Thailand Facts #25 (305 facts and statistics to date)

“I'm not sure I want popular opinion on my side -- I've noticed those with the most opinions often have the fewest facts.”
Benthania McKenstry

• Internet users have increased from 8 million in 2006 to 9 million in 2007.
(Thailand National Statistical Office)

• The number of people in Thailand in possession of mobile phones is 28.29 million or 47 per cent of the total population.
(Thailand National Statistical Office)

• There are 24.3 land line telephone lines per 100 households in Thailand—a decline from 2006 at 24.8 and 2005 at 26.8.
(Thailand National Statistical Office)

• Phuket has a registered population of around 300,000 but the unofficial population is around 1,000,000 with around 6,000,000 visitors per year.
(Niran Kalayanamitr, Phuket Governer)

• 741 workers died in work-related accidents and 198,652 persons were injured or became seriously ill at work in 2007 in Thailand which includes 16 workers who became permanently handicapped, and 3,259 workers who lost body parts, such as hands, arms or legs.
(TNA, May 1 2008)


• Nakhon Pathom had the highest death rate and injury toll in Thailand in 2007.
(TNA, May 1 2008)

• In the first quarter of 2008, 435,069 motorcycles were registered in Thailand with the Land Transport Department.
(Land Transport Department)

• 230,000 LCD TV sets were sold in 2008.
(Bangkok Post, April 25 2008)

• 140,749 Thais visited Macau in 2007 compared to 57,876 in 2005. The first quarter of 2008 has already seen 55,834 visitors.
(Macau Government Tourist Office Bangkok)

• There are approximately 500,000 hotel rooms in Thailand.
(Bangkok Post, April 25 2008)

• Bangkok has approximately 10,685 serviced apartment rooms.
(Bangkok Serviced Apartment Club)

• Thailand exported Bt80 billion worth of frozen shrimp in 2007 with 50% of exports going to the United States.
(Bangkok Post, April 30 2008)

• Overall transport shipment usage in Thailand consists of 85% road transport, 12% marine, 2% rail and 0.9% air.
(Bangkok Post, April 30 2008)

• 16.81 million tourists visited Northeast Thailand in 2007 up from 12.71 million in 2001.
(Tourism Authority of Thailand)

• Thailand is the world’s second largest exporter of sugar with 6.7 million tonnes produced in 2007 of which 4.7 million was exported.
(Office of Cane and Sugar Board)

• Thailand is the world’s largest exporter of tapioca.

• In the first quarter of 2008, Thailand’s food exports totaled US$6.72 billion in value, up 31.4 per cent from the same quarter in 2007.
(TNA, May 14 2008)

• Current consumption of NGV (Natural Gas) is averaging 57.9 million cubic feet per day.
(Energy Policy and Planning Office)

• The use of alternative fuels reduced gasoline and diesel consumption by an average of 3.83 million litres per day in April, 2008.
(Energy Policy and Planning Office)

• Ayutthaya was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1991.

Thailand Facts #24 (285 facts and statistics to date)

“Get the facts, or the facts will get you. And when you get them, get them right, or they will get you wrong.”
Dr. Thomas Fuller

• Bangkok and it’s neighbouring provinces of Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon, Pathum Thani, Nakhon Phanom and Nonthaburi have the highest daily minimum wage in Thailand at Bt195 while Nan and Phayao provinces in the north have the lowest at Bt144.
(Labour Ministry)

• In 2007 there were 327 accidents killing 45 people and injuring 143 at Thailand’s railway crossings.
(State Railway of Thailand)

• Thailand’s first woman member of parliament was elected in 1949.

• Approximately 30% of Thailand’s population are carriers of Thalassaemia disease.
(Bangkok Post, April 8 2008)

• Thailand is the third most popular international travel destination for Indian tourists behind Singapore and the United States. 536,356 Indians visited Thailand in 2007.
(Tourism Authority of Thailand)

• Approximately 1 million Chinese visited Thailand in 2007, a decrease of 2.9% from 2006.
(Tourism Authority of Thailand)

• There are approximately 3.6 million rice farming families in Thailand totally around 20 million people.
(Bangkok Post, April 23 2008)

• There are approximately 30,000 registered internet cafes in Thailand using 450,000 computers.
(Mahidol University Institute for Child and Family Development)

• More than 13,000 prisoners of war and 200,000 Asian labourers died during the construction of the “Death Railway” linking Thanbyuzayat in Burma with Ban Pong in Thailand.
(Bangkok Post, April 25 2008)

• Since 2003 there have been 1,006 people reported missing in Thailand, 589 being children and teenagers. 80 children have been reported missing in the first three months of 2008.
(Missing Persons Centre)

• Bhumibol dam in Tak province is Thailand’s largest dam. The current level is 2.89 billion cubic metres.
(Bangkok Post, April 25 2008)

• In 2007 there was an estimated16 million computers users in Thailand (26.8% of the population) up from 15.39 million in 2006.
(Thailand National Statistics Office)

• In 2007 there was an estimated 9 million internet users up from 8 million in 2006.
(Thailand National Statistics Office)

• Thailand's household indebtedness rose to an average Bt116,681 (US$3,700) per family last year from Bt68,405 (US$2166) in 2000.
(Thailand National Statistics Office)

• 757,734 Scandinavians visited Thailand in 2007 up from 645,361 in 2006 of which 374,000 were from Sweden.
(Tourism Authority of Thailand)

• 45% of all Swedish investment in Thailand is in Rayong.
(Colliers International Thailand)

• Kan-Yao durian is the most expensive fruit in Thailand and can retail for up to Bt7,000 per kilogramme.

• Approximately 1.35 million tonnes of rice seeds and 2.35 million tonnes of fertilizers will be required in Thailand for rice production in 2008.
(Agricultural Economics Office)

• Despite being the world’s leading producer of rice Thailand ranks at the bottom of the top 10 world rice producers in terms of rice productivity producing 430kg per rai while China produces 1,000kg per rai, Vietnam 778kg, India 658kg, Brazil 648 and Bangladesh 619kg per rai.
(United States Department of Agriculture)

• Udon Thani is Thailand’s second largest city in terms of population but is still 30 times smaller than the Greater Bangkok Metropolitan Area.
(Encyclopedia Britannica)