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People
Demography
Thailand is located in Southeast Asia, bordering Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia. The country was known by the name of Siam before 1939, and in 1949 the name of the country was changed to Thailand by an official proclamation. While the country has large cities, a large part of Thai society is rural. The total population numbers over 64 million people.
Ethnicity, Language and Religion
The society of Thailand boasts a rich heritage in terms of ethnicity, language and religion. Yet despite this heritage, there remains a sense of cultural homogeneity that has been a significant contributing factor to unitary Thai identity.
In terms of ethnicity, about 75 percent of the total population is Thai. Among the Thai there are sub-sets knowns as Central Thai, Thai-Lao, Northern Thai and Southern Thai. The predominant minority group in Thailand is Chinese, who make up close to 14 percent of the population. There are also smaller ethnic groups of Lao, Khmer, Malays, Indians and Vietnamese. There are also numerous hill tribes. Yet despite this ethnic
Thai is the official national language, spoken by overwhelming majority of the people. The Thai language alphabet was developed back in the 14th century, based on Indian and Khmer scripts. As the mandatory subject for public schools, English is widely spoken and understood, particularly in large cities. Chinese is the other principal language spoken by that ethnic group in Thailand. Karen, Khmer, Malay and Tai are also spoken languages in Thailand among certain ethnic groups.
Buddhism became the official religion in the country in the 14th century, and since then it has had great impact on social, cultural and political life of the Thai people. Sharing the common and predominant religion of Theravada Buddhism, the people of Thailand, including minority groups, have lived together harmoniously. According to the constitution and tradition, the king of Thailand is a Buddhist as well as the center of unity and concord of all Thai people.
With Buddhism as the dominant religion of the country, the Thai government has also emphasized the importance of religious freedom. Under this policy, religious minorities of Muslims among the Malay, Hindus and Sikhs among those with ethnic Indian influences, and Christians (typically from among the hill tribges and Vietnamese) enjoy the freedom to profess their religions.
Human Development
The population of Thailand has a healthy life expectancy at birth of 72.83 years of age (70.51 years for males and 75.27 years for females), according to recent estimates. The infant mortality rate of Thailand is 18.23 deaths/1,000 live births. HIV infection and AIDs has increasingly become the most predominant health concern in Thailand. The rate of HIV/AIDs prevalence was 1.8 percent in recent. In terms of literacy, 96 percent of the population, age 15 and over, can read and write.
In terms of the health infrastructure of Thailand, access to modern medical care and trained physicians is chiefly in Bangkok and provincial towns, although the government has been developing rural health centers over the last decade. That said, the unavailability of potable water for most of rural population contributes to disease.
In terms of education, the government supports universal free primary education. Most children attend school several years at least, and the population is mostly literate. However, fewer than three out of ten children continue beyond elementary level. More than a dozen universities and specialized postsecondary institutions provide higher education for about three percent of youth.
About 4.1 percent of GDP is spent on educational expenditures in this country; about 4.3 percent of GDP is spent on health expenditures. Access to water and sanitation is good, especially in urban areas.
One notable measure used to determine a country's quality of life is the Human Development Index (HDI), which has been compiled annually since 1990 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The HDI is a composite of several indicators, which measure a country's achievements in three main arenas of human development: longevity, knowledge and education, as well as economic standard of living. In a recent ranking of 169 countries, the HDI placed Thailand in the medium human development category, at 92nd place. Although the concept of human development is complicated and cannot be properly captured by values and indices, the HDI, which is calculated and updated annually, offers a wide-ranging assessment of human development in certain countries, not based solely upon traditional economic and financial indicators.
Written by Dr. Denise Youngblood Coleman, Editor in Chief, www.countrywatch.com . See Bibliography for list of research sources.
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