Demographics & population — Thailand
Population size, age structure, migration, ethnicity, language, education, and health indicators.
Profile updated 2026-06-02
⚡ Demographics & population at a glance
Population size, age structure, migration, ethnicity, language, education, and health indicators. Key figure for Thailand: 69,920,998
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Population overview
- Population
69,920,998
- Population - note
Note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of the population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected
- Population Growth Rate
0.17%
- Population Distribution
highest population density is found in and around Bangkok; significant population clusters found througout large parts of the country, particularly north and northeast of Bangkok and in the extreme southern region of the country
- Urban Population
- urban population: 53.6%
- of total population rate of urbanization: 1.43% annual rate of change
- Population in Major Urban Areas
11.070 million BANGKOK (capital), 1.454 Chon Buri, 1.359 million Samut Prakan, 1.213 million Chiang Mai, 1.005 million Songkla, 1.001 million Nothaburi
- Population: Male/Female
- male: 34,065,311
- female: 35,855,687
Age & family
- Age Structure
- years: 15.8% (male 5,669,592/female 5,394,398) 15-64
- years: 69% (male 23,681,528/female 24,597,535) 65
- years and over: 15.1% (male 4,714,191/female 5,863,754)
- Median Age
- total: 41.5
- years male: 40.2
- years female: 42.7 years
- Birth Rate - births/1,000 population
10
- Death Rate - deaths/1,000 population
8
- Total Fertility Rate - children born/woman
1.54
- Gross reproduction rate
1
- Child Marriage
- women married by age 15: 3%
- women married by age 18: 20.2%
- men married by age 18: 9.8%
- Contraceptive Prevalance Rate - female 12-49
73%
- Contraceptive Prevalence Rate - female 12-49
73%
- Currently married women (ages 15-49)
60.8%
- Mean Age for Mother's First Birth (age 25-49)
23.3
- Mother's mean age at first birth
23.3
- Sex Ratio at Birth - male/female
- at birth: 1.05
- male(s)/female 0-14 years: 1.05
- male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.96
- male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.8
- male(s)/female total population: 0.95 male(s)/female
Migration
- Net Migration Rate - migrant(s)/1,000 population
-0.3
- Demographic profile
Thailand has experienced a substantial fertility decline since the 1960s largely due to the nationwide success of its voluntary family planning program.
In just one generation, the total fertility rate (TFR) shrank from 6.5 children per woman in the 1960s to below the replacement level of 2.1 in the late 1980s.
Reduced fertility occurred among all segments of the Thai population, despite disparities between urban and rural areas in terms of income, education, and access to public services.
The country’s “reproductive revolution” gained momentum in the 1970s as a result of the government’s launch of an official population policy to reduce population growth, the introduction of new forms of birth control, and the assistance of foreign non-government organizations.
Contraceptive use rapidly increased as new ways were developed to deliver family planning services to Thailand’s then overwhelmingly rural population.
The contraceptive prevalence rate increased from just 14% in 1970 to 58% in 1981 and has remained about 80% since 2000.
Thailand’s receptiveness to family planning reflects the predominant faith, Theravada Buddhism, which emphasizes individualism, personal responsibility, and independent decision-making.
Thai women have more independence and a higher status than women in many other developing countries and are not usually pressured by their husbands or other family members about family planning decisions.
Thailand’s relatively egalitarian society also does not have the son preference found in a number of other Asian countries; most Thai ideally want one child of each sex.
Because of its low fertility rate, increasing life expectancy, and growing elderly population, Thailand has become an aging society that will face growing labor shortages.
The proportion of the population under 15 years of age has shrunk dramatically, the proportion of working-age individuals has peaked and is starting to decrease, and the proportion of elderly is growing rapidly.
In the short-term, Thailand will have to improve educational quality to increase the productivity of its workforce and to compete globally in skills-based industries.
An increasing reliance on migrant workers will be necessary to mitigate labor shortfalls.
Thailand is a destination, transit, and source country for migrants.
It has 3-4 million migrant workers as of 2017, mainly providing low-skilled labor in the construction, agriculture, manufacturing, services, and fishing and seafood processing sectors.
Migrant workers from other Southeast Asian countries with lower wages – primarily Burma and, to a lesser extent, Laos and Cambodia – have been coming to Thailand for decades to work in labor-intensive industries.
Many are undocumented and are vulnerable to human trafficking for forced labor, especially in the fisheries industry, or sexual exploitation.
A July 2017 migrant worker law stiffening fines on undocumented workers and their employers, prompted tens of thousands of migrants to go home.
Fearing a labor shortage, the Thai Government has postponed implementation of the law until January 2018 and is rapidly registering workers.
Thailand has also hosted ethnic minority refugees from Burma for more than 30 years; as of 2016, approximately 105,000 mainly Karen refugees from Burma were living in nine camps along the Thailand-Burma border.
Thailand has a significant amount of internal migration, most often from rural areas to urban centers, where there are more job opportunities.
Low- and semi-skilled Thais also go abroad to work, mainly in Asia and a smaller number in the Middle East and Africa, primarily to more economically developed countries where they can earn higher wages.
Ethnicity & language
- Ethnic Groups
Thai 97.5%, Burmese 1.3%, other 1.1%, unspecified <0.1%
- Language Note
- Thai (official) only 90.7%, Thai and other languages 6.4%, only other languages 2.9% (includes Malay, Burmese)
- note - data represent population by language(s) spoken at home
- English is a secondary language of the elite
- Nationality Noun
- Thai (singular and plural) adjective: Thai
Education
- Literacy - total population
94.1%
- Literacy - male
95.5%
- Literacy - female
92.8%
- Literacy Definition
age 15 and over can read and write
- Education Expenditures - percent of GDP
3.2%
- Total School Life Expectancy - (primary to tertiary)
- total: 15
- years male: 15
- years female: 16 years
Health & living conditions
- Life Expectancy at Birth
- total population: 78.2
- years male: 75.2
- years female: 81.3 years
- Infant Mortality Rate
- total: 6.3 deaths/1,000
- live births male: 6.9 deaths/1,000
- live births female: 5.6 deaths/1,000 live births
- Infant Mortality Rate - total deaths/1,000 live births
- total: 6.3 deaths/1,000
- live births male: 6.9 deaths/1,000
- live births female: 5.6 deaths/1,000 live births
- Maternal Mortality Rate - deaths/100,000 live births
29
- Physicians Density - physicians/1,000 population
.95
- Hospital Bed Density - beds/1,000 population
2.1
- Health Expenditures - percent of GDP
4.4%
- Major Infectious Diseases - degree of risk
- bacterial diarrhea vectorborne diseases: dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis, and malaria
- Obesity - adult prevalence rate
10%
- Tobacco Use
- total: 22.1%
- male: 41.3%
- female: 2.9%
- Alcohol consumption per capita
- total: 6.86
- liters of pure alcohol beer: 1.85
- liters of pure alcohol wine: 0.23
- liters of pure alcohol spirits: 4.78
- liters of pure alcohol other alcohols: 0 liters of pure alcohol
- Drinking Water Source - percent of urban population improved
- urban: 100%
- of population rural: 100%
- of population total: 100%
- urban: 0%
- of population rural: 0%
- of population total: 0% of population
- Sanitation Facility Access - percent of urban population improved
- urban: 99.9%
- of population rural: 100%
- of population total: 100%
- urban: 0.1%
- of population rural: 0%
- of population total: 0% of population
- Underweight - percent of children under five years
7.7%