาม เมืองงามชายแดน ("Southernmost of Siam. The beautiful border city.") | |
 Map of Thailand highlighting Yala province | |
| Country | Thailand |
| Capital | Yala |
| Government | |
| • Governor | Supot Rodruang Na Nongkhai |
| Area | |
• Total | 4,476 km2 (1,728 sq mi) |
| • Rank | 50th |
| Population (2024)[2] | |
• Total |  553,000 |
| • Rank | 46th |
| • Density | 124/km2 (320/sq mi) |
| • Rank | 37th |
| Human Achievement Index | |
| • HAI (2022) | 0.6617 "high" Ranked 11th |
| GDP | |
| • Total | 43 billionbaht (US$1.4 billion) (2019) |
| Time zone | UTC+7 (ICT) |
| Postal code | 95xxx |
| Calling code | 073 |
| ISO 3166 code | TH-95 |
| Website | yala |
Yala Provincial Administrative Organization องค์การบริหารส่วนจังหวัดยะลา | |
|---|---|
 Interactive map of Yala Provincial Administrative Organization | |
| Government | |
| • Type | Local administrative divisions |
| • Body | Yala Provincial Administrative Organization |
| • President | Mukhtar Matha |
| Website | yalapao |
Yala (Thai:ยะลา,pronounced[já(ʔ).lāː]Malay: Jala[5]) is the southernmostProvince (changwat) ofThailand. Neighboring provinces are (from northwest clockwise)Songkhla,Pattani, andNarathiwat. Yala is one of two landlocked provinces insouthern Thailand, the other beingPhatthalung.[6] Its southern part bordersKedah andPerak ofMalaysia.
Yala province is in southern Thailand. The highest point of theSankalakhiri Range (Northern Titiwangsa Mountains), the 1,533-meter (5,030 ft)-highUlu Titi Basah (ฮูลูติติปาซา), is on the Thai/Malaysian border between Yala province andPerak.[7] The total forest area is 1,455 km2 (562 sq mi) or 32.5 percent of provincial area.[1]
There are three national parks, along with two other national parks, make upregion 6 (Pattani branch) of Thailand's protected areas. (Visitors in fiscal year 2024)[8]
| Budo–Su-ngai Padi National Park | 341 km2 (132 sq mi) | (29,966) |
| Bang Lang National Park | 261 km2 (101 sq mi) | (22,468) |
| Namtok Sai Khao National Park | 70 km2 (27 sq mi) | (120,669) |
The name "Yala" is theThai transliteration of theMalay word "Jala" (Jawi: جالا), meaning "net", which was in turn derived fromSanskrit (Devanagari: जाल). The province is also known as "Jala" inPatani Malay language.
Historically, Pattani province was the centre of theSultanate of Patani, a semi-independentMalay kingdom that paid tribute to the Thai kingdoms ofSukhothai andAyutthaya. After Ayutthaya fell under Burmese control in 1767, the Sultanate of Patani gained full independence, but under KingRama I (reigned from 1782 to 1809), the area was again placed under Siam's control in 1785 and made amueang. In 1808, Mueang Pattani was split into seven smaller mueang including Yala andReman.[9]
The province was recognized as part of Siam by theAnglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909, negotiated with theBritish Empire, while Siam surrendered its claims toKelantan,Kedah,Terengganu, andPerlis.
There is aseparatist movement in Yala, which after being dormant for many years, emerged again in 2004 and has become increasingly violent. Eight bombs exploded in the province over two days, on 6–7 April 2014. The bombings resulted in one death and 28 injuries, as well as damage to a warehouse estimated at 100 millionbaht.[10]
The BritishForeign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 2014 advised its citizens to only undertake essential travel in the province, while the Australian Government's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade recommends that travellers completely avoid the province.[11][12]
| religion | percent | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Islam | 81.46% | |||
| Buddhism | 18.45% | |||
| Christianity | 0.08% | |||
| Other | 0.01% | |||
Together withNarathiwat,Pattani andSatun, Yala is one of the four provinces of Thailand with a Muslim majority. About 72 percent of the people areMalay-speaking Muslims and mainly live in rural locations. The remainder areThai andThai Chinese Buddhists, who live in towns and cities.
Theprovincial seal shows a miner with simple mining tools including hoes, crowbars, and baskets. Yala was originally a mining town withtin andtungsten ores.[14]
Theprovincial tree is thered saraca (Saraca declinata), and the provincial flower is the bullet wood (Mimusops elengi).
Khela mahseer (Tor douronensis) is the provincial fish, since it is a rare fish that can only be found in the lower southern region. Currently, Yala Provincial Fisheries Office is able to breed.[15]
Yala is divided into eight districts (amphoe), which are further divided into 56 subdistricts (tambon) and 341 villages (muban).
| Map | No. | Name | Thai | Jawi | Malay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||
| 1 | Mueang Yala | เมืองยะลา | جالا,جالور | Jala, Jalor | |
| 2 | Betong | เบตง | بطوڠ | Betung | |
| 3 | Bannang Sata | บันนังสตา | بنداڠ ستار | Bendang Setar | |
| 4 | Than To | ธารโต | اير كدوڠ | Air Kedung | |
| 5 | Yaha | ยะหา | جاحار | Jahar | |
| 6 | Raman | รามัน | رمان | Reman | |
| 7 | Kabang | กาบัง | كابي | Kabae, Kabe | |
| 8 | Krong Pinang | กรงปินัง | كمفوڠ فينڠ | Kampung Pinang |
As of 26 November 2019 there are:[16] one Yala Provincial Administration Organisation (ongkan borihan suan changwat) and 16 municipal (thesaban) areas in the province. Yala has city (thesaban nakhon) status and Sateng Nok and Betong have town (thesaban mueang) status. Further 13 subdistrict municipalities (thesaban tambon). The non-municipal areas are administered by 47 Subdistrict Administrative Organisations - SAO (ongkan borihan suan tambon).
In January 2022, Thailand's transport ministry completed the 1.9 billionbahtBetong Airport. It opened in March 2022.[17][18] Designed to handle 300 arrivals per hour, it is projected to serve 300,000 per year, which will later increase to over one million passengers per year, generating three billion baht for the district.Nok Air,Bangkok Airways, and Malaysia'sFirefly Airlines had plans to fly to Betong in 2019.[19] However, Nok Air was the only airline to operate flights to Betong; the service was terminated after 28 October 2022 due to high operational cost.[20]
As of November 2024,Ezy Airlines had to operate a scheduled commercial flights from Betong to Hat Yai.[21]
Yala is served by theState Railway of Thailand from theYala Railway Station.
The province lies on Route
410 (Pattani–Betong Highway), which runs fromPattani throughYala andBetong before passing through the Thailand-Malaysia Border.
Yala's main hospital isYala Hospital, a regional hospital operated by theMinistry of Public Health.
| Health | Education | Employment | Income |
 |  |  |  |
| 47 | 66 | 6 | 38 |
| Housing | Family | Transport | Participation |
 |  |  | .png) |
| 21 | 15 | 9 | 45 |
| Province Yala, with an HAI 2022 value of 0.6617 is "high", occupies place 11 in the ranking. | |||
Since 2003, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Thailand has tracked progress on human development at sub-national level using theHuman achievement index (HAI), a composite index covering all the eight key areas of human development. National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) has taken over this task since 2017.[3]
| Rank | Classification |
| 1 - 13 | "high" |
| 14 - 29 | "somewhat high" |
| 30 - 45 | "average" |
| 46 - 61 | "somewhat low" |
| 62 - 77 | "low" |
| Map with provinces and HAI 2022 rankings |
 |
, year 2024, provincial level, Excel File, no.95
, page 60
, 45 Yala, 1 PAO, 1 City mun., 2 Town mun., 13 Subdistrict mun., 47 SAO.
Yala travel guide from Wikivoyage
Places adjacent to Yala province | |
|---|---|
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
6°32′24″N101°16′52″E / 6.54000°N 101.28111°E /6.54000; 101.28111
