Thailand's population is relatively homogeneous. More than 85% speak a dialect of Thai and share a common culture. This core population includes the central Thai (36% of the population), Thai-Lao (32%), northern Thai (8%), and southern Thai (8%).
The language of the central Thai population is the language taught in schools and used in government. Several other small Thai-speaking groups include the Shan, Lue, and Phutai.
The largest minorities are the Chinese (about 12% of the population) and the Malay-speaking Muslims of the south (3%). Other groups include the Khmer, the Mon (who are substantially assimilated with the Thai), and the Vietnamese. Smaller, predominantly mountain-dwelling tribes, such as the Hmong, Karen, and Mein, number about 500,000. |
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Population:
64,865,523
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 and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2004 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 24.1% (male 7,985,724; female 7,631,337)
15-64 years: 68.7% (male 21,998,552; female 22,538,765)
65 years and over: 7.3% (male 2,167,421; female 2,543,724) (2004 est.)
Median age:
total: 30.5 years
male: 29.7 years
female: 31.2 years (2004 est.)
Population growth rate:
0.91% (2004 est.)
Birth rate:
16.04 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)
Death rate:
6.94 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)
Net migration rate:
0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.85 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2004 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
total: 21.14 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 19.73 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)
male: 22.49 deaths/1,000 live births
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 71.41 years
male: 69.23 years
female: 73.71 years (2004 est.)
Total fertility rate:
1.89 children born/woman (2004 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
1.5% (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
570,000 (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths:
58,000 (2003 est.)
Nationality:
noun: Thai (singular and plural)
adjective: Thai
Ethnic groups:
Thai 75%, Chinese 14%, other 11%
Religions:
Buddhism 95%, Muslim 3.8%, Christianity 0.5%, Hinduism 0.1%, other 0.6% (1991)
Languages:
Thai, English (secondary language of the elite), ethnic and regional dialects
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 92.6%
male: 94.9%
female: 90.5% (2002)
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