How Many Foreigners Living in Thailand

[Mike Lister]

Several people appear to want to know the answer so here's the thread to help them find it.

 

See link below to UN's 2019 Migration Report, Page 12.

 

Bottom line appears to be 4.9 millions foreigners, of which, 112k are professional and skilled workers, 50k are special law workers and 150k are retired/married/living with Thai's.

 

In total, Western expats seem to total about 300k.

 

https://thailand.un.org/sites/default/files/2020-06/Thailand-Migration-Report-2019.pdf

 

Over to you: @spidermike007 @ArnieP @lordgrinz @Raindancer

 

See also the previous thread on the subject:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Will B Good]

The number of Western expats does surprise me.....I would have guessed a much higher figure.

[Mike Lister]

A nonsense post has been removed, so early in the thread too!

 

Don't go there, it wont end well!

[Mike Lister]

7 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

The number of Western expats does surprise me.....I would have guessed a much higher figure.

That seems about right to me, a combination of married plus retired and working expats, I thought the split would be around 50/50.

[Will B Good]

1 minute ago, Mike Lister said:

That seems about right to me, a combination of married plus retired and working expats, I thought the split would be around 50/50.

I guess having lived in Pattaya and Bangkok I get a very distorted view of the numbers,

[Raindancer]

This is based on 2019 pre covid.  It is possible  with the influx of more foreigners from different countries, the number now is far above the 300000.

 

Or maybe you are only considering those who are western.   But nonetheless, the extra influx of people still contribute to the country and its GDP.   Which is what Mike Lister mentioned in one of his posts, regarding GDP.

 

 

But even so, even back in 2019, I would have thought the number to be higher.

 

Quite surprising.

Edited February 23 by Raindancer
Amendment

[Goat]

52 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

4.9 millions foreigners, of which, 112k are professional and skilled workers, 50k are special law workers and 150k are retired/married/living with Thai's.

So 312k, and what about the other 4.6 million?

[Mike Lister]

30 minutes ago, Goat said:

So 312k, and what about the other 4.6 million?

Did you read the report?

[sidjameson]

Lots lots more that live here part of the year and so get counted as tourists not expats. 

[Mike Lister]

Troll posts hidden, if you don't read the report, you don't get to know, it's your choice.

[KhunLA]

THANKS

So 150k ... all of about 0.2027%

Somebody want to tell us again how important we are 

 

With covid, world economy, and tax law enforcement, that number may be lower now or in  immediate future.

Edited February 23 by KhunLA

[Liverpool Lou]

1 hour ago, Mike Lister said:

1 hour ago, Goat said:

So 312k, and what about the other 4.6 million?

Did you read the report?

That's not the done thing with AN posters generally!

[retarius]

Thanks for the report. It explains a lot.

 

So the government won't go bankrupt if we all up sticks and leave? I always find it difficult to estimate the size of crowds.....72,000 retirees is near the capacity at Old Trafford. I just wonder how it is they they all turn up at immigration to tend they stay on the same day as me. 🙂

[spidermike007]

18 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

THANKS

So 150k ... all of about 0.2027%

Somebody want to tell us again how important we are 

 

With covid, world economy, and tax law enforcement, that number may be lower now or in  immediate future.

I know a top attorney in Bangkok who said that the number of expats leaving right around 2019 and into the first year of covid was enormous, well into the tens of thousands. No way to know how many new ones have come, I guess. 

[UWEB]

6 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

I know a top attorney in Bangkok who said that the number of expats leaving right around 2019 and into the first year of covid was enormous, well into the tens of thousands. No way to know how many new ones have come, I guess. 

Lots of Russians are here meanwhile.

[KhunLA]

2 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

I know a top attorney in Bangkok who said that the number of expats leaving right around 2019 and into the first year of covid was enormous, well into the tens of thousands. No way to know how many new ones have come, I guess. 

I would guess less than the numbers that left, considering covid did a number on people's finances / retirement plan.  

 

Tourist came back with a vengeance, good thing for the locals.  Well, those vested anyway, though not so much for me 

[KhunLA]

1 minute ago, UWEB said:

Lots of Russians are here meanwhile.

But are they on retirement & marriage visas ?  Or studying Thai or Muay Thai 

[BE88]

1 hour ago, retarius said:

Thanks for the report. It explains a lot.

 

So the government won't go bankrupt if we all up sticks and leave? I always find it difficult to estimate the size of crowds.....72,000 retirees is near the capacity at Old Trafford. I just wonder how it is they they all turn up at immigration to tend they stay on the same day as me. 🙂

 

However, over 4 billion THB monthly revenue in the LOS is not to be thrown away.

 

[Mike Lister]

2 hours ago, BE88 said:

 

However, over 4 billion THB monthly revenue in the LOS is not to be thrown away.

 

It's all a matter of perspective:

 

Thailand is an export led economy, over 60% of GDP is derived from the export of goods and services and totals over USD 320 bill per year. The 300,000 or so Westerners living in Thailand account for less than USD 10 bill per year.

[still kicking]

7 hours ago, Will B Good said:

The number of Western expats does surprise me.....I would have guessed a much higher figure.

It seems to be the right figure a while back I read just over 300.000 westerners.

[scorecard]

15 hours ago, Mike Lister said:

That seems about right to me, a combination of married plus retired and working expats, I thought the split would be around 50/50.

Included in these numbers is foreigners with Permanent Residence. 

[scorecard]

15 hours ago, Will B Good said:

I guess having lived in Pattaya and Bangkok I get a very distorted view of the numbers,

Good point.

 

I live with Thai family is a gated moo bahn in Chiang Mai, 410 houses, total number of farang is 3. 

[Mike Lister]

13 hours ago, sidjameson said:

Lots lots more that live here part of the year and so get counted as tourists not expats. 

Because technically, that's what they are.

[ABCDBKK]

I would assume much less Western expats here now than in 2019. I see about 1/3 of the number I used to see Pre-Covid. Far more Asians here now from other countries than before. 

[sirineou]

15 hours ago, Raindancer said:

This is based on 2019 pre covid.  It is possible  with the influx of more foreigners from different countries, the number now is far above the 300000.

or with the out flow of others it is below 300,000. 

 

[Mike Lister]

Just now, ABCDBKK said:

I would assume much less Western expats here now than in 2019. I see about 1/3 of the number I used to see Pre-Covid. Far more Asians here now from other countries than before. 

Thailand always was and always will be predominantly an Asian destination, westerners are a very small proportion of the total number of visitors. Your perception of how many westerner's are here will depend almost exclusively on where you live. Those who live in Pattaya will think that the country is swamped with white devils, those who live in Phitsanulok will imagine Thailand has not yet been discovered by the west!

[Mike Lister]

Staying with the theme of 2019, here's a nice graphic that shows visitor arrivals by country of origin, from the NSO. I think it's helpful to understand where the visitors come from percentagewise because that reaffirms Thailand as an Asian destination.

 

https://ittdashboard.nso.go.th/preview2en.php?id_project=124

[Ben Zioner]

16 hours ago, Mike Lister said:

In total, Western expats seem to total about 300k.

OMG, that's an invasion, now I can see why Thais are so worried about us being here.

[mfd101]

So, we are few but loud, arrogant & anxious.  What a shock.

[Freddy42OZ]

17 hours ago, Will B Good said:

The number of Western expats does surprise me.....I would have guessed a much higher figure.

 

 

Based on living in Bangkok. I would have guessed far far lower.