Demographics of Thailand


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

Population size and structure

Population

The population of Thailand was 65.95 million on 8 January 2025 as per the Department of Provincial Administration. There were 64,953,661 Thai nationals and 997,549 non-Thai residents. Thailand's population is mainly rural: concentrated in the rice growing areas of the central, Isan, and northern regions. In 2010, the urban population—principally in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region —was 45.7 percent of the total population according to the National Economic and Social Development Board. 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.
Thailand's successful government-sponsored family planning program has resulted in a decline in population growth from 3.1 percent in 1960 to around 0.4 percent in 2015. The World Bank forecasts a contraction of the working-age population of about 10 percent between 2010 and 2040. 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.
Life expectancy has risen, a reflection of Thailand's efforts to implement effective public health policies. The Thai AIDS 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.
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 of Ramathibodi 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. The Public 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.
The United Nations classifies Thailand as an "aging society", on track to become an "aged society" by 2025. The Fiscal 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. it is estimated that there are 94,000 employees aged 60 years or more in the workforce.

Age structure

Age groupMaleFemaleTotal%
Total33 328 64534 583 07567 911 720100
0–42 041 0711 938 7933 979 8645.86
5–92 353 1982 270 8904 624 0886.81
10–142 438 7742 327 4144 766 1887.02
15–192 593 6292 473 4025 067 0317.46
20–242 673 8462 563 3595 237 2057.71
25–292 673 2012 588 9475 262 1487.75
30–342 683 0152 637 9455 320 9607.84
35–392 673 4042 759 4165 432 8208.00
40–442 672 8912 870 5315 543 4228.16
45–492 574 4232 769 6765 344 0997.87
50–542 315 1772 503 5664 818 7437.10
55–591 854 7192 052 0303 906 7495.75
60–641 347 2511 534 6912 881 9424.24
65–69963 7281 154 9842 118 7123.12
70–74695 434908 0331 603 4672.36
75–79451 737659 6841 111 4211.64
80+323 147569 714892 8611.31
Age groupMaleFemaleTotalPercent
0–146 833 0436 537 09713 370 14019.69
15–6424 061 55624 753 56348 815 11971.88
65+2 434 0463 292 4155 726 4618.43

Age groupMaleFemaleTotal%
Total32 128 24534 406 43966 534 684100
0–41 820 7221 738 0613 558 7835.35
5–91 928 8561 842 7293 771 5845.67
10–141 994 9081 899 7973 894 7055.85
15–192 173 1802 087 9434 261 1236.40
20–242 318 4252 248 6224 567 0476.86
25–292 328 5142 291 4494 619 9646.94
30–342 195 0782 192 4814 387 5596.59
35–392 285 5222 332 1544 617 6766.94
40–442 519 3952 633 7405 153 1347.75
45–492 556 5012 723 6775 280 1787.94
50–542 605 2812 844 4825 449 7638.19
55–592 320 6282 612 3194 932 9477.41
60–641 879 0792 222 1284 101 2076.16
65–691 397 2421 777 0883 174 3304.77
70–74855 1431 207 6402 062 7833.10
75–79508 729825 7151 334 4442.01
80–84269 850508 932778 7811.17
85–89126 009284 038410 0470.62
90–9437 824103 801141 6250.21
95–996 64025 42532 0660.05
100+7194 2194 9380.01
Age groupMaleFemaleTotalPercent
0–145 744 4865 480 58711 225 07316.87
15–6423 181 60324 188 99447 370 59771.20
65+3 202 1564 736 8587 939 01411.93

Vital statistics

Registered births and deaths

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.
YearPopulationLive birthsDeathsNatural changeCrude birth rate Crude death rate Natural change Total Fertility Rate
195724,148,000777,436218,124559,29432.29.023.2
195824,873,000970,155208,866761,28939.08.430.6
195925,619,000801,380206,129595,25431.38.023.3
196026,388,000915,538221,853693,68534.78.426.3
1961813,805210,709603,096
1962973,634221,157752,477
19631,020,051233,192786,859
19641,119,715231,095888,620
19651,117,698216,830900,868
19661,085,594236,243849,351
19671,116,424230,622855,802
19681,200,131232,116968,015
19691,133,526243,444890,082
197039,100,0001,145,293223,899921,39429.35.723.6
197139,760,0001,221,228227,990993,23830.75.725.0
197240,420,0001,189,950248,676941,27429.46.223.3
197341,080,0001,167,272293,151874,12128.47.121.3
197441,740,0001,185,869246,459939,41028.45.922.5
197542,400,0001,132,416234,550897,86626.75.521.2
197643,213,7061,166,292237,062929,23027.05.521.54.15
197744,272,6931,079,331236,854842,47724.35.319.03.90
197845,221,6251,040,218241,146799,07223.05.317.73.66
197946,113,7561,073,436214,111859,32523.24.618.63.51
198046,961,3381,077,300247,970729,32022.95.317.63.36
198147,875,0021,062,238239,423822,81522.25.017.23.18
198248,846,9271,075,632247,402828,23022.05.017.03.00
198349,515,0741,055,802252,592803,21021.35.116.23.02
198450,583,105956,680225,282731,39819.04.514.52.70
198551,795,651973,624225,088748,53618.84.414.42.57
198652,969,204945,827218,025727,80218.04.113.92.45
198753,873,172884,043232,968651,07516.54.312.22.35
198854,960,917873,842231,227642,61516.04.211.82.26
198955,888,393905,837246,570659,26716.34.411.92.18
199056,303,273956,237252,512703,72517.04.512.52.11
199156,961,030960,556264,350696,20617.04.712.32.06
199257,788,965964,557275,313689,24416.84.812.01.98
199358,336,072957,832285,731672,10116.54.911.61.89
199459,095,419960,248305,526654,72216.35.211.11.84
199559,460,382963,678324,842638,83616.25.510.71.81
199660,116,182983,395315,467667,92816.35.211.11.85
199760,816,227880,028279,090600,93814.54.69.91.69
199861,466,178862,260344,210518,05014.05.68.41.69
199961,661,701774,349315,550382,27112.55.17.41.51
200061,878,746773,009365,741407,26812.55.96.61.53
200162,308,887790,425369,493420,93212.76.06.71.54
200262,799,872782,911380,364402,54712.56.16.41.53
200363,079,765742,183384,131358,05211.86.15.71.47
200461,973,621*813,069393,592419,47713.06.36.71.55
200562,418,054809,485395,374414,11113.06.46.61.55
200662,828,706793,623391,126402,49712.76.26.51.53
200763,038,247797,588393,255404,33312.76.36.41.54
200863,389,730784,256397,326386,93012.46.36.11.51
200963,525,062765,047393,916371,13112.16.25.91.47
201063,878,267761,689411,331350,35812.06.55.51.49
201164,076,033782,198414,670367,52812.26.55.71.55
201264,456,695780,975415,141365,83412.26.55.71.56
201364,785,909748,081426,065322,01611.66.65.01.46
201465,124,716711,081435,624275,45711.06.74.31.41
201565,729,098679,502445,964233,53810.46.93.51.45
201665,931,550666,207469,085197,12210.27.23.01.39
201766,188,503656,570458,010198,56010.17.03.11.38
201866,413,979628,450461,818166,6329.67.12.51.36
201966,558,935596,736494,339102,3979.17.51.61.25
202066,186,727569,338489,71779,6218.77.51.21.18
202166,171,439544,570563,650−19,0808.18.4−0.31.16
202266,090,475502,107595,965−93,8587.69.0−1.41.07
202366,052,615517,934565,992−48,0587.88.5−0.71.11
202465,951,210462,240571,646−109,4067.08.7−1.70.98
202565,809,011416,574559,684-143,1106.38.5-2.20.87

UN estimates

1 CBR = crude birth rate ; CDR = crude death rate ; NC = natural change ; TFR = total fertility rate ; IMR = infant mortality rate per 1000 births. Sources:
Figures highlighted in yellow are projections.

Fertility rate

Ultra-low fertility

Thailand's population declined by 100,000 in 2024 to 65.95 million in 2024. The historic demographic shift of 2024 occurred when the annual births fell below 500,000 for the first time since 1949. In 2024, 462,240 births versus 571,646 deaths were recorded. Thailand's total fertility rate declined to 1.0, which is lower than Japan's 1.2. This makes Thailand an ultra-low fertility country like South Korea and Singapore. Demographic projections predict that the population could shrink to 40 million people in 50 years. This would be a decrease of 25 million or 1 million people per 2 years. 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. The government's "Having Children for the Nation" campaign proves to be ineffective.
The root cause of the declining birthrate and the rapid population aging is blamed on feelings of inadequate living standards, rising cost of living, not feeling successful enough compared to peers, societal pressures and unrealistic portrayals of success in social media. The public perception of starting a family is often burdensome, stressful, or overly expensive. Ineffective policies will result in a demographic crisis. Within circa 50 years, the population is projected to decline from over 60 million to just over 30 million. This will negatively affect Thailand's national competitiveness, international bargaining power, and national security.

Total fertility rate by province

Total fertility rate in Thailand by province as of 2020-2022:

Life expectancy at birth

Average life expectancy at birth of the total population.
PeriodLife
expectancy
PeriodLife
expectancy
1950–195550.81985–199069.8
1955–196053.31990–199570.2
1960–196556.11995–200070.3
1965–197058.22000–200571.2
1970–197560.72005–201073.2
1975–198063.32010–201575.2
1980–198565.82015–202076.8

Marriages and divorce

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

Demographic and Health Surveys

Total fertility rate in Thailand by region and year:
Region2005–061995–961985–86
Thailand 1.4712.0222.730
Urban1.0331.3321.766
Rural1.7272.2852.962
Bangkok Metropolis0.8781.2611.735
Central Region1.1901.6642.494
Northern Region1.5751.8942.248
Northeastern Region2.0382.4353.096
Southern Region1.5242.8514.049

Ethnic groups

Thailand's ethnic origins are diverse and continue to evolve. The nation's ethnic makeup is obscured by the pressures of Thaification, Thai nationalism, and social pressure, which is intertwined with a caste-like mentality assigning some groups higher social status than others. In its report to the United Nations for the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Thai government officially recognized 62 ethnic communities. Twenty million Central Thai make up approximately 20,650,000 million of the nation's population of 60,544,937 at the time of completion of the Mahidol University Ethnolinguistic Maps of Thailand data.
Thailand's report to the UN provided population numbers for mountain 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 are:
  1. Lao consisting of the Thai Lao and other smaller Lao groups, namely the Thai Loei, Lao Lom, Lao Wiang/Klang, Lao Khrang, Lao Ngaew, and Lao Ti
  2. 6 million Khon Muang
  3. 4.5 million Pak Tai
  4. 1.4 million Khmer Leu
  5. 900,000 Malay
  6. 500,000 Nyaw
  7. 470,000 Phu Thai
  8. 400,000 Kuy/Kuay
  9. 350,000 Karen.
Thailand's Ministry of Social Development and Human Security's 2015 Master Plan for the Development of Ethnic Groups in Thailand 2015–2017 omitted the larger, ethnoregional ethnic communities, including the Central Thai majority; it therefore covers only 9.7% of the population.
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. One scholar estimated that the Sino-Thai population, itself around 14 per cent of the total, was composed of around 56 percent Teochew, 16 percent Hakka, 12 percent Hainanese, 7 percent Hokkien, 7 percent Cantonese and 2 percent other. 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 ; two percent were Burmese, 1.3 percent other, and 0.9 percent unspecified. Thus, the ethnosocial and genetic makeup situation is very different from that which is reported or self-claimed.
The vast majority of the Isan people, one-third of Thailand's population, are of ethnic Lao with some belonging to the Khmer minority. They speak the Isan 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 large fiefdoms or states, has led to waves of immigrants seeking refuge or work in Thailand. The makeup of Myanmar nationals is complex and includes, for example, people of Nepali ethnicity who escaped Nepal, entered Myanmar, and then emigrated to Thailand.
Following the 2014 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. Some 180,000 Cambodians were said to have left Thailand post-coup due to crackdown rumors, indicating government figures were an under count. 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 the Southern Thai language. Several other small Tai groups include the Shan, Lue, and Phu Thai.
Malay- and Yawi-speaking Muslims of the south are another significant minority group, yet there are a substantial number of ethnic Malays who speak only Thai. Other groups include the Khmer; the Mon, who are substantially assimilated with the Thai, and the Vietnamese.
Smaller mountain-dwelling tribes, such as the Hmong and Mien, as well as the Karen, number about 788,024. Some 300,000 Hmong were to have received citizenship in 2010.
Thailand is also home to more than 200,000 foreigners—retirees, extended tourists, and workers from, for example, Europe, North America, and elsewhere.

Languages

Thailand is dominated by languages of the [Southwestern Tai peoples|Tai languages|Southwestern Tai] family. Karen languages are spoken along the border with Burma, Khmer is spoken near Cambodia, and Malay in the south near Malaysia.
The Thai hill tribes speak numerous small languages, many Chinese retain varieties of Chinese, and there are half a dozen sign languages. Thailand has 73 living languages.
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 the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
LanguageSpeakersLanguage Family
Central Thai millionTai-Kadai
Lao millionTai-Kadai
Kam Mueang millionTai-Kadai
Pak Tai millionTai-Kadai
Northern Khmer millionAustroasiatic
Yawi millionAustronesian
Ngaw millionTai-Kadai
Phu Thai millionTai-Kadai
Karen millionSino-Tibetan
Kuy millionAustroasiatic

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 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". 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. 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 the 1893 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 the Tai–Kadai languages, under a "Greater Thai Empire", and can be traced back to at least 1902. 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.

Religion

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.
In addition to Malay and Yawi speaking Thai and other southerners who are Muslim, the Muslim Cham 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 and animism are widely practiced.

Migration

Immigration

The largest foreign community are the Burmese, followed by the Cambodians and Laotians.
, 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.
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. 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.
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. Migrants from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, the most prevalent, accounted for 1.8 million foreigners.
Research by Kasikorn 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.
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 at Chulalongkorn University in 2017.
As of 2016, up to 145,000 Taiwanese expatriates live in Thailand.
Updated in 2025, there some expats that decrease from 2010 as well as some of them have been increase. For instance, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos have been increase so much from 2010. The decline of Brits and Japanese from 2010. Rise of german and French slightly from 2010.
Also reported from news said that there are estimated 30,000 Israeli arrived and settle in Thailand
Myanmarpercentage bar|50.08