Any Guesses As To Breakdown Of Expat Nationalities?

[henrytuttle]

Anyone have any guesses as to the breakdown of expats living in Thailand? I imagine there are no official figures that would be terribly valuable considering the number of people doing visa runs. I'd imagine that most of them would be considered tourists.

What would be the most common nationality? Top three? Top ten?

Just at a guess, I'd think top three would be British, U.S., German? Who else is there actually living in Thailand?

[Pushit]

Well I moan some times, we all do. But I know some people in Thailand who just moan all freaking day it gets on my nerves. I can tell there is some here also on Thaivisa

Mostly whining Aussies

[angiud]

Some italian expats (here in Koh Phangan around 30/40). I guess some thousand scattered in the whole Thailand. Italian Embassy says 3000 recorded as residents. Usually only 30/40% sign at the embassy like resident. The others are 50% of the year resident or just don't want to loose the health assistance in Italy.

[Chaimai]

Mostly whining Aussies

That is probably a "yellow card" offence ! But at least it opens up the thread for the too many Brits/too many Yanks comments to come out.

[toptuan]

If Thai Visa members would be any indication, you can search for the thread (not long ago) which contained a poll showing the countries of origin for expats in Thailand.

[Jimjim]

I'd say U.S. is not even close to the top 3. British, Germans, Russians, Scandinavians, Aussies, etc. would all outnumber Americans in my opinion. And yes I realize Scandinavia is not a country.

[jumnien]

In Bangkok, Japanese are by far the most foreigners living there. However, number one would have to be the Burmese.

[Old Man River]

In Bangkok, Japanese are by far the most foreigners living there. However, number one would have to be the Burmese.

Finally, you have said something I agree with. The Japanese have the largest amount of foreign investment in Thailand and the Burmese, well, you know.

[Jimjim]

The Burmese numbers are inflated by "migrant workers" and migrant workers are not really considered in the same category as expats.

[Old Man River]

The Burmese numbers are inflated by "migrant workers" and migrant workers are not really considered in the same category as expats.

Good point.

The US does have a lot of people here, but when I ask for a number nobody really knows for sure.

[Jimjim]

It's probably impossible to get an exact number for any nationality as some people don't register with their embassy and there are people leaving and coming every day.

[wintermute]

Japanese are the biggest expat population for sure. They just don't stick out like sore thumbs so you don't notice them but they are everywhere and some have fairly prominent positions in business/industry here.

[ilyushin]

Japanese, Korean, British are certainly the top three. Burmese are considered temp labor not expats.

The Labor Depart. issues a breakdown yearly.

[girlx]

it definitely seems like there are more british here than any others

[bkkjames]

In Bangkok, Japanese are by far the most foreigners living there. However, number one would have to be the Burmese.

Finally, you have said something I agree with. The Japanese have the largest amount of foreign investment in Thailand and the Burmese, well, you know.

I agee, for once Sunripe has gotten something correct, wonder how long it will be until we will have to experience this again?

[jackspratt]

Well I moan some times, we all do. But I know some people in Thailand who just moan all freaking day it gets on my nerves. I can tell there is some here also on Thaivisa

Mostly whining Aussies

If the top three were really British, American and German, we Aussies have got plenty to whine about

[henrytuttle]

If Thai Visa members would be any indication, you can search for the thread (not long ago) which contained a poll showing the countries of origin for expats in Thailand.

Thanks for the advice. I looked up the poll. But I don't think the results are a very good true indication. Language would play a big part. At a guess, Germans, Japanese, and Koreans would be underrepresented just because this forum is conducted in English. In addition, the Japanese were not even an option in that poll. Here are the results:

U.K. [ 79 ] [29.48%] Australia [ 36 ] [13.43%] Germany [ 6 ] [2.24%] Holland [ 5 ] [1.87%] French [ 4 ] [1.49%] Western European - Other [ 19 ] [7.09%] Chinese [ 0 ] [0.00%] Korean [ 0 ] [0.00%] Asian - Other [ 8 ] [2.99%] American (USA) [ 75 ] [27.99%] Canadian [ 11 ] [4.10%] Central or South America [ 1 ] [0.37%] Eastern European (Soviet Bloc, West of Russia) [ 1 ] [0.37%] Russian [ 2 ] [0.75%] Central European (Soviet Bloc, East and South of Russia [ 2 ] [0.75%] Pacific Islands [ 1 ] [0.37%] Other (please add posts to identify your national roots) [ 18 ] [6.72%] India [ 0 ] [0.00%]

[henrytuttle]

I'd guess that Asian nationalities would be harder to guess at anyway right?

If I walk into a shopping mall and see a group of Aussies, I'm going to guess right away that they aren't Thai and probably know where they're from. Same with Germans, British, or Scandinavians, etc. If there are Koreans, Japanese, or Philippinos, I might not recognize right away that they're not Thai.

I'm half Korean myself and am not too bad at recognizing facial characteristics of asian nationalities. But, if you look at a tanned Korean or Japanese guy who is not speaking and not wearing something distinctively from their country, it can be difficult.

So, does the consensus seem to be that British, Aussies, and Germans are the top three Western nationalities and that the Japanese are the highest number in general? Do the Germans really outnumber the Americans? According to that poll they didn't, but as I mentioned, that poll is skewed because of the English speaking bias of the forum.

Of course, my own perceptions may be biased because I'm more likely to speak with the English speaking expats, but are there a large number of other western non-English speaking Europeans besides Scandinavians? (meaning are there a lot of French, Italians, Spanish, etc.)?

[henrytuttle]

In reading some of the other threads regarding this topic, I've noticed a lot of resentment from smaller countries in not being specifically mentioned.

But, right or wrong, I think many of us would group Swiss and Austrians in with the Germans. And possibly New Zealanders in with the Australians. Canadians with "Americans". Possibly Irish in with the British. Maybe if we were to list "Germanic countries." and "Oceana" and "North America" and "UK and Ireland" people would be less offended?

Problem is, when you've got a shared language and similar culture and a significant size difference, it's hard to justify taking up more options for individual countries. There are 186 official countries of the United Nations. 60% of the population of the world lives in the top 10 countries (none of those are in Europe - except Russia which is mostly in Asia).

Would be better to group countries by similar language and culture such as the examples I've mentioned, or better to group all the smaller countries as "other?" Then if the cutoff were set at 10M or less, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, New Zealand, Ireland and a number of others would all be grouped under "other."

Seems to me, grouping is the lesser of two evils.