Thailand
Name
| Official name | Kingdom of Thailand — Ratcha-anachak Thai (ราชอาณาจักรไทย) in Thai; Prathet Thai (ประเทศไทย, the Thai country) in the ordinary usage of the law and the schools, Mueang Thai (the Thai land) in speech; the romanization by the Royal Thai General System of Transcription; "Thailand" the English form fixed by the government's proclamation of 24 June 1939; admitted to the UN as Siam on 16 December 1946 and listed as Thailand since 1949 |
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| Former names | Siam (Sayam, สยาม) — the name the Khmer, the Chinese and then the Portuguese and the rest of the world used for the kingdoms of Sukhothai, Ayutthaya and Bangkok, and the kingdom's own name in the treaties of 1826 (Burney), 1833 (the United States) and 1855 (Bowring); Krung Si Ayutthaya (1351–1767) and Krung Thonburi (1767–82) the capitals that named their kingdoms; Thailand from 24 June 1939 by Plaek Phibunsongkhram's state convention, Siam again from 1946 after the war, Thailand once more from 11 May 1949; Rattanakosin the name of the Bangkok era since 6 April 1782 |
| Demonym | Thai (chao Thai, khon Thai) — the people and the citizens alike, Siamese in the writing before 1939 (the Siamese cat, the Siamese twins Chang and Eng of 1811, the Siamese fighting fish); the Thai Chinese (chao Thai chuea sai Chin), the Isan people of the northeast (Lao by tongue), the khon mueang of the north, the chao Pak Tai of the south, the Thai Malays of Pattani (the Melayu Patani); the hill peoples (chao khao) — Karen, Hmong, Lahu, Akha, Lisu, Mien; the Mon, the Northern Khmer, the Moken of the Andaman |
| Meaning of the name | "Thai" the ethnonym of the Tai-speaking peoples who moved into the river valleys from the north in the first millennium and, by the common gloss taught since Phibun's day, "free" (thai, itsara) — hence "Land of the Free"; the Tai name itself of uncertain root ("people" by the linguists' main reading); "Siam" by the main account from the Sanskrit śyāma (dark, brown) through the Khmer Syam of the Angkor inscriptions, the Siamese mercenaries on the bas-reliefs of Angkor Wat of about 1150 the first named Tai; "Bangkok" from Bang Makok (the village of the hog plums) or Bang Ko (the island village) on the river's west bank — both readings stated; Krung Thep "the city of the deities" |
| Motto | None by law — the three pillars "Chat, Satsana, Phra Maha Kasat" (Nation, Religion, King), King Vajiravudh's formula of the 1910s and the three colors of the flag of 1917, serve the purpose on the posters, the schools and the oath; the royal motto of Rama IX, "Rao cha khrong phaendin doi tham" ("We shall reign with righteousness"), spoken at his coronation of 5 May 1950 and repeated by Rama X on 4 May 2019 ("I shall continue, preserve and build upon the royal legacy and shall reign with righteousness"); the tourism board's "Amazing Thailand" (1998) and "Land of Smiles" by the trade |
Quick facts
| Capital | Bangkok (Krung Thep Maha Nakhon; กรุงเทพมหานคร) — on the east bank of the Chao Phraya 30 km from the Gulf, founded by Rama I with the city pillar of 21 April 1782 after Taksin's Thonburi across the river (1767–82); a special administrative area of 1,568.7 km² and 50 districts (khet) outside the 76 provinces, run by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration under an elected governor — Chadchart Sittipunt, an independent, elected 22 May 2022 with a record 1.38 million votes and re-elected 28 June 2026; the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaeo (the Emerald Buddha) on Rattanakosin Island, the National Assembly's Sappaya-Sapasathan on the river since 2019, the Government House of Dusit; about 1.5 m above sea level and sinking; the ceremonial name of 168 letters that begins Krungthepmahanakhon Amonrattanakosin the world's longest place name by Guinness |
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| Largest cities | Bangkok — 5,422,568 on the civil registers at 31 December 2025, about 9.1 million by the 2024 estimate and 17.4 million in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region of Bangkok with Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon and Nakhon Pathom (2021) — all three counts stated, the registers missing the commuters and the migrants; then Nonthaburi and Pak Kret of the suburbs (about 250,000 and 190,000 in the municipalities), Hat Yai of Songkhla (about 160,000), Nakhon Ratchasima (Khorat; about 125,000 in the city, 2.61 million in the province, the most populous after Bangkok), Chiang Mai (about 125,000 in the municipality, over a million in the valley), Udon Thani, Khon Kaen, Surat Thani, Ubon Ratchathani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Pattaya of Chonburi (its own special local government since 1978), Phuket; the provinces by the registers: Bangkok, Nakhon Ratchasima, Ubon Ratchathani, Khon Kaen, Chiang Mai, Buriram, Udon Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Songkhla, Si Sa Ket (1,452,941) the ten largest |
| Official language | Thai (Central Thai, Siamese; phasa Thai) — the language of the state, the courts and the schools under the constitution's silence (no article names it; the practice and the National Language Policy of 2010 do), written in the script Ramkhamhaeng's inscription dates to 1283 (44 consonants, 15 vowel signs, four tone marks, five tones, no spaces between words), spoken as a first language by about 20 million and as the common tongue by all; 73 living languages by the ethnologists' count — Isan (the Lao of the northeast, 15.2 million speakers), Kam Mueang (Northern Thai, 6 million), Pak Tai (Southern Thai, 4.5 million), Patani Malay (about 1.5 million in the deep south), Northern Khmer (1.4 million of Surin, Buriram and Si Sa Ket), Teochew and the other Chinese tongues of the elders, Karen, Hmong, Mon; English the language of business and the universities' second tongue, the road signs bilingual; Thai Sign Language |
| Currency | Thai baht (ISO code THB; ฿; บาท), of 100 satang — about 33.6 to the U.S. dollar on 2 October 2026 by the market's count (a 3.8% rise in the baht over the year; 34.8 a year before), about 38 to the euro and 2.9 Indian rupees to the baht; issued by the Bank of Thailand (the act of 28 April 1942, the doors open 10 December 1942) in notes of 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1,000 baht and coins of 1, 2, 5 and 10 baht and 25 and 50 satang; the Series 17 notes with Rama X since 2018; the name a weight (15 g of silver, the tical of the European traders); the peg to the dollar broken on 2 July 1997 — the float that began the Asian financial crisis (56 to the dollar by January 1998, the record); PromptPay (2017) the national instant-payment rail of the shops and the street stalls |
| Time zone | Indochina Time (UTC+7) — the single zone for the whole kingdom since 1 April 1920 (Bangkok mean time, UTC+6:42, before), no daylight saving; the same clock as Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and western Indonesia, an hour and a half ahead of India, an hour behind Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, seven hours ahead of UTC; the Buddhist Era calendar of the state (B.E. = CE + 543, so 2026 is B.E. 2569), the year beginning 1 January since 1941 (13 April, Songkran, before 1889 and 1 April from 1889 to 1940) |
| Calling code, internet and ISO codes | +66 (the trunk 0 dropped; Bangkok 02, the mobiles 06, 08 and 09 — ten digits); internet .th (1988; the second-level .co.th, .ac.th, .go.th, .or.th, .in.th) and .ไทย (the Thai-script domain, 2010); about 90% of the people online by the surveys, mobile lines above the population; AIS and True Corporation (the True–DTAC merger of 1 March 2023) the two carriers, NT the state's; 5G from February 2020, the first in Southeast Asia; the Computer Crime Act of 2007 (amended 2017) the law of the web; the PDPA of 2022 the data law; ISO 3166 TH / THA / 764; vehicle registration code T; the International Olympic Committee, FIFA and the UN's THA; .th; the old Siam "SM" plates to 1939; the Thai registration plates in Thai script with the province's name (Krung Thep Maha Nakhon on Bangkok's), white for the private cars, yellow for the taxis and the hire cars, green for the commercial, the auction "graphic" plates with the lucky numbers (the 9999s sold for millions of baht) |
| Area | 513,120 km² (198,117 sq mi) — the 50th country of the world; land 510,890 km² (99.57%), water 2,230 km² (0.43%); a little larger than Spain (505,990 km²), a little smaller than France, about twice the United Kingdom, about a sixth of India (15.6%) and half again the size of Rajasthan — the shape the "elephant's head" of the schoolbooks, the trunk the peninsula running 1,000 km south to Malaysia, the head the north, the ear the Khorat Plateau of Isan; about 1,650 km from Mae Sai to Betong, about 780 km at the widest; the Isthmus of Kra 44 km wide at the narrowest (30 km by the geography page's measure — both stated) |
| Population | 65,809,011 on the civil registers at 31 December 2025 (the Department of Provincial Administration's Central Registration Office, published March 2026) — 142,199 fewer than the 65,951,210 of a year before, falling each year since 2020; about 71.7 million by the UN's and the World Bank's estimates for 2024, which count the four to five million migrant workers and the unregistered — both stated; the 22nd most populous country; 64,785,909 at the 2010 census (the 2020 round done from the registers); shrinking since 2021, when deaths (8.7 per 1,000 in 2024) first outran births (7.0), with 416,514 births in 2025, the fewest in 75 years and the second year below 500,000 |
| Density | About 128 people per km² by the registered count, about 140 by the UN's estimate — both stated; Bangkok about 3,500 per km² on the registers and about 5,800 by the estimates, Nonthaburi and Samut Prakan the next densest; Isan a third of the people on a third of the land; Mae Hong Son of the northern hills the emptiest at about 22 per km²; the Chao Phraya delta the crowded core since the canals of the 19th century |
| Religion | Theravada Buddhism 93.5% by the 2018 count (the sangha of about 250,000 monks and 40,000 temples; the Supreme Patriarch, Somdet Phra Ariyavongsagatanana IX, since 12 February 2017; the three Buddhist holy days public holidays; the King by the constitution a Buddhist and the upholder of all religions, no state religion), Islam 5.4% (the Malays of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and Satun, the Bangkok Muslims of the old communities; the Chularatchamontri the Sheikhul Islam), Christianity 1.1% (the Catholic dioceses since the French mission of 1662, the Protestant Karen and Lahu of the hills), the Chinese shrines and Mahayana temples of Yaowarat, the Hindus and the Sikhs of Pahurat, the Brahmin rites of the court (the Royal Plowing Ceremony of May); the spirit houses (san phra phum) at every gate |
| Government type | Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy under the constitution of 6 April 2017 — the 20th charter since the revolution of 24 June 1932, drafted under the military council of 2014 and approved at the referendum of 7 August 2016 with 61.4%; the King head of state, the Prime Minister chosen by the House (the 200 selected senators' share in the choice expired in 2024); the referendum of 8 February 2026 approved the drafting of a new constitution — 60.16% for, 31.28% against, 8.55% without a view, turnout 69.65% of 52,933,610 — and a 35-member Constitution Drafting Assembly was set up by the Assembly's "20 pick 1" formula, with two more referendums to come under the Constitutional Court's ruling on the process; a dozen successful coups since 1932 by the common count (13 by some tallies), the last 22 May 2014 |
| Head of state | King Vajiralongkorn — Phrabat Somdet Phra Vajiraklaochaoyuhua, Rama X of the Chakri dynasty, born 28 July 1952 at the Amphorn Sathan Residential Hall, 74; king since 13 October 2016 on his father Bhumibol's death (his acceptance proclaimed 1 December 2016), crowned 4 May 2019 in the three days of rites at the Grand Palace; Queen Suthida, married 1 May 2019; his mother Queen Sirikit, the Queen Mother, died 24 October 2025 at 93 — the royal cremation set for 4:30 p.m. on 16 December 2026 at the crematorium on Sanam Luang (the rites of 15–19 December, announced 22 September 2026); his daughter Princess Bajrakitiyabha died 11 June 2026 at 47 after the collapse of December 2022; the King the head of the armed forces and the upholder of religions, his portrait at every office; Section 112 the lèse-majesté law (3 to 15 years a count) |
| Head of government | Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul — Bhumjaithai Party, 60, born 13 September 1966 in Bangkok, the Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction heir, the 32nd Prime Minister: elected by the House on 5 September 2025 with 311 of 492 votes after the Constitutional Court removed Paetongtarn Shinawatra on 29 August over the leaked call with Hun Sen, endorsed by the King on 7 September; dissolved the House on 12 December 2025 under his pact with the People's Party and was re-elected on 19 March 2026 with 293 of 498 voting MPs after his party came first on 8 February; the cabinet sworn before the King on 6 April 2026; the Interior Minister as well (the post he held 2023–25 and again from 19 September 2025), the Public Health Minister of the cannabis law of 2022; the coalition Bhumjaithai, Pheu Thai, Prachachart, Palang Pracharath and the small parties, about 292 MPs; the deputy prime ministers include Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn and Suphajee Suthumpun by the October 2026 record |
| Legislature | The National Assembly (Rathasapha) of two houses — the House of Representatives of 500 (400 from the constituencies, 100 from the party lists, four-year terms; elected 8 February 2026, turnout 71.42%: Bhumjaithai 192 by the election page and 194 by the year's record — both stated, the People's Party 120 with the largest list vote at 30.56%, Pheu Thai 74, Kla Tham 58, the Democrats 21, the rest 35; the Speaker Sophon Saram of Bhumjaithai since 15 March 2026, the opposition leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut of the People's Party) and the Senate of 200 (selected 9–26 June 2024 by the candidates themselves in 20 professional groups, five-year terms without renewal; the President Mongkol Surasajja since 26 July 2024; the "Blue" bloc tied to Bhumjaithai about 150 seats by the counts, the Election Commission's collusion probe of the selection on — the two sides stated (LAW 2)); the Sappaya-Sapasathan on the Chao Phraya since 2019, the largest parliament building in the world by floor area at the opening |
| National Day | 5 December — the birthday of King Bhumibol (Rama IX, 1927–2016), kept as National Day, Father's Day and the day of the King's remembrance since his death; 28 July the King's Birthday (Rama X; the public holiday since 2017), 3 June Queen Suthida's; Chakri Memorial Day 6 April (the dynasty of 1782), Coronation Day 4 May, Chulalongkorn Day 23 October (Rama V's death, 1910), Constitution Day 10 December (1932), Mother's Day 12 August (Queen Sirikit's birthday); Songkran, the Thai New Year, 13–15 April with the water fights (UNESCO's intangible list 2023); Loy Krathong on the full moon of the 12th lunar month (November) with the floating baskets; Makha Bucha, Visakha Bucha and Asahna Bucha the Buddhist holidays; the national anthem at 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. every day on the loudspeakers, the people standing |
| Driving side and HDI | Left (the British influence of the 1850s–1900s; the only mainland Southeast Asian country driving left with Malaysia beyond, the border crossings to Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar switching sides), the roads among the world's deadliest (32.7 deaths per 100,000 by the WHO's 2016 count, about 20,000 a year by the counts since, three-quarters on motorcycles); Human Development Index 0.798 (2023), 76th, "high"; Gini 33.5 (2023) by the World Bank's count (34.9 by the 2019 count — both stated); poverty 9.9% below the national line by the 2018 count; life expectancy 77.7 years (74.7 men, 80.8 women); literacy about 94% |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | The Trairanga (ธงไตรรงค์, the "tricolor") of 28 September 1917 — five horizontal stripes of red, white, blue, white and red, the blue twice the width of the others (1:1:2:1:1), the proportion 2:3; the red the nation (the land and the people, the blood shed), the white the religion (the purity of Buddhism), the blue the monarchy — the three pillars; the blue King Vajiravudh's (Rama VI's) own color, the color of Saturday, his birthday, and the color of the Allies of the war Siam had joined that July, by the two accounts; the King's design after seeing the elephant flag flown upside down on a provincial tour, by the story; the flag of the white elephant on red (1855–1917, the elephant in regalia from 1916) and the plain red of the Ayutthaya ships before it; Flag Day 28 September since 2016; the Flag Act of 1979 the law, the shades fixed at the centennial of 2017; the naval ensign the same with a red disc and the white elephant; the royal standard yellow with the Garuda.Flag of Thailand |
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| National emblem | The Garuda (Phra Khrut Pha, ครุฑ) — the bird-man of the Hindu myth, Vishnu's mount, the emblem of the kings of Ayutthaya and the state emblem since King Vajiravudh's adoption of 1911 in place of Chulalongkorn's European-style arms of 1873 (the three-headed elephant Erawan of Siam, the white elephant of the Lao lands and the crossed kris of the Malay states on a shield under the Great Crown of Victory); the red Garuda with the arms spread on the royal standard, the government's letterheads, the passports, the banknotes and the courts, and on the fronts of the companies that hold the royal warrant ("by royal appointment"); the Chakri emblem of the dynasty the chakra (discus) and the trident; the Great Crown of Victory (Phra Maha Phichai Mongkut) of 1782 on the seals |
| National anthem | "Phleng Chat Thai" (the Thai National Anthem) — the music by Peter Feit (Phra Chenduriyang), the Bangkok-born bandmaster of German descent, written in the revolution's year of 1932, the words by Luang Saranupraphan chosen by competition at the renaming of 1939 and adopted by the state convention of 10 December 1939 ("Thailand unites the flesh and blood of the Thai people..."); played at 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. in every station, school and park with the people standing still, and before the films; the royal anthem "Sansoen Phra Barami" ("Glorify His Prestige," the music of 1888 by the Russian Pyotr Shchurovsky, the words by Prince Narisara Nuwattiwong revised by Rama VI in 1913) played for the King and in the cinemas before the show; the first anthem "Chom Rat Chong Charoen" of the 1850s to "God Save the Queen" |
| National motto | None by law — "Chat, Satsana, Phra Maha Kasat" (Nation, Religion, King), Rama VI's three pillars of the 1910s and the three colors of the flag, the formula of the schools, the army and the oath of the civil service; "Rao cha khrong phaendin doi tham" ("We shall reign with righteousness") the royal oath of 1950 and 2019; the mottos of the moment — Phibun's "Chuea phunam chat phon phai" ("Believe the leader and the nation is safe") of the 1940s, the "sufficiency economy" of Rama IX's speech of 4 December 1997 after the crash, Thaksin's "Think new, act new" of 2001, the junta's "Returning happiness to the people" of 2014; the tourist board's "Amazing Thailand" |
| National colors | Red, white and blue of the flag — the War Elephants (the football team) in blue and the King's yellow for the trim; the day colors of the Thai week by the Hindu planetary gods: yellow for Monday, the birthday color of Rama IX (born Monday 5 December 1927) and of Rama X (Monday 28 July 1952), worn by the crowds on 5 December and 28 July, light blue for Friday (Queen Sirikit's, 12 August 1932), purple for Saturday (Queen Suthida's, 3 June 1978), pink for Tuesday (Rama IX's lucky color by the astrologers of 2007, the pink shirts of that year), orange for Thursday, green for Wednesday, red for Sunday; the yellow shirts and the red shirts of the politics of 2006–14 named for the royal yellow and the opposition's red; the saffron of the monks' robes; the gold of the temple roofs; the party colors — Bhumjaithai's blue, Pheu Thai's red, the People's Party's orange, the Democrats' light blue |
| National animal | The Thai elephant (chang Thai; Elephas maximus indicus) — the national animal by the Cabinet resolution of 26 October 2001, the white elephant (chang phueak) the royal beast of the kings since Ayutthaya (the Order of the White Elephant of 1861, the elephant flag of 1855–1917, the white elephants of the King's stables at Dusit; a found white elephant presented to the King by law), National Thai Elephant Day 13 March since 1998; about 3,000 to 4,000 wild in Khao Yai, Kaeng Krachan, Kui Buri and the Western Forest Complex and about 3,800 in the camps and the sanctuaries (Chiang Mai's, Surin's elephant village); the Siamese fireback (Lophura diardi) the national bird since 1985, the Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens; pla kat) the national aquatic animal by the Cabinet of 5 February 2019, the tiger (about 180 to 220 wild by the 2022 counts, the Western Forest Complex's stronghold), the Asian black bear, the gaur, the dugong of Trang, the whale shark of the Similans, the Irrawaddy dolphin of Songkhla Lake, the leopard sharks returned off Phuket in January 2026; the 72 tigers of the Chiang Mai Tiger Kingdom dead of canine distemper in February 2026 |
| National flower and tree | The ratchaphruek (golden shower, Cassia fistula; dok khun) — the national flower by the Cabinet resolution of 26 October 2001, its yellow the royal color and the color of Buddhism, blooming in the hot season of March–May; the same tree the national tree; the lotus (bua) of the temple offerings and the ponds, the orchid of the export trade (the kingdom the world's largest exporter of cut orchids by the trade's counts), the jasmine (mali) of the garlands (phuang malai) and Mother's Day, the frangipani (lilawadi, once the unlucky lan thom), the bougainvillea of the roads; the teak of the northern forests (the logging ban of 1989 after the floods of 1988), the rubber tree of the south (the world's largest crop), the coconut and the mango; the sala Thai pavilion the national architecture of the same 2001 resolution |
| National dish | Pad thai (the stir-fried rice noodles with tamarind, fish sauce, egg, tofu, dried shrimp and peanuts) — the dish Phibun's government promoted in the 1930s and 1940s as the national noodle, the street-stall standard of every town; tom yum kung (the hot-and-sour shrimp soup; UNESCO's intangible list of 2024), kaeng khiao wan (green curry), massaman curry (the Muslim-Persian curry of the south; the "world's best dish" in CNN's reader polls), som tam (the green-papaya salad of Isan with sticky rice and grilled chicken), pad kra pao (the holy-basil stir-fry with a fried egg — the Prime Minister's dish at the flood kitchens of September 2026), khao soi of Chiang Mai, larb, khao man kai (the Hainanese chicken rice), mango with sticky rice (khao niao mamuang), the durian of Chanthaburi; the fish sauce, the chili, the galangal, the lemongrass and the kaffir lime the register; Singha (1933), Chang and Leo the beers, Mekhong and SangSom the spirits, Thai iced tea (cha yen); the street food of Yaowarat and Jay Fai's Michelin star of 2018; the five regional kitchens |
| National sport | Muay Thai — the "art of eight limbs" (fists, elbows, knees and shins), the kingdom's martial art since Ayutthaya, the ring sport under the Boxing Act of 1999 and the stadiums of Rajadamnern (23 December 1945, the oldest) and Lumpinee (1956); Nai Khanom Tom Day (17 March, the fighter of the Burmese captivity of 1774) the Muay Thai day; football the mass sport — the War Elephants (the Football Association of Siam of 1916; FIFA 1925; the AFF championship's record seven titles of 1996–2022; the AFC Asian Cup qualified for 2027 by the win over Turkmenistan of 31 March 2026, the ninth appearance; never the World Cup), the Thai League 1 of Buriram United and the Bangkok clubs; sepak takraw the regional game (the Asian Games golds of 2026 in the men's and women's regu); the Olympic record 11 gold, 11 silver and 19 bronze through 2024, the most in Southeast Asia — Payao Poontarat's boxing bronze of 1976 the first, Somluck Kamsing's boxing gold of 1996 the first gold, five weightlifting golds, Panipak Wongpattanakit's taekwondo golds of 2020 and 2024 the only double; badminton's Kunlavut Vitidsarn (world champion 2023, Olympic silver 2024, Asian Games gold 2026) and Ratchanok Intanon (world champion 2013); golf's Ariya Jutanugarn and Atthaya Thitikul (the world No. 1s of 2017 and 2022); tennis's Paradorn Srichaphan (No. 9, 2003); the SEA Games of Bangkok of 9–20 December 2025 (233 gold, 154 silver, 113 bronze — 500 medals and first; Cambodia withdrew on 10 December over the border); THE ASIAN GAMES OF AICHI-NAGOYA (19 September – 4 October 2026, on at the date) — 694 athletes in 51 sports, 12 gold, 9 silver and 12 bronze and fifth place by the count of 29 September, Puripol Boonson's 9.90 in the 100 m a Games record, the teqball and equestrian eventing golds; the kite fights, the longboat races, the takraw of the temple fairs |
| Heritage listings | UNESCO World Heritage ×8 inscribed through 2024 — the Historic Town of Sukhothai and Associated Historic Towns (1991), the Historic City of Ayutthaya (1991), the Thungyai–Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuaries (1991), the Ban Chiang Archaeological Site (1992), the Dong Phayayen–Khao Yai Forest Complex (2005), the Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex (2021), the Ancient Town of Si Thep and its Dvaravati monuments (2023) and Phu Phrabat of the sima stones (2024) — with Wat Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan of Nakhon Si Thammarat inscribed 25 July 2026 by the year's record for nine (the list page carrying eight — both stated); the tentative list of seven, Wat Arun's prang (2025), Songkhla and its lagoon (2024), Chiang Mai's Lanna monuments, Phanom Rung, Phra That Phanom and the Andaman reserves among them; the intangible list — Khon masked dance (2018), Nuad Thai massage (2019), Nora dance of the south (2021), Songkran (2023), tom yum kung and the kebaya (2024); 15 Ramsar wetlands, 5 biosphere reserves, the UNESCO creative cities Phuket (gastronomy, 2015), Chiang Mai (crafts, 2017), Bangkok and Sukhothai (2019), Phetchaburi (2021), Chiang Rai and Suphan Buri (2023); more than 100 national parks (Khao Yai of 18 September 1962 the first, Kaeng Krachan at 2,914 km² the largest, 21 marine), 38.8% of the land under forest by the 2022 count |
| Symbol status | The flag by the Flag Act B.E. 2522 (1979) on the proclamation of 1917, the shades by the 2017 standard; the Garuda by Rama VI's decree of 1911 and the State Emblem Act of 1947 (B.E. 2490); the anthem by the state convention and the Cabinet of 10 December 1939 and the royal anthem by custom since 1888; the national flower, tree, animal and architecture by the Cabinet resolution of 26 October 2001; the Siamese fireback by the declaration of 1985; the Siamese fighting fish by the Cabinet of 5 February 2019; Muay Thai by the Boxing Act of 1999 and custom; no motto, dish or color by law; the day colors by the astrologers' tradition; the lèse-majesté law (Section 112 of the Criminal Code) and the Flag Act's penalties the protection |
Geography
| Location | The middle of mainland Southeast Asia — the Indochinese Peninsula's heart and the upper half of the Malay Peninsula, between 5°37′ and 20°27′ N and 97°22′ and 105°37′ E; bounded by Myanmar on the west and northwest (2,401 km), Laos on the north and northeast (1,810 km, most of it the Mekong), Cambodia on the east and southeast (798 km) and Malaysia on the south (647 km) — 4,863 km of land border; the Gulf of Thailand (the South China Sea's arm) on the south and east and the Andaman Sea of the Indian Ocean on the southwest; the Golden Triangle at the Ruak–Mekong confluence of Chiang Rai where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet, the Emerald Triangle of Ubon Ratchathani where Thailand, Laos and Cambodia do (the Chong Bok of the May 2025 clash); no overseas territory; the overlapping claims with Cambodia in the Gulf (the memorandum of 2001 revoked by Thailand on 5 May 2026, Cambodia's UNCLOS conciliation notice of 2 June — both cases stated) |
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| Regions | Six regions by the geographers' count (four by the statistical office's) — the North of the mountains and the Lanna valleys (Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Lampang, Mae Hong Son), the Northeast (Isan, the Khorat Plateau of about 170,000 km², a third of the land and a third of the people, Lao by tongue; Khorat, Khon Kaen, Udon Thani, Ubon Ratchathani), the Central plain of the Chao Phraya (the rice bowl and the capital), the East of the Eastern Seaboard (Chonburi, Rayong, Chanthaburi, Trat), the West of the Tenasserim border (Kanchanaburi, Tak), the South of the peninsula (Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phuket, Songkhla, the four Malay provinces); 76 provinces (changwat) and Bangkok, 878 districts (amphoe) and Bangkok's 50 khet, 7,255 subdistricts (tambon), about 75,000 villages (muban); Nakhon Ratchasima the largest province (20,494 km²), Samut Songkhram the smallest (416 km²) and with Ranong the least populous; the governors appointed by the Interior Ministry, the Provincial Administrative Organizations elected (1 February 2025) |
| Highest point | Doi Inthanon — 2,565 m (8,415 ft), in the Thanon Thong Chai Range of the Shan Hills' southern end in Chiang Mai Province, the "roof of Thailand" (the national park of 1972, the twin royal chedis of 1987 and 1992 near the top, the radar station, the cloud forest and the frost of January); named for Inthawichayanon, the last king of Chiang Mai (died 1897), whose ashes lie there; Doi Pha Hom Pok (2,285 m), Doi Chiang Dao (2,175 m, the limestone peak and the biosphere reserve of 2021), Khao Luang of Nakhon Si Thammarat (1,835 m, the south's); Phu Kradueng (1,316 m) and Phu Chi Fa the climbers' tables of Isan and the north |
| Lowest point | Sea level on the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea — the abandoned Boh Yai lead-zinc mine at −106 m the lowest ground by the geography page's count (closed 1997; both stated); Bangkok 1.5 m above the sea on the delta's clay and sinking 1–2 cm a year by the surveys — the floods of 2011 (815 dead, US$46.5 billion, 65 provinces, the world's fourth-costliest disaster by the World Bank's count) and of 24–30 September 2026 (more than 300 mm in 48 hours, all 50 districts) the result; the Chao Phraya Dam's discharge raised to 2,500 m³/s on 2 October 2026 to pass the northern water; the sea-wall and the "monkey cheek" retention plans of the capital |
| Longest river | The Chao Phraya — 372 km from the meeting of the Ping and the Nan at Nakhon Sawan to the Gulf at Samut Prakan, 1,112 km with the Nan from its source in Nan Province, the river of Ayutthaya and Bangkok (the Grand Palace, Wat Arun, the Express Boats) and of the rice plain; the Mekong — 4,350 km from Tibet, about 920 km of it along the Lao border by the geography page's count (Chiang Saen to Khong Chiam, the friendship bridges from Nong Khai of 8 April 1994 to Bueng Kan), the longest river touching the kingdom; the four rivers of the north — Ping (the Bhumibol Dam), Wang, Yom, Nan (the Sirikit Dam); the Mun and the Chi of Isan draining to the Mekong; the Mae Klong (the Srinagarind and Vajiralongkorn dams and the Bridge on the River Kwai at Kanchanaburi), the Tapi of the south, the Pattani; the Salween and the Moei along the Myanmar border |
| Largest lake | Songkhla Lake (Thale Sap Songkhla) — 1,040 km², the largest natural lake, a brackish lagoon of three basins on the peninsula's east coast with the Irrawaddy dolphins of the inner lake, the fishing villages and the island of Ko Yo; Bueng Boraphet of Nakhon Sawan (about 200 km²) the largest freshwater swamp, Nong Han of Sakon Nakhon (about 125 km²) the largest freshwater lake of Isan; the reservoirs larger — the Srinagarind Dam's (Kanchanaburi, 1980; 17.7 billion m³, the largest by volume), the Bhumibol Dam's (Tak, 1964; 154 m, the first and the tallest concrete arch dam), the Sirikit, the Ubol Ratana of Khon Kaen (the first in Isan, 1966) and the Vajiralongkorn; Cheow Lan Lake of Khao Sok the limestone-karst lake of the posters (1987) |
| Largest island | Phuket — 543 km², the largest island and a province of its own, joined to the mainland by the Sarasin Bridge (1967), the Andaman's resort island since the 1980s (the tin-mining island before; the Chinese-Portuguese shophouses of the old town, the Big Buddha of 45 m), the airport second only to Bangkok's two; Ko Samui (229 km²) of the Gulf, Ko Chang (217 km²) of Trat the second-largest by most counts, Ko Tarutao, Ko Pha-ngan (the Full Moon Party), Ko Tao (the diving), Ko Lanta, the Phi Phi islands of Krabi (Maya Bay closed 2018–22 for the reef), the Similan and Surin islands of the Moken; about 1,430 islands by the common count |
| Climate | Tropical savanna (Köppen Aw) over most of the kingdom, tropical monsoon (Am) on the south and the east coast, tropical rainforest (Af) in parts of the peninsula; three seasons — the hot (March–May; the record 45.4 °C at Tak on 15 April 2023, tying Mae Hong Son's of 2016), the rainy of the southwest monsoon (May–October; Bangkok's 1,500 mm, Ranong's 4,000 mm), the cool (November–February; the record −1.4 °C at Sakon Nakhon on 2 January 1974, the frost on Doi Inthanon); Bangkok 28–29 °C the year's mean, 35 °C in April; the south's second rainy season of the northeast monsoon in November–January (Hat Yai's 335 mm of 21 November 2025, the heaviest day in 300 years by the city's count); the haze season of the northern burning in February–April (Chiang Mai the world's worst air on the worst days) |
| Natural hazards | Floods the great hazard — the monsoon floods of 2011 (July 2011 – January 2012; 815 dead, 65 provinces, US$46.5 billion by the World Bank, the hard-drive and car plants of Ayutthaya under water), of the south in November 2025 (Cyclone Senyar; 297 dead in Thailand by the count, 3.6 million affected, Hat Yai under 2 m) and of 24–30 September 2026 (31 provinces and Bangkok, 2.93 million people and 24 dead by 1 October, 3.35 million by 2 October; Suvarnabhumi's baggage halls flooded, Honda and Toyota halted, more than a million hens drowned); the Indian Ocean tsunami of 26 December 2004 (5,395 confirmed dead and 2,817 missing on the Andaman coast by the official counts, about 2,000 of them foreign visitors; Khao Lak, Phuket, Phi Phi); the earthquakes of the Myanmar faults — the Sagaing quake of 28 March 2025 (M7.7; 103 dead in Thailand, 95 of them in the collapse of the 33-story State Audit Office tower under construction in Chatuchak); the droughts of Isan, the landslides of the north, the typhoon remnants (Matmo of October 2025, 22 dead; Kalmaegi of November, 13); the smoke of the burning season |
| Nearby countries | Myanmar (the Tenasserim and Shan borders, the Three Pagodas and Mae Sot–Myawaddy crossings, the refugee camps of about 100,000 since the 1980s, the scam compounds across the Moei cut off from Thai power and fuel on 5 February 2025, the Friendship Bridge No. 2 reopened 28 May 2026), Laos (the Mekong line and the friendship bridges, the Laos–China Railway to Vientiane's doorstep since 2021, the hydropower bought by EGAT), Cambodia (the 798 km of the 1907 treaty line, the Preah Vihear temple the ICJ gave Cambodia in 1962 and 2013, the war of July 2025 and the fighting of December, the crossings closed since June 2025), Malaysia (the four Malay-majority provinces, Sadao–Bukit Kayu Hitam and Padang Besar, the Hat Yai–Butterworth train); across the water Vietnam, Indonesia and India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands (the Andaman Sea's far shore about 700 km from Phuket); the ASEAN of 1967 born in Bangkok |
| Minerals and resources | Natural gas the prize — the Gulf's Erawan (1981) and Bongkot fields in decline, about two-thirds of the gas burned for power once home-produced and the rest LNG from Qatar, the United States and the spot market; lignite at Mae Moh of Lampang (EGAT's mine and plant since 1978); tin the old wealth of Phuket and the south (the world's third producer in the 1970s), gypsum (the world's second exporter by the trade's counts), feldspar, limestone and the cement of Siam Cement (1913); the gems of Chanthaburi and Trat (the rubies and sapphires, the world's gem-cutting hub), potash of Udon Thani and the Khorat salt basin (the mine licensed 2022), zinc, lead, gold at Phichit (the Chatree mine closed 2017, reopened 2023), rare earths; fish of the two seas (the trawler fleets and the EU's yellow card of 2015–19), rubber, rice, cassava and sugar the crops; the forests 38.8% by the 2022 count after the logging ban of 1989 |
| Protected areas | More than 100 national parks by the department's rolls (102 by the geography page's count, 21 of them marine) — Khao Yai (18 September 1962, the first; the Dong Phayayen World Heritage of 2005 with the elephants on the road), Kaeng Krachan (2,914 km², the largest, 2021's World Heritage), Doi Inthanon, Khao Sok of the limestone karst and the Cheow Lan Lake, Erawan of the seven-tier falls, Mu Ko Similan and Mu Ko Surin of the diving, Mu Ko Ang Thong, Tarutao, Phu Kradueng, Pha Taem of the rock paintings; the Thungyai–Huai Kha Khaeng sanctuaries (6,222 km², the 1991 World Heritage, the tigers' core and Seub Nakhasathien's death of 1 September 1990), the Western Forest Complex of 18,000 km²; about 23% of the land protected by the counts; the five biosphere reserves, the 15 Ramsar sites (Songkhla's Thale Noi, the Kaper estuary, Bueng Boraphet); the elephant sanctuaries, the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project of Phuket, the sea turtle beaches of Phang Nga |
| Extreme points | North: Mae Sai of Chiang Rai (20°27′ N) at the Myanmar bridge to Tachileik, the Golden Triangle's town; South: Betong of Yala (5°37′ N) in the hills at the Malaysian line, the "southernmost town" sign; East: Khong Chiam of Ubon Ratchathani (105°37′ E) where the Mun meets the Mekong, the first place in the kingdom to see the sunrise (the Pha Taem cliff's); West: Mae Sariang of Mae Hong Son (97°22′ E) on the Salween's tributaries; the Isthmus of Kra at Kra Buri the waist of 44 km; the Chao Phraya's mouth at Samut Prakan; Bangkok at 13°45′ N, 100°30′ E |
| Land and water | Land 510,890 km², water 2,230 km² (0.43%) — the rivers, the lakes and the reservoirs; about 41% farmland by the agricultural counts (the rice paddies of the plain and Isan about 10 million hectares, the rubber of the south about 3.5 million), forest 38.8% (2022), the rest the towns, the roads and the hills; the two coasts — 3,219 km by the Factbook's count, 2,815 km by the geography page's (the Gulf 1,878 km, the Andaman 937 km), both stated; the Gulf shallow (about 85 m at the deepest, 45 m on average) and warm, the Andaman's shelf falling to the trench; the territorial sea of 12 nautical miles, the exclusive economic zone of about 300,000 km²; the mangroves of the south (about 2,500 km² by the counts), the coral of the Similans and Phi Phi (the bleaching of 2010 and 2024) |
| Islands and coasts | About 1,430 islands — the Andaman's Phuket, Phi Phi, Lanta, Similan, Surin, Tarutao and the Trang islands; the Gulf's Samui, Pha-ngan, Tao, Chang, Kut, Samet, Si Chang and Ang Thong; the Andaman coast of Phang Nga Bay's limestone towers (the "James Bond Island" of 1974), the Khao Lak and Krabi beaches, the Gulf's Hua Hin (the royal resort since the 1920s), Cha-am, Pattaya (the GI resort of the 1960s turned the country's second tourist city, 2026's Tomorrowland of 11–13 December), Rayong, Bang Saen; the mangroves and the fishing ports of Samut Sakhon and Songkhla; the dugongs' seagrass of Trang; the Laem Chabang and Map Ta Phut industrial shores; the two coasts 44 km apart at Kra |
| The country | The elephant's head of the maps — the northern hills of the Shan and Tenasserim ranges with the Lanna valleys and the hill tribes' terraces, the Isan plateau's dry rice and red earth between the Mekong and the Dangrek scarp, the central plain's paddies and canals around the Chao Phraya with the capital at the delta's edge, the eastern shore's industry and orchards, the western forests of Kanchanaburi and the Burma railway's cuttings, the long peninsula south of Kra with the rubber, the limestone karst, the two coasts' beaches and the Malay provinces; the Buddhist temples (wat) of every village with the gold spires, the spirit houses, the markets (the floating markets of Damnoen Saduak, the night markets, Chatuchak), the rice at every meal; the monsoon's year; the kingdom never colonized, the buffer of 1896 between British Burma and French Indochina; the "Land of Smiles" of the posters |
People
| Population | 65,809,011 on the civil registers at 31 December 2025 — the Department of Provincial Administration's count published 27 March 2026, down 142,199 from the 65,951,210 of end-2024 (falling each year since the peak of about 66.2 million in 2020); about 71.7 million by the UN's and the World Bank's estimates for 2024, which count the migrants and the unregistered — both stated; 65,975,198 by Wikipedia's 2024 estimate from the registers; the 22nd most populous country; 64,785,909 at the 2010 census; Bangkok 5,422,568 on the registers and the Bangkok region 17.4 million; the 2026 UN projection about 71.6 million and falling by the century's middle |
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| Growth rate | Negative since 2021 — the deaths (8.7 per 1,000 in 2024; about 570,000 a year) outrunning the births (7.0 per 1,000; 416,514 in 2025, the fewest in 75 years, below 500,000 for the second year after the first in 2024); −0.14% by the 2022 estimate and about −0.2% by the 2025 registers; the migrants from Myanmar (about 4 million), Cambodia (1.1 million) and Laos (700,000) — 4.4% of the people by the 2024 count — the only growth; the "having children" campaigns of 2024–26 and the IVF subsidies of the public health ministry; the UN's median projection about 60 million by 2060 |
| Fertility rate | 0.87 children per woman by the 2025 estimate (0.98 in 2024) — the "ultra-low" class with South Korea and Singapore, among the three lowest of the world; 6.1 in the early 1960s, the replacement level of 2.1 passed in the early 1990s after the family-planning campaign of the 1970s (Mechai Viravaidya's condoms, "Mr. Condom"), 1.5 in 2010, 1.0 in 2022; the marriage age rising; the state's maternity leave of 98 days and the child allowance of 600 baht a month the policy |
| Life expectancy | 77.7 years — 74.7 for men, 80.8 for women (the 2024 counts); 53 in 1960; the universal coverage scheme of 2002 (the "30-baht" card) the reason for the gains, the road deaths (about 20,000 a year, three-quarters on motorcycles) and the smoking of the men the drag; the infant mortality about 7 per 1,000; the hospitals of the public health ministry, Siriraj (1888, the oldest) and Chulalongkorn, the private Bumrungrad and Bangkok Hospital groups of the medical travelers (about 3 million a year by the trade's counts); the dengue of the rainy season; the air of the burning season |
| Age structure | 0–14 years 14.4%, 15–64 69.6%, 65 and over 16.0% by the 2024 counts — an "aged society" by the UN's definition since 2021–22 (more than 20% over 60, about 13 million) and a "super-aged" one projected by 2033; the median age about 40 (24 in 1990); the dependency shifting from the children to the old; the pension of 600–1,000 baht a month for the over-60s, the Social Security Fund of the formal workers (about 25 million), the informal workers (more than half) outside it; the retirement age of 60 in the civil service and the talk of 65 |
| Urbanization | About 54% urban by the UN's 2024 count (45.7% at the 2010 census — both stated), the Bangkok Metropolitan Region of about 17 million holding a quarter of the people and about 45% of the output (the "primate city" of the textbooks, more than 20 times the next); the migration from Isan to the capital's building sites, taxis and factories since the 1960s, the seasonal return at Songkran; the municipalities (thesaban) of the provincial towns — Chiang Mai, Khorat, Hat Yai, Udon, Khon Kaen, Pattaya; the Eastern Economic Corridor's new towns |
| Ethnic groups | Thai about 80% by the state's count — Central Thai 37%, Isan (the Lao of the northeast) 25%, Northern Thai (khon mueang) 8%, Southern Thai 8%, Western Thai 2% (34% Central and 25% Lao by the ethnologists' count — both stated); Thai Chinese about 12% (about 9 million, the largest Chinese community outside China by most counts, Teochew by origin, the Bangkok trading houses, the Shinawatras, the Charoen Pokphand and Central families), Northern Khmer 4%, Thai Malay 4% (about 2 million in the four southern provinces), the hill peoples of the north (Karen about a million, Hmong, Lahu, Akha, Lisu, Mien, Lua), the Mon of the Mae Klong, the Vietnamese of Isan, the Shan, the Moken, the Indians of Pahurat and the Sikhs; 62 ethnic communities by the Cabinet's recognition; the Ethnic Groups Protection Act of 2025 |
| Languages | Thai the official and the common tongue (about 20 million native speakers of Central Thai, 60 million users), the four-tone-mark script of 1283 on every sign; 73 living languages — Isan 15.2 million, Kam Mueang 6 million, Pak Tai 4.5 million, Patani Malay about 1.5 million (the Jawi script of the deep south), Northern Khmer 1.4 million, Kuy, Phu Thai, the Karen tongues (about a million), Hmong, Lahu, Akha, Shan, Mon, Chong; the Chinese of the grandparents (Teochew, Hakka, Hainanese, Cantonese, Hokkien) and Mandarin in the schools; English the business and tourist language (the EF index ranking the country low), Japanese of the factories, Korean of the pop; the royal vocabulary (rachasap) of the court and the news, the monks' Pali; the romanization's variety (Chonburi, Chon Buri); Thai Sign Language |
| Religion | Theravada Buddhism 93.5% (the 2018 count; 94.5% by the 2015 — both stated) — the sangha under the Supreme Patriarch of the Sangha Act of 1962 (amended 2018 to give the King the appointment), about 250,000 monks and 40,000 temples, the temporary ordination of the young men, the morning alms, the Buddhist Era calendar; Islam 5.4% (about 3.5 to 4 million — the Malays of the deep south under the insurgency since 4 January 2004 with more than 7,000 dead by the Deep South Watch counts, the Bangkok Muslims of the old Cham and Persian lines, the Yunnanese Chin Haw of the north), Christianity 1.1% (Catholics about 400,000 since the mission of 1662, the Protestant hill churches), the Hindus of the Brahmin court rites and the Sikhs (about 70,000), the Chinese folk shrines (Yaowarat's Guanyin shrine), the animism of the spirit houses under everything; no state religion, the King the upholder of all |
| Health | The Universal Coverage Scheme since 2002 (Thaksin's "30-baht" card, free since 2006) covering about 47 million with the civil servants' and the Social Security schemes for the rest — the model the WHO cites; about 1,000 public hospitals and the village health volunteers of a million; Bumrungrad (1980) and the medical travelers (about 3 million a year by the trade's counts; the kingdom the top medical-tourism destination of Asia by the industry's rankings); same-sex marriage from 23 January 2025 (the Marriage Equality Act, the first in Southeast Asia); cannabis decriminalized 9 June 2022 and put back under medical prescription by the health ministry's rule of June 2025 — the two policies both stated (LAW 2); the methamphetamine (yaba) trade of the Golden Triangle (330 million pills seized in the government's count of January 2026); the dengue, the HIV response of the 1990s (Mechai), the psittacosis case of February 2026; the heat deaths of the April of 2024 |
| Education | Compulsory for nine years and free for 15 (the kindergarten to the end of upper secondary) under the National Education Act of 1999; literacy about 94% by the counts; the universities — Chulalongkorn (26 March 1917, the oldest), Thammasat (1934; the massacre of 6 October 1976 on its field), Mahidol (the Siriraj medical school of 1890; 1943), Kasetsart (1943), Chiang Mai (1964), Khon Kaen (1966), Prince of Songkla (1967), the Asian Institute of Technology (1959) of the region; PISA 2022 math 394, reading 379, science 409 — below the OECD mean, the equity gap of the provinces; the school uniform and the morning anthem; the international schools of Bangkok (about 200); the English and Chinese tutoring trade; the tablet and the free-lunch programs |
| Migrants and diaspora | About 4.4% of the people foreign-born by the 2024 count — the Myanmar workers (about 4 million; the fishing boats, the building sites, the factories of Samut Sakhon), the Cambodians (1.1 million; the border crossings closed since June 2025 sent hundreds of thousands home), the Lao (700,000), the expatriates of Bangkok, Chiang Mai and the islands (the long-stay visas, the retirees), about 100,000 refugees in the nine camps along the Myanmar line (Mae La the largest); the Thai abroad about 1.1 million — the United States (about 300,000; Los Angeles's Thai Town of 1999), Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Israel (the farm workers — 41 killed and 31 taken hostage by Hamas on 7 October 2023 by the counts, the last five living hostages freed 30 January 2025), Germany, Australia, the Thai restaurants of every city (the "Global Thai" program of 2002); the Thai Chinese remittances of the old days reversed |
| Social indicators | HDI 0.798 (2023; 76th), "high" and a point short of the "very high" line; Gini 33.5 (2023) by the World Bank's count and 34.9 (2019) by the other — both stated, the wealth gap wider (the top 1% holding about half the wealth by Credit Suisse's counts of the 2010s); poverty 9.9% below the national line by the 2018 count; household debt about 87% of GDP by the Bank of Thailand's 2025 counts, among Asia's highest; the minimum wage 337 to 400 baht a day by the 2025 rates (400 in Bangkok, Phuket and the Eastern Seaboard); unemployment about 1% by the headline (the farms and the informal half absorbing the rest); the state welfare card of 2017 for about 14 million (1.75 million of 5.01 million appellants passed the 2026 re-evaluation by the October count); mobile phones in every hand, the "Thai Chuay Thai" co-payment schemes |
| Cities and provinces | 77 units — 76 provinces and Bangkok; the registered counts of end-2025: Bangkok 5,422,568, Nakhon Ratchasima 2,613,132, Ubon Ratchathani, Khon Kaen, Chiang Mai, Buriram, Udon Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Songkhla and Si Sa Ket (1,452,941) the ten largest; the Bangkok region's Nonthaburi and Samut Prakan the fastest-growing; the municipalities — Nonthaburi (about 250,000), Pak Kret, Hat Yai (about 160,000), Chiang Mai, Khorat, Udon Thani, Surat Thani, Khon Kaen, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Pattaya (its own charter of 1978 under a mayor), Phuket; the "second cities" of the tourism board (Chiang Rai, Nan, Phrae, Lampang, Sukhothai, Trat); the planned capital that never moved (the Nakhon Nayok talk of the 1990s) |
| Names and customs | The wai (the palms together) the greeting by rank and age; the nicknames (chue len) used in place of the given names (Lek, Noi, Nok, Bank, Benz), the surnames only since the Surname Act of 22 March 1913 (Rama VI's; every family its own, so the long unique names and the Thai Chinese names coined in Thai), "khun" the courteous title before the first name; the feet never pointed, the head never touched, the King's image above the eye line; the Buddhist Era dates (B.E. 2569 for 2026); Songkran's water and the powder, Loy Krathong's baskets, the Vegetarian Festival of the Phuket Chinese; the Thai calendar's "day colors" and the astrologers; the spirit houses and the amulets; the tolerance of the kathoey; the "mai pen rai" (never mind) of the national temper; the red-shirt, yellow-shirt and orange-shirt politics worn on the body |
| Media and sport culture | Channel 3, Channel 7 and the Thai PBS (2008; the public broadcaster) of the lakorn soaps, the Thai Rath (1962; the biggest-selling paper), the Daily News, the Matichon, the Bangkok Post (1946) and the Nation (1971) in English; the press freedom of the Section 112 and Computer Crime Act lines; the Thai Enquirer and Khaosod English of the web; Line the messaging of everyone, Facebook's 50 million, TikTok; the Thai BL dramas and the T-pop (Lisa of Blackpink the kingdom's global star, the "Rockstar" video of Yaowarat of 2024); the Thai film (Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Palme d'Or of 2010, the "How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies" of 2024's box office across Asia); the Muay Thai of the stadiums and the ONE Championship, the Thai League, the lottery of the 1st and 16th of every month, the takraw of the temple yards, the kites of Sanam Luang |
Government
| System | Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy under the constitution of 6 April 2017 — the 20th charter since 24 June 1932, drafted by the Meechai Ruchuphan committee under the National Council for Peace and Order of the 2014 coup, approved by the referendum of 7 August 2016 (61.4% with the campaign against it banned) and promulgated by Rama X after his amendments; the King head of state, the Prime Minister chosen by the House of Representatives (the junta-selected Senate's share in the choice of 2019–24 expired), the Constitutional Court and the independent agencies (the Election Commission, the National Anti-Corruption Commission, the Ombudsman, the Auditor-General) the referees; the referendum of 8 February 2026 (60.16% for a new constitution, turnout 69.65%) and the 35-member Constitution Drafting Assembly the road to the 21st charter, with the Constitutional Court's requirement of two more referendums — the drafters' and the critics' cases both stated (LAW 2) |
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| Head of state | King Vajiralongkorn (Rama X), 74 — king since 13 October 2016, crowned 4 May 2019; the royal powers of the constitution (the assent to laws, the appointment of the Prime Minister on the Speaker's countersignature, the command of the armed forces, the pardons, the Sangha appointments) exercised on advice, the Privy Council of up to 18 under Surayud Chulanont as the adviser; the Crown Property Bureau's assets (tens of billions of dollars by the estimates) vested in the King's own name since 2018; the lèse-majesté law (Section 112, 3–15 years a count; hundreds charged since 2020) the shield — the monarchy's defenders and the reformers of 2020 both stated (LAW 2); the succession by the Palace Law of 1924 as the constitution keeps it, the King to name the heir (Prince Dipangkorn, 21, his son by Srirasmi; Princess Bajrakitiyabha died 11 June 2026); Queen Suthida; the royal cremation of Queen Sirikit on 16 December 2026 |
| Head of government | Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul (Bhumjaithai), the 32nd, since 5 September 2025 (the royal command of 7 September) and again since 19 March 2026; the Interior Minister as well; born 13 September 1966, an engineering graduate of Hofstra, the heir of Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction, the Public Health Minister of 2019–23 (the pandemic and the cannabis law) and the Interior Minister of 2023–25 under Srettha and Paetongtarn until Bhumjaithai walked out on 19 June 2025 over the Hun Sen call; the cabinet of 6 April 2026 — the deputy prime ministers including Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn and Suphajee Suthumpun by the October record; the "flood war room" of daily 8 a.m. briefings since 1 October 2026 and the House's censure debate on the floods pressed by the opposition; the pledge of 1 October 2026 against bid-rigging in procurement; the Forbes forum of Singapore on 7 October kept on the diary — the government's and the opposition's cases on the flood response both stated (LAW 2) |
| Legislature | The National Assembly — the House of Representatives of 500 (400 constituency seats by first-past-the-post, 100 party-list seats by the two-ballot system of 2023; four-year terms; the Speaker Sophon Saram of Bhumjaithai since 15 March 2026, the First Deputy Speaker Mallika Jirapanvanich; the MP Rangsiman Rome of the People's Party ordered from the chamber on 1 October 2026 in the scam-network exchange) and the Senate of 200 (the professional-group selection of June 2024; five years without renewal; the President Mongkol Surasajja; the "Blue" bloc's 150-odd seats tied to Bhumjaithai by the counts, the collusion probe at the Election Commission and the DSI with the commission's 4–3 vote of September 2026 against taking the evidence — both sides stated (LAW 2)); the Senate's powers the review of laws, the appointment of the independent agencies and the constitutional amendments' veto (a third of its votes required); the Sappaya-Sapasathan of 2019 on the Chao Phraya, the 424,000 m² hall |
| Parties | Bhumjaithai (2008; Anutin's "Thai Pride," the Buriram base of Newin Chidchob, the blue) first with 192–194 seats on 8 February 2026 (+121); the People's Party (the orange heir of Future Forward, dissolved 21 February 2020, and Move Forward, dissolved 7 August 2024 for its Section 112 campaign; Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut) 120 seats on the largest party-list vote, 30.56%; Pheu Thai (the Shinawatra party of the 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2011 wins and the government of 2023–25; the red) 74 (−67); Kla Tham (Thamanat Prompow's, 2024) 58; the Democrats (1946, the oldest) 21; Prachachart of the deep south, Palang Pracharath (the junta's party of 2018), the United Thai Nation of Prayut's 2023 run, Chartthaipattana; the coalition of about 292 behind Anutin, the People's Party the opposition; the Election Commission's party-dissolution power the hinge of the last decade — the courts' and the dissolved parties' cases both stated (LAW 2) |
| Judiciary | The Courts of Justice under the Supreme Court (San Dika; the Criminal Division for Political Office Holders that sent Thaksin to prison on 9 September 2025 for one year over the hospital stay of 2023, released 11 May 2026, and the Supreme Administrative Court's order of 22 May 2025 for Yingluck to pay more than 10 billion baht of the rice scheme's losses), the Constitutional Court of nine (the removal of Prime Ministers Srettha Thavisin on 14 August 2024 and Paetongtarn Shinawatra on 29 August 2025, the dissolutions of Thai Rak Thai 2007, Future Forward 2020 and Move Forward 2024 — the court's and the parties' cases both stated (LAW 2)), the Administrative Courts (1999), the Military Courts; the death penalty kept (the last executions 2018; the two sentences of 11 June 2026 for the Erawan Shrine bombing of 17 August 2015); the prisons of about 280,000 the region's fullest; the Attorney-General; the Department of Special Investigation (the DSI) the FBI of the kingdom; the lawyers' council |
| Administrative divisions | 76 provinces (changwat) and Bangkok — 878 districts (amphoe) and Bangkok's 50 khet, 7,255 subdistricts (tambon), about 75,000 villages (muban) under the elected headmen (phuyai ban) and the kamnan; the provincial governors career officers of the Interior Ministry (Anutin's), Bangkok's governor elected since 1975 (Chadchart Sittipunt, 2022 and 28 June 2026), Pattaya's mayor; the 76 Provincial Administrative Organizations elected on 1 February 2025, the municipalities (thesaban) and the 5,300 Tambon Administrative Organizations; the six regions of the geographers, the 18 provincial clusters of the planners; Bueng Kan (2011) the youngest province; the Interior's registers of 65.8 million |
| Constitution and rights | The 2017 charter's 279 sections — the rights of the person, the duties of the state, the "20-year national strategy" of the junta binding the governments, the amendment rules (the Senate's third); Section 112 lèse-majesté (3–15 years a count), Section 116 sedition, the Computer Crime Act (2007/2017) and the Emergency Decree of the deep south the limits; same-sex marriage since 23 January 2025, the gender recognition bill pending; the death penalty; conscription by lottery at 21 (the "red card," six months to two years; the pledge to phase it out); the right to vote at 18, compulsory in principle; the Emergency Decree in the three southern provinces renewed by the quarter since 2005; the 2020 protests' ten demands of 10 August 2020 (Thammasat) for the monarchy's reform — the protesters' and the state's cases both stated (LAW 2); the Personal Data Protection Act (2022), the Freedom of Information Act (1997) |
| Military | The Royal Thai Armed Forces — about 360,850 active and 200,000 reserves by the counts, the King the Head of the Armed Forces: the Army (the coups of 1932–2014 its record; the Western and Isan commands of the Cambodian front; the Chinese VT-4 tanks, the Stryker vehicles of 2019), the Navy (the carrier HTMS Chakri Naruebet of 1997 without its jets since 2006, the Chinese S26T submarine of the 2017 contract delayed by the engines, the Trat and Sattahip bases, the seizure of the Cambodian trawler of 22 February 2026), the Air Force (the F-16s that struck across the border on 24–28 July 2025 — the first combat since the Lao border war of 1987–88; the Gripen E/F buy of 2025 for 12 aircraft in the plan; the AT-6 trainer lost at Chiang Mai 29 January 2026); the budget about 197 billion baht (FY2023; about 1.5% of GDP); the conscription lottery of April; a major non-NATO ally of the United States since 2003, the Cobra Gold exercises since 1982; the Cambodia front's landmines (the Ottawa treaty in force for the kingdom since 1999) — the two armies' accounts of July and December 2025 both stated (LAW 2) |
| Foreign relations | Never colonized — the buffer state of the Anglo-French declaration of 1896, the territories ceded 1867–1909 the price; the UN's 55th member (16 December 1946), ASEAN's founder (the Bangkok Declaration of 8 August 1967), APEC (the host of 2022), the Mekong–Lancang and the BIMSTEC of India's Bay of Bengal, a BRICS partner country since 1 January 2025, the OECD's accession process since June 2024; the United States the treaty ally (the Treaty of Amity of 20 March 1833 the first with an Asian state, the Manila Pact of 1954, the non-NATO ally status of 2003) and the market (the 19% tariff of 7 August 2025 and the reciprocal-trade framework of 26 October 2025 — the critical-minerals deal); China the largest trading partner and the high-speed rail's builder; Japan the investor of the car plants; India the Act East partner (the trilateral highway to Mae Sot); Cambodia — the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accord of 26 October 2025 signed by Anutin and Hun Manet before Anwar Ibrahim and Donald Trump, the ceasefire of 27 December 2025 holding with incidents, the 18 prisoners returned 31 December, the maritime memorandum of 2001 revoked 5 May 2026, Cambodia's conciliation notice of 2 June — both governments' cases stated (LAW 2); Myanmar's junta and the scam compounds; the Iranian missile strike on the MV Mayuree Naree of 11 March 2026 (three missing) and the ambassador summoned; the embassies of 80-odd states in Bangkok, the UN's ESCAP since 1949 |
| Police and security | The Royal Thai Police — about 230,000 by the counts under the Prime Minister, the Commissioner-General Pol. Gen. Samran Nualma the 16th from 1 October 2026 (Kitrat Phanphet to the royal service on retirement 30 September); the Department of Special Investigation, the Narcotics Control Board (the yaba from the Shan hills; 330 million pills and 88,000 arrests in the government's count of 20 January 2026), the Immigration Bureau; the Internal Security Operations Command of the army; the deep-south insurgency of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat since 4 January 2004 (the BRN; more than 7,000 dead by the Deep South Watch; the fuel-station bombs of 11 January 2026, the checkpoint attack of 22 July 2026 with five rangers killed; the peace dialogue in Kuala Lumpur) — the government's and the BRN's cases both stated (LAW 2); the scam-center repatriations of 2025–26 (the 14 Thais of 20 January 2026 across Sa Kaeo); the road police of the Songkran "seven dangerous days"; the tourist police |
| Elections | Universal suffrage at 18, voting a civic duty by the constitution; the Election Commission of seven; the general election of 8 February 2026 — 400 constituencies and the 100-seat national list on two ballots, turnout 71.42% (down 4.22 points from 14 May 2023), Bhumjaithai 192–194, the People's Party 120, Pheu Thai 74, Kla Tham 58, the Democrats 21, the rest 35; the referendum of the same day on a new constitution 60.16% yes; the PM votes of 5 September 2025 (311) and 19 March 2026 (293 of 498); the Bangkok governor's election of 28 June 2026 (Chadchart Sittipunt, 4,357,097 on the rolls) and the 50 district councils; the Provincial Administrative Organizations of 1 February 2025; the Senate's own selection rounds of June 2024; the next general election due by 2030 — the vote-buying charges of every campaign and the parties' denials both stated (LAW 2) |
| The crisis of 2025 in dates | 15 June 2025 — Paetongtarn Shinawatra's call with Hun Sen (leaked 18 June); 19 June — Bhumjaithai leaves the coalition; 1 July — the Constitutional Court suspends her; 24–28 July — the five-day border war; 29 August — the court removes her for the ethics breach; 5 September — Anutin elected the 32nd Prime Minister with 311 of 492 on the People's Party's votes under the four-month dissolution pact; 7 September — the royal command; 9 September — Thaksin sent to prison for a year; 24 October — Queen Sirikit dies; 26 October — the Kuala Lumpur accord; 10 November — the accord suspended after the landmine; 8–27 December — the second round of fighting and the ceasefire; 12 December — the House dissolved; 8 February 2026 — the election and the referendum; 19 March — Anutin re-elected; 6 April — the cabinet sworn; 11 May — Thaksin released; 28 June — Chadchart re-elected in Bangkok; the two sides of every step stated (LAW 2) |
| Current issues | The floods of 24 September – October 2026 (31 provinces, 2.9–3.35 million people, 24 dead by 1 October, the airport, the car plants and the egg prices; the censure debate; the insurance scheme of 1 October for 30 million households at 10,000 baht a flood); the Cambodia border (the ceasefire of 27 December 2025, the closed crossings, the maritime claims); the economy's low growth (1.9% in the second quarter) with the exports' AI boom, the household debt of 87%, the strong baht and the rice and car exporters' squeeze, the Middle East's energy shock and the fuel-fund subsidies (diesel 42.19 baht a liter on 2 October 2026); the new constitution's drafting; the Senate selection probe; the monarchy's succession and the royal cremation of December; the deep south; the aging and the births; the scam networks and the MP allegations of October 2026; the visa-free cuts and the tourism's Chinese slump; the People's Solar loan of 75 billion baht proposed 1 October 2026 for 1.5 million households — the government's and the opposition's cases on each both stated (LAW 2) |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | US$580.0 billion by the IMF's 2026 estimate (31st of the world; about 19.5 trillion baht at the 2026 rate), the second- or third-largest economy of Southeast Asia after Indonesia, neck and neck with Singapore by the IMF's nominal counts — both stated; an upper-middle-income economy by the World Bank's class since 2011, the "middle-income trap" the economists' phrase for the decade of 2–4% growth; US$8,105 a head by Wikipedia's Thailand page and US$8,110 by its Economy page — both stated (about the 97th); the Bangkok region about 45% of the output, Isan's provinces the poorest |
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| GDP (PPP) | US$1.964 trillion by the IMF's 2026 estimate (24th), US$27,441 a head (75th) — about 3.4 times the nominal count by the price level; the second of ASEAN after Indonesia by PPP; the 1960s–90s the "Asian tiger cub" years of 7–9% growth (1985–96 the world's fastest-growing economy by some counts) ended by the crash of 2 July 1997; the recovery of 2000–07, the floods of 2011, the coup of 2014, the pandemic's −6.1% of 2020 (the tourism collapse), the slow climb since |
| Growth and inflation | Growth 2.4% in 2025, 2.8% in the first quarter of 2026 and 1.9% in the second (the NESDC's release of 17 August 2026: exports +17.6%, private investment +13.4%, the AI and electronics boom; consumption weak), the NESDC's 2026 range 2.0–2.5% (midpoint 2.2%) against the IMF's 2.0% — both stated; the August 2026 exports +25.3% and imports +31.3% by the Bank's monthly count; inflation −0.14% for 2025 (the energy and the price caps) and 2.7% in the second quarter of 2026 on the Middle East's oil, the Bank's target 1–3%, the El Niño expected to lift food prices into early 2027 by the MPC's view |
| Monetary policy and the baht | The Bank of Thailand (1942; the governor Vitai Ratanakorn, the 22nd, since 1 October 2025 after Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput) — the policy rate 1.00% since the cut of 25 February 2026 (from 1.25%, after the cuts of 2025), held at the Monetary Policy Committee of 29 April, 24 June and 26 August 2026 (unanimous: the recovery, the SMEs' credit contraction, the households' debt, the geopolitics), the analysts of October 2026 unanimous on a hold to the year's end; the baht about 33.6 to the dollar on 2 October 2026 by the market's count, up 3.8% on the year (34.8 in October 2025) — the exporters' complaint; reserves US$306.5 billion at December 2025 (among the world's dozen largest); the inflation target 1–3%; PromptPay, the retail digital baht trials, Project Nexus of the cross-border payments with Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and India due in 2026 |
| Public finances | Public debt 65.7% of GDP (FY2025) against the ceiling of 70% raised from 60% in 2021 — the pandemic borrowing of 1.5 trillion baht, the 10,000-baht "digital wallet" handout of 2024–25 and the 2025–26 stimulus (the "Thai Chuay Thai" co-payments extended to October–November 2026 at 1,000 baht, the state welfare card's 700 baht top-up); the budget about 3.78 trillion baht for FY2026 (October to September), the deficit about 4% of GDP; Fitch BBB+ with the outlook raised from Negative to Stable on 30 September 2026 (the debt stabilizing, the politics settled), S&P BBB+ and Moody's Baa1 stable — all stated; the taxes about 16% of GDP, the VAT 7% (the statutory 10% held at 7% since 1999), the top income rate 35%; the Fuel Fund's 430 million baht a day of October 2026; the disaster insurance scheme of 1 October 2026 |
| Structure and labor | Services about 60% of the output (tourism, trade, finance, transport), industry about 31% (the cars, electronics, petrochemicals, food), agriculture about 9% by the Economy page's counts — but about 30% of the jobs on the farms by the common count; the labor force about 39–40 million (38.9 million by the 2019 count), the employment rate 67%, unemployment about 1% by the headline (the world's lowest by the lists, the informal sector of more than half the workers the reason); the migrant workers of 4–5 million the hands of the fishing, the building and the factories; the minimum wage 337–400 baht a day (2025); the Social Security Fund of 25 million; the "gig" riders of Grab and Line Man; the Board of Investment's promotions since 1966; the family conglomerates — Charoen Pokphand (CP; the world's largest animal-feed maker and the 7-Eleven franchise of 15,000 stores), PTT, Siam Cement, Thai Beverage, Central Group, the Chirathivats, the Chearavanonts, the Sirivadhanabhakdis |
| Trade | Exports US$300.5 billion and imports US$306.8 billion in 2024 (the Economy page's count), a double-digit rise in 2025 by the commerce ministry's run and +25.3% in August 2026 — the AI servers, the hard disk drives, the printed circuit boards and the data-center parts the engine of 2025–26; the partners by 2024 — exports to ASEAN 23.5%, the United States 17.2% (the largest single market; the 19% tariff since 7 August 2025, the reciprocal-trade framework and the critical-minerals accord of 26 October 2025), China 15.9%, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, India; imports from China 25.3% (the EVs, the steel, the parts; the trade deficit with China about US$40–45 billion), ASEAN 16.9%, Japan 10.8%, the Gulf's oil; the goods — computers and parts, cars and parts, electronics and circuits, rubber and its products, plastics, jewelry (the gem trade), rice, sugar, cassava, chicken, canned tuna, shrimp, durian; the free-trade pacts of ASEAN, RCEP (2022), the EU talks and the EFTA deal of 2025; the trade surplus of the 2010s turned to deficit by the oil and the capital goods of 2026 |
| Agriculture | Rice — 7.9 million metric tons exported in 2025 worth 148.2 billion baht (about US$4.5 billion), the world's third exporter behind India and Vietnam (Vietnam passed the kingdom in 2025; the first exporter through the 1980s–2000s), the 2026 target 7 million on the "strong baht" and India's released stocks; jasmine rice (Hom Mali) the premium grade of Isan's Thung Kula Ronghai; rubber — the world's largest producer and exporter (about 4.3–5 million metric tons, about 40% of the world's natural rubber; the south's smallholders, the glove and tire makers); cassava — the world's largest exporter (about half the trade); sugar — the second exporter after Brazil (about 11 million metric tons of 2018's record); durian — the world's top exporter (about 700,000 metric tons, nearly all to China; Chanthaburi's Monthong); canned tuna — the world's largest exporter (Thai Union); frozen shrimp, chicken (among the top four exporters by the counts), pineapple (the top canned-pineapple exporter), coconut, palm oil, longan, mango, orchids; about 9–10% of GDP and 30% of the jobs; the farm debt and the price-guarantee schemes; the rice-pledging scheme of 2011–14 that ended with Yingluck's conviction |
| Industry | The "Detroit of Asia" — 1,455,569 vehicles built in 2025 (about 1.47 million in 2024; 2.45 million the 2013 record), about the tenth producer of the world and the first of Southeast Asia, the Toyota, Isuzu, Honda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Mazda and Ford plants of Samut Prakan, Rayong, Chonburi and Ayutthaya (the one-ton pickup the specialty, the Hilux and the D-Max), the Chinese EV plants of BYD (Rayong, 2024), Great Wall, MG, GAC and Changan under the EV 3.0 and 3.5 subsidies, the 2026 target 1.5 million (550,000 home sales, 950,000 exports; the floods of September 2026 halting Honda's Prachin Buri and Ayutthaya lines and four Toyota plants); hard disk drives — the world's second producer after China (Seagate at Khorat and Western Digital at Ayutthaya and Prachinburi), the printed circuit boards and the semiconductors (Infineon's 48-billion-baht power-chip complex at Samut Prakan opened 1 October 2026, 5,000 jobs), the data centers of Google, Microsoft and AWS announced for 2024–27; petrochemicals and refining at Map Ta Phut (PTT, SCG, Thai Oil), the Eastern Economic Corridor of Chonburi, Rayong and Chachoengsao (2017; the U-Tapao airport city); the food processing (CP, Thai Union, Betagro), the gems and jewelry (the third export), the cement, steel and plastics; the textiles of the 1980s moved to the neighbors |
| Tourism | 32.97 million foreign arrivals in 2025 (35.55 million in 2024, 28.15 million in 2023, 39.8 million the record of 2019) — Malaysia 4.52 million, China 4.47 million (11 million in 2019; the slump of 2025 after the Wang Xing kidnapping of January and the Myanmar scam fears), India 2.49 million, Russia 1.9 million, South Korea 1.56 million by the 2025 counts; 6.55 million in the second quarter of 2026 with 663 billion baht in revenue, 2.5 million in August 2026; about 12% of GDP directly and about a fifth with the indirect by the 2019 counts, the target of 80 million visitors by 2027 the board's; Bangkok the world's most visited city (Euromonitor 2024: 32.4 million), Phuket, Pattaya, Chiang Mai, Samui, Krabi, Hua Hin; the visa-free 60 days of July 2024 for 93 countries cut in May 2026 and to 30 days for 60 countries from 15 September 2026; the medical and the wellness travel, the Muay Thai camps, the Full Moon Party, the Songkran crowds, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (1960); the Siam Amazing Park shut six months by the floods of September 2026 |
| Energy | Natural gas about 60% of the power by the EGAT counts — the Gulf's fields in decline (about half the gas home-produced), the LNG terminals of Map Ta Phut (Qatar, the United States and the spot cargoes), the Yadana and Zawtika gas pipelines from Myanmar; lignite at Mae Moh (about 15%), hydropower bought from Laos (the "battery of Southeast Asia," about 10%), the Thai dams of Bhumibol, Sirikit and Srinagarind; solar about 4 GW with the floating solar on the Sirindhorn reservoir (the world's largest hydro-floating solar of 2021) and the People's Solar program — the 75-billion-baht loan proposed 1 October 2026 for 1.5 million households at 50,000 baht of subsidy each, registration from 1 November; the oil all imported (about a million barrels a day refined by PTT's Thai Oil, IRPC and the Star refinery) and the fuel-fund caps (diesel 42.19 baht a liter from 2 October 2026 after the 0.75-baht rise on the Middle East); EGAT, PEA and MEA the utilities, the PTT the state giant (the Fortune 500's Thai entry); the carbon-neutral pledge of 2050 and net zero of 2065 (Glasgow, 2021); the nuclear talk of the small modular reactors; the overlapping-claims gas of the Gulf frozen by the Cambodia dispute |
| Banks and markets | The Stock Exchange of Thailand (1975; about 1,560–1,600 on the SET index at the start of October 2026 after the flood sell-off of 30 September, the foreign investors net buyers of 25.1 billion baht over January–September 2026) and its mai board; Bangkok Bank (1944; the largest), Kasikornbank, SCBX (the Siam Commercial Bank of 1906, the first), Krungthai (the state's), Krungsri (MUFG's), TMBThanachart; the Bank of Thailand's supervision after the 1997 crash that closed 56 finance companies; the non-performing loans about 3% and the household debt of 87% the strain, the "You Fight, We Help" debt relief of 2024–25; the PromptPay rail of 2017 (about 80 million registrations), the Thai QR, the mobile banking of every stall; the Thailand Futures Exchange, the bond market of about 17 trillion baht; the gold shops of Yaowarat and the Thai gold habit; the SEC's digital-asset rules and the G-Token talk of 2025 |
| Infrastructure projects | The Eastern Economic Corridor (2017) — the U-Tapao airport city, the Laem Chabang Phase 3 and Map Ta Phut Phase 3 ports, the high-speed rail linking Don Mueang, Suvarnabhumi and U-Tapao (220 km, the CP-led consortium, the contract reworked 2025); the Bangkok–Nakhon Ratchasima high-speed line (253 km, the Chinese standard of 250 km/h, under construction since 2017 for 2027–28) and its second phase to Nong Khai (357 km, approved 4 February 2025) to meet the Laos–China Railway; the Landbridge of Chumphon–Ranong (the 1-trillion-baht ports-and-rail plan across the Kra, the Srettha government's pitch, in the study); the M6 Bang Pa-in–Khorat and M81 Bang Yai–Kanchanaburi motorways (opening in stages 2025–26); the Bangkok Orange and Purple line extensions, the Southern Line's double-tracking; the Chao Phraya flood tunnels and the 6.5-billion-baht canal works of October 2026; the Yala–Kelantan rail talk; the digital wallet's app and the PromptPay; the Thai–Lao fifth friendship bridge at Bueng Kan |
| Poverty and inequality | 9.9% below the national poverty line by the 2018 count (about 6.7 million) — the northeast and the deep south the poorest provinces, Mae Hong Son and Pattani at the bottom of the tables; Gini 33.5 (2023) by the World Bank and 34.9 (2019) — both stated, the wealth gap among the world's widest by the Credit Suisse counts of the 2010s (the top 1% about half); the household debt about 87% of GDP, the loan sharks (the "informal debt" of 2024's registration drive); the universal health coverage, the old-age allowance of 600–1,000 baht, the welfare card of 14 million, the 15 years of free schooling the cushions; the minimum wage 337–400 baht a day; the farmers' debt moratoria; the 2026 State Welfare Scheme's 1.75 million new cards from 1 October; the "Thai Chuay Thai" co-payments; the 10,000-baht digital wallet of 2024–25 (the first tranche to 14.5 million welfare-card holders in September 2024) |
| Economic history in brief | The rice and teak exports of the Bowring Treaty era (1855) and the canals of the delta; the Chinese traders and the rice mills of the 1900s; the state enterprises of Phibun and the American aid of the 1950s–70s (the roads, the dams, the Vietnam War's bases and the GI resorts); the Japanese factories of the 1980s after the Plaza Accord (the car and electronics plants of the Eastern Seaboard), the world's fastest growth of 1985–96; the baht's float of 2 July 1997 and the crash (the IMF's US$17.2 billion program, the GDP −7.6% in 1998, the King's "sufficiency economy" speech of 4 December 1997); Thaksin's village funds and the 30-baht scheme of 2001–06; the floods of 2011 (the global hard-drive shortage); the military decade of 2014–23 and the Eastern Economic Corridor; the pandemic's −6.1% of 2020; the electronics and AI export boom of 2025–26 against the cars' and the rice's retreat, the strong baht, the household debt, the Middle East's oil of 2026 and the floods of September — the government's and the critics' readings both stated (LAW 2) |
Transport & infrastructure
| Roads | About 390,000 km of roads by the department's counts — the national highways of the Department of Highways (Phahonyothin, Route 1, Bangkok to Mae Sai; Sukhumvit, Route 3, down the Gulf coast; Mittraphap, Route 2, the American-built "Friendship Highway" of 1958 to Isan; Phetkasem, Route 4, the 1,274 km to the Malaysian border, the longest), the Motorway 7 to Pattaya and Map Ta Phut and the ring of Motorway 9, the M6 to Khorat (196 km) and the M81 to Kanchanaburi opening in stages 2025–26, the Bangkok expressways of the elevated tolls (1981 on); driving on the left; about 40 million vehicles registered by the 2019 count (21 million motorcycles, 9.7 million cars), the pickups the kingdom's car; the road deaths about 20,000 a year (32.7 per 100,000 by the WHO's 2016 count, among the world's worst; 66 a day), the Songkran and New Year "seven dangerous days" counted by the newspapers; the Rama II Road's endless works (the crane fall of 15 January 2026, two dead; the bridge collapse of 15 March 2025, five dead); the tuk-tuks, the songthaews of the towns, the motorcycle taxis of Bangkok |
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| Rail | The State Railway of Thailand (1890 the department; the first line, Bangkok–Ayutthaya, opened 26 March 1897, the private Paknam line 11 April 1893 before it) — 4,507 km of meter-gauge track by the 2025 count, 2,702 km single, 1,235 km doubled and 107 km tripled in the double-tracking program; the four main lines north to Chiang Mai (751 km), northeast to Nong Khai and Ubon, east to Aranyaprathet and south to Padang Besar and the Malaysian line (the Hat Yai junction, the KTM connection, the Bangkok–Butterworth and Bangkok–Vientiane trains of July 2024); the Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal (opened 2021, the long-distance trains from 19 January 2023 — the largest station of Southeast Asia) replacing Hua Lamphong (1916); the Death Railway of 1942–43 to Burma (the Bridge on the River Kwai at Kanchanaburi, about 100,000 dead in the building by the counts); the high-speed line to Nakhon Ratchasima (253 km; the Chinese CR300 trains; 2027–28) and on to Nong Khai, the three-airport line of the EEC; the Red Lines of 2021; the overnight sleepers; the freight train that hit a bus at Makkasan on 16 May 2026 (eight dead) and the crane that fell on the Sikhio train on 14 January 2026 (32 dead) |
| Bangkok transit | The BTS Skytrain (5 December 1999; the Sukhumvit and Silom lines and the Gold Line, about 70 km, Siam the hub), the MRT (the Blue Line of 3 July 2004 now a loop, the Purple Line of 2016, the Yellow and Pink monorails of 2023 — the Pink's wheel fall of December 2023), the SRT Red Lines (November 2021) to Rangsit and Taling Chan, the Airport Rail Link (23 August 2010) — about 280 km on 13 lines by the counts with more than a million riders a day (800,000 by the Transport page's count — both stated), the 20-baht flat fare on all lines from 1 October 2025 (the Pheu Thai pledge of 2023), the Orange Line's opening due 2027–28, the Purple extension to Rat Burana; the BRT, the canal boats of Saen Saep, the Chao Phraya Express Boats and the cross-river ferries, the 3,000 city buses of the BMTA and the new EV buses, the Grab and Bolt apps, the 100,000 taxis and the motorcycle taxis in orange vests; the traffic of the 1990s' legend eased by the rails; the floods of September 2026 stopping the roads at 37 points |
| Air | Suvarnabhumi (opened 28 September 2006; about 60 million passengers a year by the 2024 counts, the SAT-1 satellite terminal of 2023 and the third runway of 2024 toward 150 million; the baggage halls and the cargo village flooded on 27–30 September 2026, Thai Airways' cargo halted 1–6 October and the 8,000-bag backlog cleared by the weekend) and Don Mueang (27 March 1914, among the world's oldest airports in service; the low-cost hub of AirAsia, Nok Air and Thai Lion, about 30 million) the two of Bangkok; Phuket (about 16 million), Chiang Mai, Hat Yai, Krabi, Samui (Bangkok Airways' own), U-Tapao of the EEC and Pattaya; the Airports of Thailand (AOT, 1979; six airports) and the Department of Airports' 29; Thai Airways International (1960; out of the court rehabilitation and back on the exchange on 4 August 2025, the fleet of about 80, the Star Alliance founder; back to the full schedule on 3 October 2026 after the floods), Bangkok Airways (the "boutique airline" of Samui), Thai AirAsia, Nok Air, Thai Lion Air, Thai Vietjet; the AT-6 Wolverine crash of 29 January 2026 at Chiang Mai |
| Ports and waterways | Laem Chabang (1991; about 9 million TEU a year, among the world's 20-odd busiest container ports, the Phase 3 expansion toward 18 million), Bangkok Port at Khlong Toei (1951; the river port of about 1.5 million TEU), Map Ta Phut (the industrial and the LNG port), Sattahip (the navy's and the cruise ships'), Songkhla, Phuket's deep-sea pier of the cruises, Ranong on the Andaman (the Landbridge's end); about 4,000 km of waterways (3,701 km navigable the year round) — the Chao Phraya barges of the rice and sand, the Mekong's Chiang Saen river port of the Chinese trade, the Pa Sak; the Thai merchant fleet (Precious Shipping's bulk carriers, the four Ultramaxes ordered October 2026; the Thai-flag MV Mayuree Naree hit by Iranian missiles on 11 March 2026 in the Strait of Hormuz, three missing); the fishing fleet of the Gulf and the EU's yellow card lifted 2019; the Kra canal dream of four centuries |
| Energy and utilities | The grid of EGAT (1969; about 50 GW of capacity by the counts, the peak about 36 GW in the heat of April 2024), the MEA of the capital and the PEA of the provinces, the electricity in every village since the 1990s; the gas, lignite, Lao hydro and solar mix; the Lao transmission lines across the Mekong; the water of the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority from the Chao Phraya and the Mae Klong, the Royal Irrigation Department's dams and the Chao Phraya Dam of 1957 at Chai Nat (the discharge of 2,500 m³/s of 2 October 2026), the Bhumibol and Sirikit reservoirs the capital's bank; the 5G of 2020 (AIS and True; about 90% online, mobile lines above the population), the undersea cables of Satun and Songkhla, the data centers of the EEC; the Thai Post of 1883; the waste and the plastic bans of 2020; the PromptPay and the digital ID (ThaID) of the smartphones |
| Border crossings and bridges | The Thai–Lao Friendship Bridges over the Mekong — Nong Khai–Vientiane (8 April 1994, the first), Mukdahan–Savannakhet (2006), Nakhon Phanom–Thakhek (2011), Chiang Khong–Huay Xai (2013) and the fifth at Bueng Kan–Paksan, with the Vientiane rail link; the Thai–Myanmar Friendship Bridges at Mae Sot–Myawaddy (1997; the No. 2 of 2019 reopened 28 May 2026 after ten months) and the Three Pagodas, Mae Sai–Tachileik and Ranong–Kawthaung crossings; the Cambodian line's Aranyaprathet–Poipet (the Rong Kluea market), Chong Chom–O Smach and Hat Lek crossings all closed since June 2025 by the conflict — the two governments' cases stated (LAW 2); the Malaysian line's Sadao–Bukit Kayu Hitam (the busiest), Padang Besar's rail gate, Sungai Kolok and Betong; the India–Myanmar–Thailand Trilateral Highway to Mae Sot in the works; the Sa Kaeo crossing of the scam-center escapees of January 2026; the Golden Triangle's Chiang Saen pier |
History in dates
| c. 2000 BCE – 500 CE | The Bronze Age of Ban Chiang on the Khorat Plateau (the bronze of about 2000–1500 BCE, among the earliest in Southeast Asia; the painted pots; World Heritage 1992) and the Iron Age of Ban Non Wat; the Tai-speaking peoples' slow spread south from the Guangxi–Yunnan borderlands by the linguists' account; the Mon of the Chao Phraya and the Khmer of the east the earlier peoples; the Indian traders and the Buddhism of Suvarnabhumi (the "land of gold" of the Indian texts) by the first centuries CE; the Funan ports of the Gulf |
|---|---|
| 6th – 13th centuries | Dvaravati — the Mon Buddhist kingdoms of the Chao Phraya basin (Nakhon Pathom's great chedi, U Thong, Lopburi, Si Thep of the 2023 World Heritage) of the 6th–11th centuries; Srivijaya's Malay sway on the peninsula (Chaiya); the Khmer empire of Angkor over Isan and the plain in the 10th–13th centuries (Phimai, Phanom Rung, Lopburi's prangs — the "Lavo" of the Khmer); Hariphunchai of the Mon at Lamphun (the 7th century to 1292) in the north; the Tai muang of the hills — Chiang Saen, Phayao; the Siamese of the Angkor Wat reliefs (c. 1150) |
| 1238 – 1350 | Sukhothai — Si Inthrathit throws off the Khmer governor and founds the first Thai kingdom (c. 1238); King Ramkhamhaeng (r. c. 1279–98) and the Thai script of 1283 (the Ram Khamhaeng Inscription of 1292: "in the water there are fish, in the fields there is rice"), the Theravada of Sri Lanka made the faith, the Sangkhalok ceramics; Mangrai founds Chiang Mai on 12 April 1296 as the capital of Lanna (the Mengrai dynasty to 1558); the Sukhothai art of the walking Buddha; the kingdom absorbed by Ayutthaya in 1438 |
| 1351 – 1600 | Ayutthaya — Uthong (Ramathibodi I) founds the city on its river island on 4 March 1351; the sack of Angkor in 1431; the Portuguese of 1511 the first Europeans (the embassy of Duarte Fernandes); the Burmese wars — the city's fall to Bayinnaung on 30 August 1569, Naresuan's declaration of independence at Khrang in 1584 and his elephant duel with the Burmese crown prince at Nong Sarai on 18 January 1593; the Law of the Three Seals' roots, the sakdina ranks; the trade of the Chinese, Japanese (Yamada Nagamasa), Persians, Dutch (1604) and English (1612) at the river's "Venice of the East" |
| 1600 – 1767 | Narai (r. 1656–88) and the French — the embassies to Louis XIV of 1684–86 (Kosa Pan at Versailles), the Greek adventurer Constantine Phaulkon's rise and his execution in the revolution of 1688 that put Phetracha on the throne and closed the door to the West for 150 years; the Ban Phlu Luang dynasty; Borommakot's golden age of the 1730s–50s; the Burmese of Hsinbyushin take and burn Ayutthaya on 7 April 1767 after a 14-month siege — the city, the archives and the kingdom destroyed, the Buddhas beheaded |
| 1767 – 1782 | Taksin — the half-Chinese general who rallied the east at Chanthaburi, retook the ruins within the year and was crowned at Thonburi across the river from the future Bangkok on 28 December 1767; the reconquest of Lanna (1774), Cambodia and the Lao kingdoms (Vientiane sacked 1779, the Emerald Buddha carried to Thonburi); the madness and the revolt of 1782 — Taksin deposed and executed 6 April 1782, his general Chao Phraya Chakri crowned as Rama I the same day (the Chakri Memorial Day) and the capital moved across the river to Bangkok (the city pillar of 21 April 1782) |
| 1782 – 1851 | Rattanakosin — Rama I (r. 1782–1809) builds the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaeo, codifies the Three Seals Law (1805), repels the Burmese Nine Armies' War (1785–86) and rules Cambodia and the Lao states; the Siamese twins Chang and Eng born at Samut Songkhram (11 May 1811); Rama II's poetry; Rama III (r. 1824–51) — the Burney Treaty with Britain (20 June 1826, after the First Anglo-Burmese War), the Roberts Treaty with the United States (20 March 1833, the first American treaty in Asia), the Lao revolt of Anouvong crushed and Vientiane razed (1827–28), the wars with Vietnam over Cambodia, the Chinese junk trade and the sugar; the Wat Pho reclining Buddha (1832); the first Thai printing (Bradley, 1836) |
| 1851 – 1868 | Mongkut (Rama IV; r. 1851–68) — the monk-king of 27 years in the robes, the Thammayut reform of the sangha, the astronomer who predicted the eclipse of 18 August 1868 at Wa Ko and died of the malaria caught there; the Bowring Treaty with Britain (18 April 1855) opening the kingdom to free trade at 3% duty and giving the British extraterritoriality — the model for the treaties with the United States, France and the rest; the rice export economy born; the canals, the first road (Charoen Krung, 1864), the Anna Leonowens of the governess's memoirs (1862–67); the mapping of the realm |
| 1868 – 1910 | Chulalongkorn (Rama V; r. 1868–1910) — the modernizer: slavery abolished by the gradual acts of 1874 to 1905, the prostration ended (1873), the ministries of 1892 and the provincial monthon system (Damrong), the railway (Paknam 1893, Ayutthaya 1897), the post (1883), the first schools and Chulalongkorn's Europe tours of 1897 and 1907; the Franco-Siamese crisis of 13 July 1893 (the French gunboats at Paknam) and the loss of Laos east of the Mekong (the treaty of 3 October 1893), the Lao west bank and Luang Prabang's enclave (1904), the Cambodian provinces of Battambang, Siem Reap and Sisophon (23 March 1907), the four Malay states of Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu and Perlis to Britain (10 March 1909) — the "lost territories" of the later nationalists; the Anglo-French declaration of 1896 the buffer that kept the kingdom its own; the Dusit Palace and the Ananta Samakhom hall; Chulalongkorn Day 23 October |
| 1910 – 1932 | Vajiravudh (Rama VI; r. 1910–25) — the Oxford king of the Wild Tiger Corps, the surnames (1913), the Garuda emblem (1911), the Trairanga flag (28 September 1917), Chulalongkorn University (26 March 1917), the Buddhist Era calendar (1913), the nationalism of "Nation, Religion, King" and the anti-Chinese pamphlets; Siam's entry into the First World War on the Allied side (22 July 1917) and the expeditionary force to France (the Versailles seat, the treaties revised); the Palace Law of Succession (1924); Prajadhipok (Rama VII; r. 1925–35) and the Depression's budget cuts; the Promoters (Khana Ratsadon) of Pridi Banomyong and Phibun — the bloodless revolution of 24 June 1932 ending the absolute monarchy, the provisional charter of 27 June and the permanent constitution of 10 December 1932 (Constitution Day) |
| 1932 – 1945 | The Boworadet royalist rebellion crushed (October 1933); Prajadhipok abdicates from England (2 March 1935), the boy Ananda Mahidol (Rama VIII) king at nine with regents; Phibun's premiership (16 December 1938) and the state conventions — Siam renamed Thailand (24 June 1939), the anthem (10 December 1939), the hats and the pad thai; the Franco-Thai War over the lost territories (October 1940 – January 1941; the naval defeat at Ko Chang of 17 January 1941, Japan's mediation returning the Lao and Cambodian provinces); the Japanese invasion of 8 December 1941 (the hours of fighting at the beaches, the alliance signed 21 December), the declaration of war on Britain and the United States of 25 January 1942 (the ambassador Seni Pramoj refusing to deliver it in Washington), the Death Railway of 1942–43, the Allied bombing of Bangkok; the Seri Thai resistance of Pridi and Seni; Phibun's fall (July 1944); the Peace Proclamation of 16 August 1945 voiding the declaration, the territories returned (1946) |
| 1946 – 1957 | Ananda Mahidol found shot dead in his bed in the Grand Palace (9 June 1946) — the mystery never solved, three pages executed in 1955, Pridi's exile; Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) king at 18 the same day (crowned 5 May 1950 after his Swiss studies; the car crash of 1948 and the eye); the UN's admission of 16 December 1946 (as Siam, the 55th member); the coup of 8 November 1947 (Phibun's return in 1948), the name Thailand restored (11 May 1949), the Manhattan rebellion of the navy (1951); the Korean War contingent, the Manila Pact (1954) and the American alliance, the SEATO headquarters in Bangkok (1955–77); Sarit Thanarat's coup of 16 September 1957 ousting Phibun |
| 1957 – 1973 | Sarit's second coup (20 October 1958) and the "despotic paternalism" of the development decade — the First Plan of 1961, the Mittraphap Highway, the Bhumibol Dam (1964), the King's rural tours and the royal projects, the Chinese schools closed; Thanom Kittikachorn (1963–73) and the Vietnam War — the seven U.S. air bases (Udon, Ubon, Korat, Takhli, U-Tapao, Nakhon Phanom, Don Muang; the B-52s of U-Tapao), the Thai division in Vietnam, the GI resorts of Pattaya and Patpong, the communist insurgency of Isan and the north (1965–83); ASEAN founded at Bangkok's Saranrom Palace (8 August 1967); the constitution of 1968 and the coup of 1971 against it; the uprising of 14 October 1973 — the students of Thammasat, the 77 dead of the Democracy Monument, the King's intervention and the three tyrants' flight |
| 1973 – 1992 | The open years of 1973–76 and the massacre of 6 October 1976 at Thammasat (46 dead by the official count, more by the others — both stated; the students hanged on the tamarind trees of Sanam Luang) and the coup of that evening; Kriangsak's amnesty (1978), Prem Tinsulanonda's "semi-democracy" (1980–88) and the end of the insurgency by the order 66/2523 of 1980; the Thai-Lao border war of December 1987 – February 1988 (Ban Romklao); Chatichai's elected government (1988–91) and the "turn battlefields into marketplaces" of Indochina; the coup of 23 February 1991 (Suchinda's NPKC); Black May — the Bangkok crowds against Suchinda's premiership, the shooting of 17–20 May 1992 (52 dead by the official count), the King's audience with Suchinda and Chamlong kneeling on the floor on television (20 May), Suchinda's resignation; the boom years of 1985–96 at the world's fastest growth |
| 1992 – 2001 | The "people's constitution" of 11 October 1997 — the elected Senate, the election commission, the rights (drafted after the Black May); the Asian financial crisis born in Bangkok — the baht's float of 2 July 1997 (the peg of 25 broken, 56 by January 1998), the finance companies closed, the IMF's US$17.2 billion, GDP −7.6% in 1998, the King's "sufficiency economy" speech of 4 December 1997; Chuan Leekpai's recovery government; the Amazing Thailand campaign (1998); Thaksin Shinawatra's Thai Rak Thai wins the election of 6 January 2001 (the first party majority of the kingdom at the 2005 re-election) — the 30-baht health card, the village funds, the OTOP |
| 2001 – 2006 | Thaksin's years — the "war on drugs" of 2003 (about 2,500 killed by the counts; the government's and the rights groups' accounts both stated), the deep-south insurgency's return with the Narathiwat arms raid of 4 January 2004, the Krue Se mosque (28 April 2004) and the Tak Bai deaths of 25 October 2004 (85 dead in the trucks); the Indian Ocean tsunami of 26 December 2004 on the Andaman coast (5,395 confirmed dead, 2,817 missing by the official counts; Khao Lak, Phuket, Phi Phi; the King's grandson Bhumi Jensen among the dead); the landslide of February 2005; the Shin Corp sale to Temasek (23 January 2006; the untaxed 73 billion baht) and the yellow-shirt crowds of the People's Alliance for Democracy; the boycotted election of April 2006 annulled; the coup of 19 September 2006 while Thaksin was at the UN — Sonthi's council, the charter of 2007 |
| 2006 – 2014 | The colors — Samak and Somchai of the People's Power Party ousted by the courts (2008), the yellow shirts' seizure of Government House and both Bangkok airports (25 November – 3 December 2008), Abhisit Vejjajiva's Democrat premiership (December 2008); Thaksin's self-exile after the two-year sentence of 21 October 2008; the red shirts' Songkran riots of 2009 and the Ratchaprasong occupation of March–May 2010 ended by the army's crackdown of 19 May 2010 (about 90 dead in the two months, the Central World fire — the UDD's and the army's accounts both stated); Yingluck Shinawatra, Thaksin's sister, the first woman Prime Minister by the election of 3 July 2011; the great floods of July 2011 – January 2012 (815 dead, US$46.5 billion); the rice-pledging scheme; the amnesty bill of November 2013 and Suthep's PDRC blockade of Bangkok ("Bangkok Shutdown" of January 2014); Yingluck removed by the Constitutional Court (7 May 2014); the coup of 22 May 2014 — General Prayut Chan-o-cha's National Council for Peace and Order, martial law, the "attitude adjustment" sessions |
| 2014 – 2019 | The junta's five years — the interim charter, the 2016 draft approved at the referendum of 7 August 2016 (61.4%) with the campaigning banned; the Erawan Shrine bombing of 17 August 2015 (20 dead); King Bhumibol dies at Siriraj on 13 October 2016 after 70 years and 126 days on the throne — the year of mourning, the black of the whole nation, the royal cremation of 26 October 2017 on Sanam Luang; Vajiralongkorn accepts the throne (1 December 2016) and amends the draft charter, promulgated 6 April 2017; the Tham Luang cave rescue of 23 June – 10 July 2018 (the 12 Wild Boars and their coach brought out by the divers, the Navy SEAL Saman Kunan dead); the election of 24 March 2019 under the new rules — Palang Pracharath and the 250 junta senators keep Prayut in office (June 2019) with Anutin's Bhumjaithai in the coalition; the coronation of 4–6 May 2019 (Queen Suthida's marriage of 1 May); the Future Forward surge of Thanathorn and its dissolution (21 February 2020) |
| 2020 – 2023 | The Nakhon Ratchasima shooting of 8–9 February 2020 (29 killed at the Terminal 21 mall and the barracks by a soldier); the pandemic — the borders shut from March 2020, the tourism collapse (GDP −6.1%), the Sinovac and AstraZeneca rows, the Phuket Sandbox of July 2021; the youth protests of July 2020 on — the ten demands for the monarchy's reform of 10 August 2020 (Thammasat), the Harry Potter and the duck-float rallies, the Section 112 charges of the hundreds (the Free Youth, Penguin, Rung, Arnon); cannabis decriminalized 9 June 2022 (the first in Asia); the Uthai Sawan nursery attack of 6 October 2022 (36 killed, 24 of them children, by a sacked policeman); the APEC summit of November 2022; Princess Bajrakitiyabha's collapse of 14 December 2022; the election of 14 May 2023 — Move Forward first with 151 seats, Pita Limjaroenrat blocked by the Senate (13 July), Pheu Thai's Srettha Thavisin elected the 30th Prime Minister with Bhumjaithai and the junta parties (22 August 2023), Thaksin's return from 15 years' exile the same day (the eight-year sentence cut to one, the "hospital stay" at the police hospital, parole in February 2024); the Siam Paragon shooting of 3 October 2023; the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023 — 41 Thai farm workers killed and 31 taken hostage by the counts |
| 2024 | The 10,000-baht digital wallet's first tranche to the welfare cardholders (September 2024); the Senate's selection by the professional groups (9–26 June 2024) and the "Blue" bloc's sweep; the same-sex marriage bill passed by the Senate (18 June 2024) and signed by the King (24 September 2024); Move Forward dissolved by the Constitutional Court for its Section 112 campaign (7 August 2024) — the People's Party born two days later; Srettha Thavisin removed by the same court over the Pichit Chuenban appointment (14 August 2024); Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thaksin's daughter, elected the 31st Prime Minister (16 August 2024; the youngest at 37 and the second woman); the OECD accession roadmap (June 2024) and the BRICS partner invitation (October 2024); the 60-day visa-free entry for 93 countries (15 July 2024); the Phu Phrabat World Heritage inscription (27 July 2024); the Typhoon Yagi floods of the north (September 2024); the births below 500,000 for the first time since 1949 |
| 2025 (January – June) | 1 January — BRICS partner; 23 January — same-sex marriage in force, the first in Southeast Asia (about 1,800 couples wed on the day); 1 February — the Provincial Administrative Organization elections; 5 February — the power, fuel and internet cut to five Myanmar border areas against the scam compounds (the Chinese actor Wang Xing's rescue of 7 January the trigger; the repatriations of thousands); 15 March — the Dao Khanong bridge collapse on Rama II Road (five dead); 28 March — the Sagaing earthquake (M7.7) shakes Bangkok: the 33-story State Audit Office tower under construction in Chatuchak collapses, 103 dead in Thailand by the record, the Chinese contractor and the steel under investigation; 22 May — Yingluck ordered to repay more than 10 billion baht of the rice scheme's losses; 28 May — the Chong Bok clash kills a Cambodian soldier; 15–18 June — the Hun Sen call and its leak; 19 June — Bhumjaithai quits the coalition; 26 June — cannabis back under medical prescription |
| 2025 (July – September) | 1 July — the Constitutional Court suspends Paetongtarn (Phumtham Wechayachai the caretaker); 23 July — a soldier maimed by a landmine at Nam Yuen, the ambassadors recalled; 24–28 July — the five-day war along the Dangrek front: the artillery, the BM-21s on Thai towns, the Thai F-16 strikes (the first combat since 1988), Thailand's count of 16 soldiers and 14 civilians killed and Cambodia's of 5 and 8, more than 200,000 displaced on both sides, martial law in eight districts (25 July) — each side's account stated (LAW 2); 28 July — the ceasefire at Putrajaya under Anwar Ibrahim with the U.S. and Chinese envoys; 7 August — the General Border Committee's 13 points at Kuala Lumpur, Cambodia's Nobel nomination of Trump; 7 August — the U.S. 19% tariff takes effect; 29 August — Paetongtarn removed; 5 September — Anutin elected the 32nd Prime Minister (311 of 492); 7 September — the royal command; 9 September — Thaksin ordered to serve a year in prison; 19 September — Anutin takes the Interior Ministry again |
| 2025 (October – November) | 1 October — Vitai Ratanakorn the 22nd governor of the Bank of Thailand; 1 October — the 20-baht flat fare on every Bangkok rail line; 3 October — the gunman of the Cambodian MP Lim Kimya's killing of 7 January sentenced to life; 7 October — Typhoon Matmo's floods (22 dead); 24 October — Queen Sirikit dies at 93 at the King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital (the year of official mourning, the 90 days of the public, the flags at half-mast 30 days; the lying in state at the Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall from 26 October); 26 October — the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accord with Cambodia signed by Anutin and Hun Manet before Anwar and Trump at the ASEAN summit, and the U.S. trade and critical-minerals frameworks; 7 November — Typhoon Kalmaegi (13 dead); 10 November — the accord suspended after a landmine wounds Thai soldiers in Sisaket; 21–30 November — Cyclone Senyar's floods of the south: Hat Yai's 335 mm in a day and 2 m of water, 297 dead in Thailand by the count, the state of emergency in Songkhla of 25 November |
| 2025 (December) | 7–27 December — the second round of fighting (Operation Sattawat; Prasat Ta Krabey and Prasat Khana retaken by the Thai account) and the ceasefire of 27 December with its 72-hour watch; 9–20 December — the 33rd SEA Games in Bangkok and Chonburi (Thailand 233 gold; Cambodia withdrew 10 December); 12 December — the House dissolved; 31 December — the 18 Cambodian prisoners released |
| 2026 (January – March) | 2 January — the constitutional referendum set for election day; 11 January — the bombs at 11 fuel stations of the deep south; 14 January — a construction crane falls on a passenger train at Sikhio, Nakhon Ratchasima (32 dead, 66 injured); 20 January — 14 Thais escape a Cambodian scam center across Sa Kaeo; 20–26 January — the ASEAN Para Games; 29 January — the Air Force AT-6 crash at Chiang Mai (two pilots); 8 February — the general election (Bhumjaithai first with 192–194 of 500, turnout 71.42%) and the referendum (60.16% for a new constitution); 13 February — the Bhumjaithai–Pheu Thai coalition pact; 20 February — 72 tigers dead of distemper at the Chiang Mai Tiger Kingdom; 22 February — the navy seizes a Cambodian trawler off Trat; 25 February — the policy rate cut to 1.00% from 1.25%; 11 March — the MV Mayuree Naree hit by two Iranian missiles in the Strait of Hormuz (20 rescued, three missing), the ambassador summoned the next day; 15 March — Sophon Saram elected Speaker; 19 March — Anutin re-elected Prime Minister with 293 of 498; 31 March — the War Elephants qualify for the Asian Cup of 2027 against Turkmenistan |
| 2026 (April – June) | 6 April — the King administers the cabinet's oath on Chakri Day; 5 May — Thailand revokes the 2001 memorandum with Cambodia on the maritime claims; 11 May — Thaksin Shinawatra released after eight months of his year; 15 May — Chadchart Sittipunt resigns to run again for Bangkok; 16 May — a freight train hits a bus at Makkasan (at least eight dead); 19 May — the visa-exemption periods cut for 93 countries; 28 May — the Thai–Myanmar Friendship Bridge No. 2 reopened; 2 June — Cambodia files its UNCLOS conciliation notice on the maritime border, Thailand agrees to send representatives (5 June); 11 June — Princess Bajrakitiyabha dies at 47; 11 June — two men sentenced to death for the Erawan Shrine bombing of 2015; 24 June — the policy rate held at 1.00%; 28 June — Chadchart re-elected governor of Bangkok against the People's Party's Chaiwat Sathawornwichit and the Democrats' Anucha Burapachaisri (18 candidates, 4,357,097 on the rolls) |
| 2026 (July – August) | 2 July — a pickup driven by an 11-year-old kills 11 monks on pilgrimage in Mukdahan; 12 July — a Bangkok bar fire kills 41; 22 July — five rangers killed at a Narathiwat checkpoint; 25 July — Wat Phra Mahathat of Nakhon Si Thammarat inscribed as World Heritage; 7 August — a mass shooting in Nonthaburi (nine dead including the 14-year-old gunman); 17 August — the NESDC's second quarter (1.9%; the 2026 range 2.0–2.5%); 22–24 August — the bombings and arsons of the three southern provinces; 26 August — the MPC holds at 1.00% unanimously |
| 2026 (September) | 15 September — the visa-free stay cut from 60 to 30 days for 60 countries; 19 September — the Asian Games open at Aichi-Nagoya (694 Thai athletes); 22 September — the royal cremation of Queen Sirikit announced for 16 December; 24–27 September — the Bangkok deluge of more than 300 mm in 48 hours, the city's 37 blocked roads, Khlong Chan's 12,000 trapped, the three dead of the capital's first days; 25–29 September — the Games' golds of Puripol Boonson (the 100 m in 9.90, a Games record), the teqball trio, the equestrian eventing team, the sepak takraw regus, Kunlavut Vitidsarn's badminton — 12 gold and fifth by 29 September; 29 September — 29 provinces and all 50 Bangkok districts flooded, 2.6 million affected, 22 dead by the DDPM's count, the Prime Minister's cash to the Sai Mai victims; 30 September — 31 provinces, 2.93 million, 24 dead; the SET's 2.2% fall; Fitch raises the outlook to Stable; the House votes the censure debate on the floods; Kitrat Phanphet retires as police chief |
| 2026 (October) | 1 October — the disaster insurance scheme for 30 million households begins (10,000 baht a flood, 5,000 a storm or quake, 2 million baht a death); Samran Nualma the 16th Commissioner-General of police; the Infineon power-semiconductor complex opened at Samut Prakan (48 billion baht); Thai Airways' cargo at Suvarnabhumi suspended to 6 October and the 8,000-bag backlog; the "flood war room" of 8 a.m. briefings; the Land Bank institute dissolved; the People's Solar loan of 75 billion baht signed off by Anutin as Interior Minister; the MP Rangsiman Rome ejected from the House in the scam-network row; 2 October — 30 provinces, 1,177,404 households and 3,352,395 people flooded by the day's count; the Chao Phraya Dam's discharge raised to 2,500 m³/s; Honda's plants at Prachin Buri and Ayutthaya halted to 6 October; the fuel fund's 0.75-baht rise (diesel 42.19 baht a liter); the egg prices up 20 baht a tray; the Bangkok governor's 6.5-billion-baht canal works in place of six retention projects; the analysts unanimous on the 1.00% rate to the year's end; 3 October — Thai Airways back to the full schedule; THE STATE AS OF 3 OCTOBER 2026 — the Asian Games' last days, the floods receding north of the capital, the cremation of December ahead, the new constitution in the drafting |
Records & firsts
| The longest place name | Bangkok's ceremonial name — Krungthepmahanakhon Amonrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharatratchathaniburirom Udomratchaniwetmahasathan Amonphimanawatansathit Sakkathattiyawitsanukamprasit — 168 letters in the Thai, the world's longest place name by Guinness, composed by Rama I and Rama IV; "the city of deities, the great city of immortals, the magnificent city of the nine gems, the seat of the King, the city of royal palaces, the home of the gods incarnate, erected by Vishvakarman at Indra's behest"; Krung Thep for short, the Bangkok of the foreigners' maps from the old riverside village |
|---|---|
| The longest-reigning king | Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) — 70 years and 126 days (9 June 1946 – 13 October 2016), the longest reign in Thai history, the world's longest-reigning monarch at his death and the third-longest verified reign of any sovereign; crowned 5 May 1950, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts (5 December 1927), the only king born in the United States; the 4,000 royal projects, the jazz saxophone, the "Father of the Nation" whose birthday is the National Day; the Chakri dynasty's ten kings since 1782 |
| Never colonized | The only country of Southeast Asia never ruled by a European power — the buffer between British Burma and French Indochina by the Anglo-French declaration of 15 January 1896, the price the territories ceded in 1867 (Cambodia), 1893 (Laos), 1904, 1907 (Battambang and Siem Reap) and 1909 (the four Malay states) — the "lost territories" of the nationalists' maps; the unequal treaties of 1855 ended by the revisions of 1920–38; the Japanese "alliance" of 1941–45 the exception by the critics' reading — both readings stated (LAW 2) |
| The most visited city | Bangkok — the world's most visited city by Euromonitor's 2024 ranking (32.4 million) and by Mastercard's index of 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 (22.8 million in 2019); Suvarnabhumi among Asia's busiest airports; Thailand's 39.8 million arrivals of 2019 the eighth-most of any country by the UN's counts and the fourth-largest tourism receipts (about US$60 billion); the Grand Palace's millions a year; the Chatuchak Weekend Market the world's largest (about 15,000 stalls on 14 hectares, 200,000 visitors a weekend day) |
| The world's first and largest | Rubber — the world's largest producer and exporter (about 40% of the world's natural rubber); cassava, durian, canned tuna and canned pineapple — the largest exporter; cut orchids — the largest exporter; sugar — the second exporter; rice — the first exporter of the 1980s–2000s and the third of 2025; hard disk drives — the second producer; the pickup trucks — the largest producer and exporter of one-ton pickups; gypsum — the second exporter; Thai Union the world's largest tuna canner, CP the largest animal-feed maker; the 7-Eleven network of 15,000 stores the second-largest outside Japan; the world's largest Chinese community abroad by most counts |
| The lowest birth rate | 0.87 children per woman by the 2025 estimate — among the three lowest fertility rates of the world with South Korea and Singapore by the counts; 416,514 births in 2025 the fewest in 75 years, the first year below 500,000 in 2024 (the first since 1949); deaths above births since 2021; the "aged society" of 20% over 60 since 2021–22 and the "super-aged" of 2033 by the projection; the family-planning triumph of the 1970s (Mechai) turned the problem of the 2020s |
| The coups | A dozen successful coups since 1932 by the common count (13 by some tallies, with about seven failed) — 1932, 1933, 1947, 1951, 1957, 1958, 1971, 1976, 1977, 1991, 2006 and 2014 — among the most of any country of the modern era by the lists; 20 constitutions in 94 years, among the most of any state; the Constitutional Court's removal of four Prime Ministers (Samak 2008, Yingluck 2014, Srettha 2024, Paetongtarn 2025) and its dissolution of four winning parties (2007, 2008, 2020, 2024) — the court's and the critics' readings both stated (LAW 2); the two Shinawatra women Prime Ministers (Yingluck the first woman, 2011; Paetongtarn the youngest, 2024) and the three Shinawatras in the office |
| The deadliest roads | 36.2 road deaths per 100,000 people by the WHO's 2015 report — the second-worst of the world then after Libya — and 32.7 by its 2018 report (the 2016 data; about 22,000 a year); about 20,000 a year by the 2020s' counts (about 25 per 100,000), the worst in Asia and among the ten worst of the world, three-quarters on the 21 million motorcycles; the Songkran "seven dangerous days" of about 300 dead each April; the Rama II Road's decades of works and falling cranes; the helmet law of 1994 kept by half the riders by the surveys |
| The firsts of Southeast Asia | Same-sex marriage (23 January 2025, the first in the region and the third in Asia after Taiwan and Nepal); cannabis decriminalized (9 June 2022, the first in Asia; back under prescription in 2025); 5G (February 2020, the first in the region); universal health coverage in 2002 as a lower-middle-income country, the WHO's model case; the region's most Olympic medals (41) and golds (11) by the Olympics page's count, Panipak Wongpattanakit's double of 2020 and 2024 the only Thai one; ASEAN's founding host (8 August 1967); the first Thai Palme d'Or (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2010); the first in Asia to ratify the ILO's fishing convention (2019); the first Eurovision Asia contest (14 November 2026, Bangkok, by the year's record) |
| The Buddhas and the temples | The Golden Buddha of Wat Traimit — 5.5 metric tons of solid gold, 3 m high, the world's largest solid-gold statue by Guinness (the plaster shell cracked in the move of 25 May 1955 to reveal the Sukhothai gold); the Reclining Buddha of Wat Pho (46 m long, 15 m high, gold-leafed, 1832) and its 108 mother-of-pearl auspicious signs; the Great Buddha of Thailand at Wat Muang, Ang Thong (92 m, the tallest statue of the kingdom and among the world's ten tallest); the Phra Pathom Chedi of Nakhon Pathom (120.45 m, the tallest stupa in the world); the Emerald Buddha (66 cm of jade) of 1434's lightning strike at Chiang Rai; Wat Arun's prang of about 70–86 m by the counts; the White Temple of Chiang Rai (1997); about 40,000 temples |
| The disasters | The Indian Ocean tsunami of 26 December 2004 — 5,395 confirmed dead and 2,817 missing in Thailand (about 8,200 by the official total), the deadliest natural disaster of the kingdom's record; the floods of 2011 — US$46.5 billion, the fourth-costliest disaster in the world's record by the World Bank's count, 815 dead, 13.6 million affected, the world's hard-drive and car supply chains halted; Cyclone Senyar's floods of November 2025 (297 dead by the count, Hat Yai's 335 mm the heaviest day in 300 years); the Sagaing earthquake of 28 March 2025 (103 dead, the 33-story tower's collapse the kingdom's deadliest building failure); the Royal Plaza Hotel collapse of Khorat (13 August 1993; 137 dead); the Kader toy factory fire of Nakhon Pathom (10 May 1993; 188 dead, the world's deadliest factory fire of its time); the Santika club fire of New Year 2009 (66 dead); the Bangkok bar fire of 12 July 2026 (41); the Sikhio crane of 14 January 2026 (32); the September 2026 floods |
| The sport records | Puripol Boonson's 9.90 in the 100 m at Aichi-Nagoya (September 2026) — an Asian Games record by the counts; the SEA Games haul of 233 gold at Bangkok 2025 the most by any nation at one edition; Panipak Wongpattanakit's two Olympic golds (2020, 2024) the kingdom's record; Kunlavut Vitidsarn's world badminton title of 2023 and Asian Games gold of 2026; Ratchanok Intanon the youngest world champion of badminton (18, in 2013); the AFF championship's seven titles the record; Buakaw Banchamek the Muay Thai name of the world; Paradorn Srichaphan's ATP No. 9 of 2003 the first Asian-born man in the top ten; Somluck Kamsing's 1996 gold the kingdom's first; Ariya Jutanugarn's 2016 of five LPGA wins and the world No. 1 of 2017 the first Thai golfer at the top; Lisa of Blackpink the Thai name of the pop charts |
| The oldest | Don Mueang Airport (27 March 1914) — among the world's oldest commercial airports still in service and Asia's oldest; Chulalongkorn University (26 March 1917) the oldest university; Siriraj Hospital (26 April 1888) the oldest hospital and medical school; the Paknam Railway (11 April 1893) the first railway; the Siam Commercial Bank (1906) the first Thai bank; Siam Cement (1913) the oldest industrial firm; Rajadamnern Stadium (1945) the oldest Muay Thai arena; the Bangkok Post (1 August 1946) the oldest English daily; the Democrat Party (6 April 1946) the oldest party; the Thai script of 1283 the oldest Tai script; Ban Chiang's bronze of 2000 BCE the oldest metallurgy of the region by the digs; Wat Phra Mahathat of Nakhon Si Thammarat's relic shrine of the 13th century, the 2026 World Heritage; the Ayutthaya ruins of 1351–1767; Sukhothai's Wat Mahathat |
| The engineering marks | The Sappaya-Sapasathan (2019) — the largest parliament building in the world by floor area (424,000 m²) at its opening; the Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal (2021) the largest railway station of Southeast Asia; the Bhumibol Dam (1964) the tallest concrete arch dam of the region (154 m) and the Srinagarind (1980) the largest reservoir (17.7 billion m³); the Rama VIII Bridge (2002) the asymmetric cable-stayed landmark, the Bhumibol Bridge's double (2006); the MahaNakhon (2016; 314 m, the "pixelated" tower) and Magnolias Waterfront (2018; 318 m, the tallest) of the skyline; the Sirindhorn floating solar (2021) the world's largest hydro-floating solar at its opening; Suvarnabhumi's terminal (2006) the largest single-building terminal by its claim at the opening; the Chaloem Ratchamongkhon Blue Line's first tunnels under the delta's clay (2004); the Death Railway's Wampo viaduct (1943); the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall's Italian marble (1915); the Kra canal never dug |
| The small and the strange | The Siamese cat (the Wichienmaat of the Tamra Maew of Ayutthaya), the Siamese fighting fish, the Siamese crocodile and the Siamese twins (Chang and Eng Bunker, 1811–74) the kingdom's names in the languages of the world; the white elephant the royal beast and the English phrase for a costly burden (the king's gift one could neither use nor refuse, by the tale); the pad thai's state invention; the "Bangkok" the capital's foreign name only (Krung Thep the Thai); the time of the loudspeaker anthem freezing the stations twice a day; the lottery drawn on the 1st and the 16th; the lucky-number plates auctioned for tens of millions of baht; the monks' alms at dawn; the Vegetarian Festival's piercings of Phuket; the Phi Ta Khon ghost masks of Loei; the Monkey Buffet of Lopburi; the Surin elephant round-up; the Loy Krathong lanterns of Chiang Mai (Yi Peng) grounding the flights; the 7-Eleven on every corner (15,000) |
| The last and the next | The last absolute king Prajadhipok (24 June 1932), the last coup 22 May 2014, the last executions 2018 (the two death sentences of June 2026 for the 2015 bombing), the last territory ceded 1909, the last great Burmese invasion the Nine Armies' War of 1785–86, the last election 8 February 2026, the last royal cremation Bhumibol's of 26 October 2017 — the next Queen Sirikit's of 16 December 2026 at Sanam Luang; the next general election due by 2030, the next constitution in the 35-member assembly's drafting with two referendums ahead, the next MPC meetings of October and December 2026 on the 1.00% rate, the Asian Games' close of 4 October 2026, the Eurovision Song Contest Asia of 14 November 2026 in Bangkok, Tomorrowland's first Asian edition at Pattaya of 11–13 December 2026, the high-speed train of 2027–28, the Senate's next selection in 2029, the officials' year of mourning for the Queen Mother to run to 24 October 2026 |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Thailand?
The Kingdom of Thailand — Ratcha-anachak Thai (ราชอาณาจักรไทย) in Thai, Prathet Thai (the country of the Thai) in the ordinary speech and Mueang Thai in the older — the name taken on 24 June 1939 in place of Siam (Sayam), the name the world had used for the kingdom of Ayutthaya and Bangkok; Siam again from 1946 and Thailand once more from 11 May 1949; "Thai" the name of the people and, by the common gloss, "free," so "Land of the Free" in the schoolbook rendering; the demonym Thai, Siamese in the old books.
What is the capital of Thailand?
Bangkok — Krung Thep Maha Nakhon to the Thai, the city Rama I founded on the east bank of the Chao Phraya on 21 April 1782 (the city pillar) after the fall of Ayutthaya and the Thonburi interlude; the seat of the King, the government, the National Assembly and the courts; 5,422,568 people on the registers at 31 December 2025 and about 9.1 million by the estimates that count the unregistered, with 17.4 million in the metropolitan region of six provinces — both stated; a special administrative area of 50 districts (khet) with an elected governor, Chadchart Sittipunt, re-elected 28 June 2026; the world's most visited city by Euromonitor's 2024 count (32.4 million) and the owner of the world's longest place name (168 letters).
How big is Thailand, and how many people live there?
513,120 km² (198,117 sq mi) — the 50th country of the world, a little larger than Spain, about a sixth of India and half again the size of Rajasthan, with 2,230 km² of water; 65,809,011 people on the civil registers at 31 December 2025 (the Department of Provincial Administration; 142,199 fewer than a year before) and about 71.7 million by the UN's estimates, which count the four to five million migrants from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos — both stated; the 22nd most populous country; about 128 to 140 people per km² by the two counts; shrinking since 2021, when deaths first outnumbered births, with 416,514 births in 2025, the fewest in 75 years.
What are the highest and lowest points of Thailand?
Doi Inthanon — 2,565 m (8,415 ft), in the Thanon Thong Chai Range of Chiang Mai Province, the roof of the kingdom, with the twin royal chedis near the summit and the national park of 1972; the lowest point sea level on the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea — the abandoned Boh Yai mine at −106 m by the geography page's count, closed in 1997 (both stated); Bangkok itself about 1.5 m above the sea and sinking, which is why the September 2026 rains stood in the streets of all 50 districts.
What currency does Thailand use?
The Thai baht (ISO code THB; ฿; บาท), of 100 satang, issued by the Bank of Thailand (1942) — about 33.6 to the U.S. dollar on 2 October 2026 by the market's count, about 38 to the euro and about 2.9 Indian rupees to the baht; notes of 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1,000 baht with the King's portrait, coins of 1, 2, 5 and 10 baht and of 25 and 50 satang; the baht once a weight of silver (15 g), the tical of the old traders; floated on 2 July 1997, the day the Asian financial crisis began; the policy rate 1.00% since the Bank's cut of February 2026, held unanimously on 26 August 2026.
Who governs Thailand?
The King — Vajiralongkorn, Rama X of the Chakri dynasty, 74, king since his father Bhumibol's death on 13 October 2016 and crowned 4 May 2019 — is the head of state under the constitution of 6 April 2017 (the 20th since 1932); the Prime Minister is Anutin Charnvirakul of the Bhumjaithai Party, 60, born 13 September 1966 in Bangkok, the 32nd holder of the office — elected by the House on 5 September 2025 with 311 of 492 votes after the Constitutional Court removed Paetongtarn Shinawatra on 29 August, endorsed by the King on 7 September, and re-elected on 19 March 2026 with 293 of 498 after his party came first in the general election of 8 February 2026 (192 seats by the election page, 194 by the year's record — both stated); also the Interior Minister; the National Assembly of a 500-seat House (Speaker Sophon Saram) and a 200-seat selected Senate (President Mongkol Surasajja); the next general election due by 2030.
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