Thailand

Location

• Southeastern Asia, bordering the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand, southeast of Burma
• controls only land route from Asia to Malaysia and Singapore

Population

Notable Population Centers

City	Population	Note
Bangkok	5,104,476	Capital
Samut Prakan	388,920
Mueang Nonthaburi	254,375
Chon Buri	219,164
Phra Pradaeng	196,129
Bang Khae	193,002
Hat Yai	191,696
Pak Kret	190,272
Sai Mai	188,123
Si Racha	178,916

Size

• 198,455 square miles
• 514,000 square kilometers
• about three times the size of Florida; slightly more than twice the size of Wyoming

History

Two unified Thai kingdoms emerged in the mid-13th century. The Sukhothai Kingdom, located in the south-central plains, gained its independence from the Khmer Empire to the east. By the late 13th century, Sukhothai’s territory extended into present-day Burma and Laos. Sukhothai lasted until the mid-15th century. The Thai Lan Na Kingdom was established in the north with its capital at Chang Mai; the Burmese conquered Lan Na in the 16th century. The Ayutthaya Kingdom (14th-18th centuries) succeeded the Sukhothai and would become known as the Siamese Kingdom. During the Ayutthaya period, the Thai/Siamese peoples consolidated their hold on what is present-day central and north-central Thailand. Following a military defeat at the hands of the Burmese in 1767, the Siamese Kingdom rose to new heights under the military ruler TAKSIN, who defeated the Burmese occupiers and expanded the kingdom’s territory into modern-day northern Thailand (formerly the Lan Na Kingdom), Cambodia, Laos, and the Malay Peninsula. In the mid-1800s, Western pressure led to Siam signing trade treaties that reduced the country’s sovereignty and independence. In the 1890s and 1900s, the British and French forced the kingdom to cede Cambodian, Laotian, and Malay territories that had been under Siamese control. Following a bloodless revolution in 1932 that led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy, Thailand's political history was marked by a series of mostly bloodless coups with power concentrated among military and bureaucratic elites. Periods of civilian rule were unstable. The Cold War era saw a communist insurgency and the rise of strongman leaders. Thailand became a US treaty ally in 1954 after sending troops to Korea and later fighting alongside the US in Vietnam. In the 21st century, Thailand has experienced additional turmoil, including a military coup in 2006 that ousted then Prime Minister THAKSIN Chinnawat and large-scale street protests led by competing political factions in 2008-2010. In 2011, THAKSIN's youngest sister, YINGLAK Chinnawat, led the Puea Thai Party to an electoral win and assumed control of the government. In 2014, after months of major anti-government protests in Bangkok, the Constitutional Court removed YINGLAK from office, and the Army, led by Gen. PRAYUT Chan-ocha, then staged a coup against the caretaker government. The military-affiliated National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) ruled the country under PRAYUT for more than four years, drafting a new constitution that allowed the military to appoint the entire 250-member Senate and required a joint meeting of the House and Senate to select the prime minister -- which effectively gave the military a veto on the selection. King PHUMIPHON Adunyadet passed away in 2016 after 70 years on the throne; his only son, WACHIRALONGKON (aka King RAMA X), formally ascended the throne in 2019. The same year, a long-delayed election allowed PRAYUT to continue his premiership, although the results were disputed and widely viewed as skewed in favor of the party aligned with the military. The country again experienced major anti-government protests in 2020. The reformist Move Forward Party won the most seats in the 2023 election but was unable to form a government, and Srettha THRAVISIN from the Pheu Thai Party replaced PRAYUT as prime minister after forming a coalition of moderate and conservative parties.

Climate

tropical; rainy, warm, cloudy southwest monsoon (mid-May to September); dry, cool northeast monsoon (November to mid-March); southern isthmus always hot and humid

Terrain

central plain; Khorat Plateau in the east; mountains elsewhere

Languages

Thai (official) only 90.7%, Thai and other languages 6.4%, only other languages 2.9% (includes Malay, Burmese); English is a secondary language among the elite (2010 est.)major-language sample(s): สารานุกรมโลก - แหล่งข้อมูลพื้นฐานที่สำคัญ (Thai)The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information.note: data represent population by language(s) spoken at home

Religions

Buddhist 92.5%, Muslim 5.4%, Christian 1.2%, other 0.9% (includes animist, Confucian, Hindu, Jewish, Sikh, and Taoist) (2021 est.)

Government

constitutional monarchy

• Constitution: history: many previous; latest drafted and presented 29 March 2016, approved by referendum 7 August 2016, signed into law by the king on 6 April 2017amendment process: amendments require a majority vote in a joint session of the House and Senate and further require at least one fifth of opposition House members and one third of the Senate vote in favor; a national referendum is additionally required for certain amendments; all amendments require signature by the king
• Political Parties and Leaders: n/a
• Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory
• Legal System: civil law system with common law influences
• Executive Branch: chief of state: King WACHIRALONGKON; also spelled Vajiralongkorn (since 1 December 2016)head of government: Prime Minister ANUTIN Charnvirakul (since 5 Sep 2025)cabinet: Council of Ministers nominated by the prime minister, appointed by the king; a Privy Council advises the kingelection/appointment process: the monarchy is hereditary; prime minister candidate approved by House of Representatives and appointed by the king
• Judicial Branch: highest court(s): Supreme Court of Justice (consists of the court president, 6 vice presidents, 60-70 judges, and organized into 10 divisions); Constitutional Court (consists of the court president and 8 judges); Supreme Administrative Court (number of judges determined by Judicial Commission of the Administrative Courts)judge selection and term of office: Supreme Court judges selected by the Judicial Commission of the Courts of Justice and approved by the monarch; judge term determined by the monarch; Constitutional Court justices - 3 judges drawn from the Supreme Court, 2 judges drawn from the Administrative Court, and 4 judge candidates selected by the Selective Committee for Judges of the Constitutional Court, and confirmed by the Senate; judges appointed by the monarch serve single 9-year terms; Supreme Administrative Court judges selected by the Judicial Commission of the Administrative Courts and appointed by the monarch; judges serve for lifesubordinate courts: courts of first instance and appeals courts within both the judicial and administrative systems; military courts
• Legislative Branch: legislature name: National Assembly (Rathhasapha)legislative structure: bicameral

Demographic Profile

n/a

Economy

• upper middle-income Southeast Asian economy; substantial infrastructure; major electronics, food, and automobile parts exporter; globally used currency; extremely low unemployment, even amid COVID-19; ongoing Thailand 4.0 economic development
• Budget: revenues: $102.84 billion (2023 est.)expenditures: $114.521 billion (2023 est.)note: central government revenues (excluding grants) and expenditures converted to US dollars at average official exchange rate for year indicated
• Credit Rating: n/a
• Natural Resources: tin, rubber, natural gas, tungsten, tantalum, timber, lead, fish, gypsum, lignite, fluorite, arable land
• Industries: tourism, textiles and garments, agricultural processing, beverages, tobacco, cement, light manufacturing such as jewelry and electric appliances, computers and parts, integrated circuits, furniture, plastics, automobiles and automotive parts, agricultural machinery, air conditioning and refrigeration, ceramics, aluminum, chemical, environmental management, glass, granite and marble, leather, machinery and metal work, petrochemical, petroleum refining, pharmaceuticals, printing, pulp and paper, rubber, sugar, rice, fishing, cassava, world's second-largest tungsten producer and third-largest tin producer
• Agricultural Products: sugarcane, rice, cassava, oil palm fruit, maize, rubber, tropical fruits, chicken, mangoes/guavas, fruits (2023)note: top ten agricultural products based on tonnage
• Land Use: agricultural land: 46% (2022 est.)arable land: 33.6% (2022 est.)permanent crops: 10.9% (2022 est.)permanent pasture: 1.6% (2022 est.)forest: 38.8% (2022 est.)other: 15.2% (2022 est.)
• Labor Force by Occupation: n/a
• Imports
• Imported Commodities: crude petroleum, integrated circuits, natural gas, gold, vehicle parts/accessories (2023)note: top five import commodities based on value in dollars
• Import Partners: China 26%, Japan 11%, USA 7%, UAE 6%, Taiwan 5% (2023)note: top five import partners based on percentage share of imports
• Exports
• Exported Commodities: machine parts, integrated circuits, trucks, cars, broadcasting equipment (2023)note: top five export commodities based on value in dollars
• Export Partners: USA 18%, China 13%, Japan 7%, Australia 4%, Singapore 4% (2023)note: top five export partners based on percentage share of exports