Page last modified 18 August 2023

Thailand (formerly Siam)

Community

Area 513,120 square kilometres (land area 510,890 square kilometres)

Population,

6,000,000 (1890)

11,506,207 (1929)

14,464,489 (1937)

17,256,825 (1947)

22,811,701 (1956)

27,400,000 (1960)

36,900,000 (1970)

47,400,000 (1980)

56,600,000 (1990)

62,300,000 (2000)

67,200,000 (2010)

68,710,000 (2015)

69,430,000 (2018)

Ethnicity, %

	Burmese	Chinese	Malayan	Thai
1947		14.5	3.8
1980		14.0		75.0
1990		14.0		75.0
2010	2.0			95.9

Religion, %

	Buddhist	Christian	Hindu	Muslim (Sunni)
1950	95.5			4.0
1990	95.0
2000	94.6	0.7		4.6
2009	93.6	1.2	0.1	4.9

Birth and death rates Below replacement rate = 2.1

	Fertility Rate	Birth Rate	Infant Mortality	Death Rate	% Aged Under 15	% Aged Over 65	% Urban
1950		47.0 (+28.0)		19.0	42.6	4.1	10.0
1960	6.1	44.0 (+30.8)	101.5	13.2	42.7	3.3	19.7
1970	5.6	41.8 (+31.7)	71.6	10.1	44.0	3.5	20.9
1980	3.4	26.0 (+18.7)	47.3	7.3	39.4	3.7	26.8
1990	2.1	19.0 (+13.3)	31.0	5.7	30.2	4.5	29.4
2000	1.7	15.0� (+8.1)	18.6	6.9	24.0	6.5	31.4
2010	1.5	12.0 (+4.7)	11.5	7.3	19.2	8.9	44.1
2015	1.5	10.6 (+2.8)	9.0	7.8	18.0	10.6	50.4
2016			8.6		17.7	11.0	51.5
2017	1.5	10.5 (+2.5)	8.2	8.0
2018			7.8		17.1	11.9

Life expectancy,

50.3 (1948); 48.7 (M), 51.9 (F)

54.7 (1960); 52.5 (M), 57.1 (F)

59.4 (1970); 57.0 (M), 61.9 (F)

64.4 (1980); 61.5 (M), 67.5 (F)

70.2 (1990); 69.0 (M), 73.4 (F)

70.6 (2000); 66.9 (M), 74.5 (F)

73.9 (2010); 70.4 (M), 77.6 (F)

75.1 (2015); 71.3 (M), 79.0 (F)

77.2 (2020); 73.5 (M), 80.9 (F)

Population of principal cities,

	BANGKOK^1	Nonthaburi	Samut Prakan
1900	400,000
1937	681,214
1947	827,290
1960	2,300,000
1970	3,200,000
1991	5,400,000	264,201
2000	6,355,144	291,307	378,694
2009	6,902,000
2012
2014		1,173,870	1,261,530

¹The old Thai capital, Ayutthaya, was destroyed by civil war and a Burmese invasion. A new capital was built in 1767 at Thonburi, near to Ayutthaya. However in 1782 King Rama II founded a new capital city across the river from Thonburi, at the small village of Bangkok. In 1787 this new city was officially named Rattanakosin, and then renamed Krungthep by King Rama III (1824-51). However the name Bangkok has persisted in international usage.

Wealth; Gross Domestic Product (nominal values)

	GDP, US$ million	Total GDP, % of USA	GDP per capita, US$	GDP per capita % of USA
1948	1,460	0.65	81	5.31
1956	1,360	0.38
1960	2,760	0.51	101	3.36
1965	4,388	0.59	138	3.61
1970	6,440	0.62	192	3.66
1975	14,200	0.87	349	4.46
1980	32,350	1.16	696	5.52
1985	38,900	0.92	751	4.11
1990	85,640^1	1.48	1,518	6.34
1995	168,280	2.27	2,826	9.40
2000	121,930	1.22	1,964	5.39
2005	176,600	1.35	2,900	6.55
2010	319,000	2.13	5,075	10.49
2015	399,200	2.21	5,815	10.35
2016	406,800	2.19	5,910	10.28

¹In 1990 the Greater Bangkok area accounted for 76% of national industrial output and 55% of Thailand�s GDP.

GDP by primary sector

	Agriculture % GDP	Agriculture % employed	Industry % GDP	Industry % employed	Services % GDP	Services % employed
1960		84.0		4.0		12.0
1980	23.0	76.0	19.0	8.0	58.0	16.0
1990	20.0	67.0	32.0	11.0	48.0	22.0
2000	10.3	55.0	41.2	15.0	47.6	31.0
2010	13.3	40.7	34.0	13.2	52.7	46.1
2016	8.3	31.8	38.5	16.7	55.8	51.5

Communications

Language, % Official; Thai.� Chinese and Malay also spoken, and English in tourist areas.

	Chinese	Khmer	Malay	Lao	Thai
1950	20.0				75.0
1990	12.0	2.7	3.7	27.0	53.0
2000	12.0	2.7	3.7	27.0	53.0

Literacy

47.0% (1940)

68.0% (1960)

81.8% (1980); 88.9% (M), 74.9% (F)

88.0% (1990); 92.3% (M), 84.0% (F)

93.8% (1995); 96.9% (M), 91.9% (F)

95.7% (2000); 97.3% (M), 94.1% (F)

94.1% (2010); 95.9% (M), 92.6% (F)

Physical communications � roads

	Roads (km)	Motor vehicles	Cars	Commercial Vehicles
1950	5,776		8,500	6,570
1956			26,000
1959		83,389
1962	8,450		51,813
1964		143,100
1965			67,261	58,098
1975			248,561	178,425
1978	35,068
1982			492,742	419,143
1988		2,667,800	655,927	1,422,800
1996	64,600		1,560,000	2,830,000
2006	180,053	10,085,000	3,800,000	4,990,000
2010		10,600,000
2013		13,922,000
2016	390,000	37,268,655*	8,146,250	7,309,555

*Includes 20 million motorbikes

Railways;

First railway opened 1893 (construction began 1891), 20 kilometres, Bangkok to Paknam.� Second railway opened 1897, Bangkok to Ayudhya, 72 kilometres; extended to Lampang, 645 kilometres,� 1915.� Extended from Lampang to Chaing Mai, 110 kilometres, in 1921.

Length, kilometres, (% electrified)

263 (1900)

927 (1910)

2,248 (1920)

2,915 (1930)

3,131 (1940)

3,214 (1950)

3,493 (1960)

3,517 (1962)

3,598 (1965)

3,765 (1980)

4,450 (1995)

4,071 (2005)

4,400 (2010)

4,127 (2017) (2.0% e)

Urban metro systems, kilometres

Bangkok, (opened 1999)

Elevated transit system (Skytrain) (opened 1999)

28.7 (2010)

38.7 (2015)

Underground MRT railway (opened 2004)

21.0 (2010)

43.0 (2015)

Electronic communications, �TV began 1955 (Colour from 1969).

	Telephones (landlines)	Mobile Telephones	Radios	Televisions	PCs	Internet Users
1950	6,100		100,000
1960	38,247		163,000
1961				80,000
1962	48,247
1970	125,000
1980	366,000
1982				830,000
1985			7,629,948	4,122,000
1986		821
1988					100,000
1990	1,324,522	63,200	9,500,000	5,900,000	230,000
1995		1,289,000	11,000,000	11,000,000	810,000
1997			13,960,000	15,190,000
1998						131,000
2000	5,591,000	3,056,000			1,714,000
2001				18,400,000	2,250,000	4,800,000
2005		27,380,000			4,400,000	7,100,000
2010	7,010,000	69,683,000				18,000,000
2016	4,706,000	116,600,000				32,400,000

Tourism: Visitors to Thailand,

328,000 (1967)

1,858,801 (1980)

5,299,000 (1990)

6,952,000 (1995)

9,579,000 (2000)

11,567,000 (2005)

15,936,000 (2010)

29,923,000 (2015)