The preliminary results show
the number of people, the number of private households, growth
rate, population density and sex ratio for each region and
each province, classified by municipal and non-municipal
areas, as well as for the whole Kingdom of Thailand.
1. Administrative
areas
Thailand has an area of
513,120 square kms. In the year 2000, it had 76 provinces, 795
districts, 81 sub districts, 7,255 tambons, and 69,866
villages. In 1993 there were three new provinces: a part of
Prachin Buri Province became Sa Kaeo Province; a part of Udon
Thani Province became Nong Bua Lam Phu Province; a part of
Ubon Ratchathani Province became Amnat Charoen Province.
2. Size of
population, annual population growth rate and distribution of
population
On April 1, 2000,
Thailand had a population of 60,606,947 out of which
29,844,870 were males and 30,762,077 were females. Thailand
was the fourth largest country in Southeast Asia in terms of
population. Indonesia had the largest size of population (209
million), followed by Vietnam (79 million) and the Philippines
(74 million) (Chart 1).
Chart 1: Southeast Asia's
Population
Sources: The 2000
Population and Housing Census, National Statistical Office,
Office of the Prime Minister,
Population and Rural and
Urban Development Division,
Economic and Social Commission
for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok 1999
Notes: Thailand's
figure was obtained on the Census Date (April 1, 2000).
Other countries' figures were estimated at the middle of
1999 (on July 1).
Thailand had a
population of 8.2 million at the time of its first census in
1909 and the number increased to 17.4 million at the time of
its fifth census in 1947. The first five censuses were
undertaken by the Ministry of Interior. The National
Statistical Office began to carry out a population census in
1960, and it has continued to do so every 10 years since then.
The population was 26.3 million in 1960, 54.5 million in 1990
and 60.6 million in 2000 (Table A).
Table A: The Population
of Thailand from 1909 to 2000
|
Year |
Population |
Annual
growth rate |
|
1909 |
8,149,487 |
- |
|
1919 |
9,207,355 |
1.22 |
|
1929 |
11,506,207 |
2.23 |
|
1937 |
14,464,105 |
2.86 |
|
1947 |
17,442,689 |
1.87 |
|
1960 |
26,257,916 |
3.15 |
|
1970 |
34,397,374 |
2.70 |
|
1980 |
44,824,540 |
2.65 |
|
1990 |
54,548,530 |
1.96 |
|
2000 |
60,606,947 |
1.05 |
Sources: Censuses, 1909 -
1947, the Ministry of Interior, and
1960-2000, the
National Statistical Office,
Office of the Prime Minister
Although the size of
population increased each time a census is taken, the annual
population growth rate significantly declined, according to
the censuses taken by the National Statistic Office since
1960. From 1990 to 2000, the annual population growth rate was
1.05 per cent, the lowest recorded rate of intercensal growth
since the first census. The annual population growth rate was
2.70 per cent from 1960 to 1970, 2.65 per cent from 1970 to
1980 and 1.96 per cent from 1980 to 1990.
Chart 2: The annual
population growth rates of Thailand from 1960 to 2000
Source: The 1960-2000
Population and Housing Census,
National Statistical
Office, Office of the Prime Minister
Population distribution
in this study is determined in two ways: 1) urban and rural
distribution, where "urban" refers to municipal areas and
"rural" refers to non-municipal areas; and 2) regional and
provincial distribution.
In the year 2000,
municipal areas had a population of 18,842,537 accounting for
31.1 per cent compared with 18.7 per cent in 19903/ (Annex, Table
1). The high rate of increase can be attributed in part to
the 981 sanitary districts reclassified as Tambon
municipalities in 1999. There are 1,131 municipalities at
present. The population of Bangkok, which is regarded as a
municipality in entirety, was 33.5 per cent of the population
of all municipalities in the country in the year 2000.
Nonthaburi Province had the second largest urban population,
66.4 per cent, followed by Samut Prakan Province, 63.1 per
cent.
Regional population
distribution
Comparison of population
at regional level reveals that in the year 2000 the
Northeastern Region had the largest population, 20,759,899 or
34.2 per cent. The next largest regions were the Central
Region 14,101,530 or 23.3 per cent, and the Northern Region,
11,367,826 or 18.8 per cent. The South had a population of
8,057,518 or 13.3 per cent. There were 6,320,174 people in
Bangkok or 10.4 per cent. Compared with the 1990 Census, the
percentage of population was considerably higher in the
Central Region and the Southern Region while it was lower in
Bangkok, the Northern Region and Northeastern Region (Table
B).
Table B: Percentage of
population in different regions from 1960 to 2000
|
Region |
1960 |
1970 |
1980 |
1990 |
2000 |
|
Total |
100.0 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
|
Bangkok
|
8.1 |
8.9 |
10.5 |
10.8 |
10.4 |
|
Central
Region |
23.4 |
21.9 |
21.7 |
22.1 |
23.3 |
|
Northern
Region |
21.8 |
21.8 |
20.2 |
19.4 |
18.8 |
|
Northeastern
Region |
34.2 |
35.0 |
35.0 |
34.9 |
34.2 |
|
Southern
Region |
12.5 |
12.4 |
12.6 |
12.8 |
13.3 |
Source: The 1960-2000
Population and Housing Census,
National Statistical
Office, Office of the Prime Minister
Considering the annual
population growth rates in different regions from 1990 to 2000
(Chart 3), the Central Region had the highest rate of 1.55 per
cent, followed by the Southern Region (1.45 per cent), the
Northeastern Region (0.87 per cent). Bangkok and the Northern
Region had the lowest annual population growth rates of 0.72
and 0.71 per cent respectively.
Chart 3: The annual
population growth rates by region from 1990 to 2000
Source: The 1990 and 2000
Population and Housing Census,
National Statistical
Office, Office of the Prime Minister
Provincial population
distribution
In the year 2000, the
ten provinces with the largest population other than Bangkok
were all in the Northeast, except Chiang Mai in the North and
Nakhon Si Thammarat in the South. Bangkok had the highest
population of 6,320,174, followed by Nakhon Ratchasima, Khon
Kaen, Ubon Ratchathani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Buriram, Chiang
Mai, Udon Thani, Si Sa Ket and Surin respectively (Chart 4).
Chart 4: Ten provinces
with largest population in 2000 
Source: The 2000
Population and Housing Census,
National Statistical
Office, Office of the Prime Minister
The annual population
growth rate between 1990 to 2000 (Map
1 and Annex, Table
2) was relatively high in some of the provinces of the
Vicinity of Bangkok, namely Pathum Thani (4.84 per cent),
Samut Sakhon (3.54 per cent) and Nonthaburi (3.43 per cent),
and the provinces with a common border with Myanmar, namely
Tak Province (3.68 per cent) and Ranong Province (3.20 per
cent). Phuket in the South also had a relatively high annual
growth rate of 3.63 per cent. The growth rate in every
province in the North was below one per cent, except Tak and
Mae Hong Son. Every province in the Northeast had a growth
rate of about one per cent. Provinces in the South had higher
growth rates than those in the Northeast but below two per
cent. The exceptions were Phuket and Ranong.
3. Number of
households and average size of household
In the year 2000, there
were 15,660,667 households. The average size of household was
3.9, which was lower than in 1990 (4.4 persons per
household)(Table C).
Table C: Average size of
household from 1960 to 2000
|
Year |
Average |
|
1960 |
5.6 |
|
1970 |
5.7 |
|
1980 |
5.2 |
|
1990 |
4.4 |
|
2000 |
3.9 |
Source: The 1960-2000
Population and Housing Census,
National Statistical
Office, Office of the Prime Minister
In the year 2000, the
average size of households in non-municipal areas was 4.0
persons, which was larger than that in municipal areas (3.7
persons). Considering regional differentials, the Northeast
and the South had the largest average size of household of 4.1
persons. Bangkok and the Central Region had average household
size of 3.8 and 3.7 persons respectively. The North had the
smallest average size of household (3.6 persons)(Annex, Table
3).
Among the provinces,
Pattani had the largest size of household (4.8 persons),
followed by Narathiwat (4.6 persons). Samut Prakan had the
lowest average size of household (3.3 persons).
4. Population
density
Population density is
determined by the average number of people per square
kilometre. The population density of Thailand was 106.3
persons per km2 and 118.1 persons per km2 in 1990 and 2000
respectively (Map
2 and Annex, Table
4). At regional level, the population densities in
descending order were as follows: Bangkok: 4,028.9 persons per
km2, the Central Region: 137.8 persons per km2, the Northeast
Region: 122.9 persons per km2, the Southern Region: 113.9
persons per km2, and the Northern Region: 67.0 persons per
km2. At provincial level, Bangkok had the highest density,
while the population densities of the other provinces ranged
from Nonthaburi: 1,302.0 persons per km2 and Samut Prakan:
1,010.3 persons per km2 down to Mae Hong Son in the North with
16.5 persons per km2.
Chart 5 Population
density from 1960 to 2000
Source: The 1960-2000
Population and Housing Census,
National Statistical
Office, Office of the Prime Minister
5. Sex
Ratio
The sex ratio is the
number of males per 100 females. In the year 2000, the ratio
was 97.0, which was lower than that in 1990 (98.5) (Table D).
The number of males was lower than females partly because of
the higher life expectancy at birth of females. At a lower
level of aggregation the sex ratio is also affected by
migration of males and females into the areas.
Considering regional
differentials, the Northeast had the highest sex ratio (98.8),
followed by the South (98.1), the North (97.9), the Central
Region (95.8) and Bangkok (91.0) respectively.
Considering provincial
differentials (Map
3 and Annex, Table
1), Mae Hong Son had the higest sex ratio (105.8),
followed by Ranong (104.4). The lowest sex ratio was found in
Ang Thong (90.3).
Table D: Sex Ratio from
1960 to 2000
|
Year |
Sex
Ratio |
|
1960 |
100.4 |
|
1970 |
99.1 |
|
1980 |
99.3 |
|
1990 |
98.5 |
|
2000 |
97.0 |
Source: The 1960-2000
Population and Housing Census,
National Statistical
Office, Office of the Prime Minister |
