The Expat Community.. How Big?

[valerian]

How many expats are living in Thailand?

How many europeans, americans, brits, swedes.. etc etc.

Are there any figures available anywhere? Estimates?

Best,

Valerian

[chickenslegs]

I'm English - so that's 1

My estimate is there are at least 2 Brits (but I'm willing to be corrected).

[phutoie2]

3 in our town who live here on permanent basis.

One from Cambridge

One from Brighton

One from Blackpool

One of the main topics of conversation "Why are our footy teams rubbish)

[johna]

I'm all alone in my neighbourhood but, I have always wanted to know how much retired expats contribute to the Thai economy.

[Travel2003]

I didnt know there were any communities like that in Thailand.

I guess the nearest one might be in pattaya.

But then again, as discussed before on the Forum, which one of us are actually expats.

Anyhow, I believe the numbers should be available on one of the gowernment sites online, as this should be fairly easy stats.

[billd766]

I'm English - so that's 1

My estimate is there are at least 2 Brits (but I'm willing to be corrected).

I am English as well and I know of one other Englishman and a Scotsman also so that would be 3 English and one Scot which I suppose you could loosly call 4 Brits, however we are from different tribes and may not speak a common language.

Edited June 3, 2008 by billd766

[guava]

I don't know that anyone would have close-to-accurate figures, as a lot of expats aren't registered with anyone as such (technically long stay tourists), many expats spend less than the full year here and may or may not consider themselves as residents in Thailand. Add in illegal Burmese and other immigrants etc.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangkok#Demographics for some figures on Bangkok. You could probably track down the source mentioned.

A bit of Google work might turn up other figures.

[lampard10]

Well the Government figures from the Wikpedia source gives 6,000 in Surin Province alone, which does seem a tad high. I estimated around 4,000. Using my visitors book as a guideline,(around 6,000 names) I have a customer base of 2,500-3,000. OK some only visit two or three times a year, but those figures are based on customers that either live here, or have houses here, and return to the Kingdom at least three times a year, from their jobs in various countries. That is to say, a majority of them have married girls from Surin/Buriram/Sisaket . This figure is also based on people that visit within a 100 km radius, although we do have regular customers from further afield. If you take into consideration ex-pats that use other establishments in the area, have never heard of The Farang Connection, do not like to mix with other ex-pats, or quite simply do not come into town, then we have captured around 25% of the ex-pats custom. On those figures alone, it would be safe to assume that there are over 12,000 ex-pats that have houses in the three provinces. Another thing to consider, is it is widely thought that there is at least one Falang, maybe more, living, having a residence or visiting on a regular basis, almost every village in Thailand. And believe me a good many of these are convinced that they are the only Falang in the area. Take the Sang Kha district of Surin. It has over 200 farangs actually living there, and many more visiting reguarly, yet we have had numerous people come in to our place and say " I live in Sang Kha, only a couple of us out there.

So there you have it. There are many of us out there.

[Prakanong]

You could look at WP's issued - thats how we get the figures in Singapore (plus dependent pass of course) - nah forget I said that as there are probably a tiny minority on WP's

You could add retirement visa's to that as well - by nationality

Then you have those living there permanently or semi-permanently on Non-Imm "O" and Tourist Visa's

Teachers licenses - can you have one of these without a WP?

[valerian]

Lampard,

You're right! There are quite a few farangs living in Sang Kha!

Not at all like in Prasat where I've been the past few years. Only a couple of us out there.

BTW, would you like a menu for your website?

Prakanong,

You could look at WP's issued - thats how we get the figures in Singapore (plus dependent pass of course) - nah forget I said that as there are probably a tiny minority on WP's

You could add retirement visa's to that as well - by nationality

Then you have those living there permanently or semi-permanently on Non-Imm "O" and Tourist Visa's

Good idea! Only questions is... where do I find those figures ?

Best,

Valerian

[distortedlink]

As to trying to give a good estimate to how many Farangs are resident in Thailand, is very difficult.

I don't count visa runners as residents so that lot can be scrubbed out. The actual Farangs that are resident here, that is those on Non Immigrant visas or who have permanent residence are not sociable or community minded, so we intend to have isolated pockets of loner Farangs spread all over the kingdom which makes it almost impossible to access the total Farang population in Thailand.

Britain is now the most expensive, the most dangerous and in the bottom league of the developed world. The native British are leaving the UK in droves, so I guess that most Farangs resident in Thailand are from the UK. Of all the Farangs I meet here, the British seem the least enthusiastic to return back to their home country.

Edited June 3, 2008 by distortedlink

[boiledegg]

Not sure how many English there are in Thailand, but i know for a fact there are only 12 English people living in London and i personally know 4 of them.

[phutoie2]

Of all the Farangs I meet here, the British seem the least enthusiastic to return back to their home country.[/font]

So true, I have to return to UK in September for 2 weeks after a 2 year stay over here, my neigbour goes back this month after 8 years away.

Once settled here there appears to be no reason to return, unless for family reasons maybe. (bereavments etc)

[lampard10]

Lampard,

You're right! There are quite a few farangs living in Sang Kha!

Not at all like in Prasat where I've been the past few years. Only a couple of us out there.

Actually there are around the same number of Farangs that live in A.Prasat as in A. Sang Kha, maybe more. See what I mean about not knowing your neighbours. Anyway it's about time you paid us another visit.

[valerian]

Lampard,

You're right! There are quite a few farangs living in Sang Kha!

Not at all like in Prasat where I've been the past few years. Only a couple of us out there.

Actually there are around the same number of Farangs that live in A.Prasat as in A. Sang Kha, maybe more. See what I mean about not knowing your neighbours. Anyway it's about time you paid us another visit.

I'd actually guess there are more of them in Prasat than in Sang Kha.

See you in a few days.

Best,

Valerian

[Travel2003]

As to trying to give a good estimate to how many Farangs are resident in Thailand, is very difficult.

I don't count visa runners as residents so that lot can be scrubbed out.

Really?

I bet we all now some westerners that have been here for 5-15 years, doing the visa runs.

Technically not expats. But still.

Wonder how many they actually count.