The title is not complete. Should read something like: "1.5 Million Thais Near Poverty and15 million at poverty."

If 1.5 million is correct that's helluva better than the US. ????

Still.... at least those people have the space program to get excited about! #shameonthegovt

1.5 million approaching poverty and several times that already there 

The article don't mention if it's absolute poverty, i.e. "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information. It depends not only on income but also on access to services", or relative poverty, i.e. "poverty as socially defined and dependent on social context. It is argued that the needs considered fundamental is not an objective measure and could change with the custom of society".

 

There's a (huge) difference between not having shelter for weather and food to eat, and not being able to buy a new iPhone, to say it in hard terms.

Sometimes, living in BKK, it feels as if I know most of those poor. I have my own small NGO to help in my neighbourhood, however, no matter what I do, it will always be too little.
The sad thing is, no matter how dire the situation, it seems that simple Thais never think of fighting back against those at the very head ......
No way things will ever get better like this. 

20 hours ago, darksidedog said:

I suspect the true number of those in dire financial straits, far beyond what "poverty" means is a lot more than 1.5 million.

The government has spent lots of money on military hardware, which would have been much better spent right now on its financially distressed people.

 Not if the Prime minister is -at heart- a Military General

I find 1.5 million people very hard to believe and such a low figure.

fullfact.org (source)

puts the UK at 14.3 million people in poverty for a developed country.

Far more than 1.5m  ... before Covid there were at least that many

living in poverty.  Since Covid - it's mushroomed.

I am noticing a lot more beggars around poorer BTS stations specifically in Samut Prakan. It certainly wasn't like this before covid. 

 

Every farang on pension here should kiss their homecountry feet instead of whining and complaining about councit tax and immigrants. How many thais would love to be in your situation and live in relative luxury. 

They are only NEAR poverty.

Someone ask him how many ALREADY IN poverty!!!!!!!

17 hours ago, uncle_tom said:

I'd wager that 75% of the population of Issan alone are in acute financial difficulty right now. Dependence on the tourism sector to keep families' heads above water was so widespread - so that's fifteen million people for a start..

 

At first, I was going to say that Issan/Esan is not exactly the hub of tourism, so it was not so dependent on it at all - not compared to Pattaya and Phuket etc.

 

But then I thought about the number of bar girls/hostesses that there are in these places, and where the majority of them come from. So yes, Issan/Esan is dependent on the tourism sector as most of these girls are helping to support their families back home.

 

6 minutes ago, sambum said:

 

At first, I was going to say that Issan/Esan is not exactly the hub of tourism, so it was not so dependent on it at all - not compared to Pattaya and Phuket etc.

 

But then I thought about the number of bar girls/hostesses that there are in these places, and where the majority of them come from. So yes, Issan/Esan is dependent on the tourism sector as most of these girls are helping to support their families back home.

 

Almost every bar girl is from Issan, they are effected by the lack of tourist $$$$$$$

so what does that mean? less iPhones and back to working the rice fields?

10 hours ago, gunderhill said:

Yet trying to find someone to do work for you as a full time  job  as a caretaker /gardener with benefits is  near impossible in rural areas even with covid doing the rounds.

Many of those  poor  only want to work a  day or two then have a day or two off. This is the reality of  how  many of the poor choose to  live.

Feast and famine way of life . Do a days work , get paid , blow it on little bit of food and drink and then starve a couple of days before doing it again. People do it all over the world in some form . 

22 hours ago, KhaoYai said:

Far more than 1.5 million. Since very few Thai's pay income tax, it would be interesting to know what the world bank base their figures on.

Reality probably multiple 5 and up...

8 hours ago, 5633572526 said:

Nor will the world bank 

Which is exactly what I was replying to.

21 hours ago, herfiehandbag said:

Probably the figures which the government give them.

Asked the wife about this - there is no requirement to complete an annual tax return for those with an income below the income tax threshold so the Thai government have no idea of their financial situation.

23 hours ago, KhaoYai said:

Far more than 1.5 million. Since very few Thai's pay income tax, it would be interesting to know what the world bank base their figures on.

World bank generally bases these things on a combination of survey data and data provided by the governments in each country. And therefore only gross approximates of the truth. And, often wildly unreliable 

 

8 minutes ago, Fex Bluse said:

World bank generally bases these things on a combination of survey data and data provided by the governments in each country. And therefore only gross approximates of the truth. And, often wildly unreliable 

 

Yes but as I've said in other posts, the Thai governement doesn't have any data.

22 hours ago, ChipButty said:

Got to be more than that in Phuket alone

When there was the bird flu crisis in Thailand ( can’t remember the year?) I was living in Patong . A big stage was put up on Bangla rd  , and free food stalls on each side of the road. Taksin came and gave a good speech to convince the Thais that to eat chickens was not dangerous to their health , and to cook them properly . I sat there having my coffee and was totally shocked at seeing the Thai people who turned up for the food ! You could easily see they were dirt poor, and I’d never seen the like of it. They looked so humble and hungry and I felt so awful for them I was actually crying. I was told they came from the hills and country side around.  Back to the future, I have seen more and more destitute families sleeping on roadsides, babies and kids too. I lost my illusions of Thailand long ago. 

Even the freelancers are struggling to make ends meet

8 hours ago, condobrit001 said:

Surely there is a great opportunity here to retrain these people as rocket scientists or nautical engineers?

C'mon man,

isnt it enough, they gotta pull Somchai off the rice farm to go to Bangkok and be a chemical engineer and vaccine maker? 

On 1/21/2021 at 10:51 AM, darksidedog said:

I suspect the true number of those in dire financial straits, far beyond what "poverty" means is a lot more than 1.5 million.

The government has spent lots of money on military hardware, which would have been much better spent right now on its financially distressed people.

Why should they?the farangs feed the peop!e in their hour of need in pattaya.

On 1/21/2021 at 12:49 PM, KhaoYai said:

Far more than 1.5 million. Since very few Thai's pay income tax, it would be interesting to know what the world bank base their figures on.

8.8% from 70 M = 6.6 M

Seems a little low.

Every Thai earning less than 15-20.000 Baht a month is poor. That means about 50 million Thais. At least.

1.5 million ?   There's probably that much in Bkk alone nevermind the country...... you get up into Isaan it's verging on 4th world up there.........   Has TAT been doing these figures ?   

On 1/21/2021 at 5:49 PM, KhaoYai said:

Far more than 1.5 million. Since very few Thai's pay income tax, it would be interesting to know what the world bank base their figures on.

It certainly would be interesting. If they base it on the Thais that do pay tax you can take the decimal point out of the 1.5 mill.

On 1/21/2021 at 10:44 PM, jonclark said:

Irrespective of how these statistics were arrived at 1.5 more people in poverty, despite government interventions, is a shocking number. I imagine this sadly speaks of the utter devastation covid has brought to the tourist industry and the businesses that support that industry.

What government interventions ? 

22 hours ago, sammieuk1 said:

It will all end in tears when the lid blows off the pressure cooker as it surely will ????

It surely will, I understand thais have a lot of personal debt and when they start losing cars and motorbikes and are still hungry ? ?