Bangkok is among the world’s fastest-sinking cities, with scientists warning that land subsidence is accelerating the impact of rising sea levels and increasing flood risks for millions of residents. A new study by researchers at the Technical University of Munich found that heavily urbanised coastal areas are experiencing relative sea level rises of around 6mm per year, three times the global average of 2.1mm annually.

Get today's headlines by email

The study identified Bangkok as a major subsidence hotspot, with the Thai capital sinking at an average rate of 8.5mm per year. Researchers said the combination of climate-driven sea level rise and sinking land is leaving densely populated cities increasingly vulnerable to flooding, especially during storms and extreme weather events.

Scientists explained that global sea levels are rising because of melting glaciers and the expansion of warming seawater. However, the study warned that the movement of land itself is worsening the problem in many coastal cities, particularly in Asia and Africa.

The researchers said excessive groundwater extraction, oil drilling, and the sheer weight of expanding cities are major causes of subsidence. As taller buildings and urban infrastructure place greater pressure on the ground, soil beneath cities gradually compresses and sinks.

Countries facing the fastest increases in relative sea levels include Thailand, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Egypt, China, and Indonesia, where ocean levels are rising by seven to 10mm per year. The United States, the Netherlands, and Italy are also experiencing rapid increases of around four to 5mm annually.

Jakarta, Indonesia, was identified as the world’s fastest-sinking city, subsiding at 13.7mm per year, while Tianjin in China is sinking by 13.5mm annually. In some parts of Jakarta, subsidence rates reach 42mm per year, leaving nearly 40 per cent of the city already below sea level.

Lead researcher Dr Julius Oelsmann said land movement could “significantly amplify the effects of climate-driven sea-level rise”. He added: “If we want to understand sea-level rise along coastlines and respond effectively, we must not only observe the ocean but also the land itself.”

Co-author Professor Florian Seitz said government action could help slow subsidence rates. He pointed to Tokyo, where subsidence once exceeded 10cm per year before stricter groundwater controls dramatically reduced the problem.

The Daily Mall reported that researchers said improved groundwater management, tighter regulation of extraction, and targeted aquifer recharge projects could help cities such as Bangkok slow further sinking. Scientists also warned that delays in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions could worsen future sea level rise, with projections suggesting oceans could rise by up to 1.2 metres by 2300 even if Paris climate targets are met.

Picture courtesy of Daily Mail - Densely populated urban coastal regions are experiencing around 6mm of relative sea level increase per year (red regions)

Join the discussion?

Already a member?

Adapted by ASEAN Now Dailymail 21 May 2026

View full article

If the water is in the streets Thailand will start to build a new capital. Indonesia however is already building a new one for years. Bangkok should be moved as soon as possible, as it take decades to built a complete city with modern infrastructure

Yet the land prices keep increasing as more condos and malls are constructed.

2 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

If the water is in the streets Thailand will start to build a new capital. Indonesia however is already building a new one for years. Bangkok should be moved as soon as possible, as it take decades to built a complete city with modern infrastructure

That's right. It will take decades, by which time we might be in a new 'Little Ice Age', and the old, abandoned city will be well above sea levels. 😉

I give it 3 years before bangkok is fully submerged.

1 hour ago, sungod said:

Yet the land prices keep increasing as more condos and malls are constructed.

IF you have the same number of people vying for smaller portions of resources, of course prices will go up. Simple economics. May change when people walking about in knee deep water...

5 minutes ago, Celsius said:

I give it 3 years before bangkok is fully submerged.

So your 7/11 will be swim up? Really cant see you in Kalasin, or Mukdahan.

3 minutes ago, marin said:

So your 7/11 will be swim up? Really cant see you in Kalasin, or Mukdahan.

I'm thinking Sri Racha

1 hour ago, Celsius said:

I give it 3 years before bangkok is fully submerged.

They've been saying that for 50 years. Maybe longer.

5 minutes ago, impulse said:

They've been saying that for 50 years. Maybe longer.

They have been saying 30 years after the great floods of 2011, so 15 years left.

I predict 3

This TUM study isn't actually telling us anything new; it just provides updated satellite data on a problem we've recognized for decades.

I attended a World Bank summit on this exact topic in Bangkok in 2010, where regional centers were explicitly warned that Asian mega-cities faced the highest risk from sea level rise.

Bangkok's situation is especially problematic as the city is built entirely on the soft, highly compressible alluvial clay deposits of the Chao Phraya River basin. Compounding this, the sheer structural load of all the buildings and expanding transport infrastructure physically compacts that soft soil.

Although not as serious a problem as in the past, continued groundwater extraction as to the problem by causing the land above to collapse inward.

The 8.5mm per year sinking rate highlighted in the study is a measurable, physical reality, and the city is becoming more relient on an increasingly stressed network of Chao Phraya levee banks, flood gates, pumping stations to stay dry.

Bangkok Elevation Map

8.5mm per year subsidence equals .5 meters every 60 years. That is how long it will take the dark blue areas on the map above to be underwater (though this map was made 15 years ago, so it will be 45 years to subside .5 meters). Bangkok is already partially surrounded by dykes and watergates and I am sure that those barriers will continue to be built and expanded.

The sea levels are not rising. Stop with this tripe. Bangkok was overbuilt on a swamp.

3 hours ago, Celsius said:

They have been saying 30 years after the great floods of 2011, so 15 years left.

I predict 3

In 3 years Bangkok will be finished? Seems unlikely its only some parts that have flood.