Bangkok - A Mega City?

[webfact]

The subline for the Bangkok Forum reads

"Bangkok is the 22nd most populous city in the world with a recorded population of about 6 million"

I challenge it is the current population and ranking for 2008.

Years ago when I arrived in this country Bangkok already had a 6 million population. I arrived in the 80ties.

What are the true population figures?

[mjperry]

The subline for the Bangkok Forum reads

"Bangkok is the 22nd most populous city in the world with a recorded population of about 6 million"

I challenge it is the current population and ranking for 2008.

Years ago when I arrived in this country Bangkok already had a 6 million population. I arrived in the 80ties.

What are the true population figures?

According to wikipedia, so take with a grain of salt: 'Bangkok is the world's 22nd largest city by population with approximately 8,160,522 registered residents (July 2007), but due to large unregistered influxes of migrants from the North East of Thailand and of many nations across Asia, the population of greater Bangkok is estimated at nearly 15 million people.'

Edited April 11, 2009 by mjperry

[webfact]

The subline for the Bangkok Forum reads

"Bangkok is the 22nd most populous city in the world with a recorded population of about 6 million"

I challenge it is the current population and ranking for 2008.

Years ago when I arrived in this country Bangkok already had a 6 million population. I arrived in the 80ties.

What are the true population figures?

According to wikipedia, so take with a grain of salt: 'Bangkok is the world's 22nd largest city by population with approximately 8,160,522 registered residents (July 2007), but due to large unregistered influxes of migrants from the North East of Thailand and of many nations across Asia, the population of greater Bangkok is estimated at nearly 15 million people.'

Thanks but in MHO it must be more than that. Whenever I compare Bangkok 25 years ago with today, the population must have at least doubled.

Your answer indicates BKK's population can only be estimated? Is this true?

[DP25]

Population figures are low because only the people who are registered as their home being Bangkok, which is mainly only people who were born there, are counted in the census figures. Most people are registered in the province they were born in, so they are added to those census figures, even if they've lived and worked in Bangkok for a long time.

[mjperry]

Thanks but in MHO it must be more than that. Whenever I compare Bangkok 25 years ago with today, the population must have at least doubled.

Your answer indicates BKK's population can only be estimated? Is this true?

It makes sense you can only estimate the true population of Bangkok, as witnessed by the mass exoduses at this time of year, most of the people living here are not native residents and so are not officially registered here but in their home provinces, so the number cannot truly be counted.

[hhgz]

"Thanks but in MHO it must be more than that. "

You asked a question, it was answered to the best of the poster's ability, and then you argue that the answer is wrong. If you know what the true figure is, why did you bother asking it in the first place. People are always on the move, and it's impossible to know the exact figure.

[sabaijai]

A rough figure for the entire metropolitan area, which includes adjacent provinces Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan, Pathum Thani, etc is 10 million.

[zakk9]

A rough figure for the entire metropolitan area, which includes adjacent provinces Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan, Pathum Thani, etc is 10 million.

That's a far too low estimate. Samut Prakan alone officially has 1 million, but because of all the migrant workers, it's probably twice that. 15 million for the total metropolitan area is probably more realistic, but some estimates are closer to 20.

[yongli]

A rough figure for the entire metropolitan area, which includes adjacent provinces Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan, Pathum Thani, etc is 10 million.

That's a far too low estimate. Samut Prakan alone officially has 1 million, but because of all the migrant workers, it's probably twice that. 15 million for the total metropolitan area is probably more realistic, but some estimates are closer to 20.

Sorry, IMO this is slightly overstated. Have u been to a few Chinese cities and seen the masses on the street. They make u think BKK is more like a mid size city. Have u seen the highrise forests of Shanghai. You can drive for 50 min to an hour on an expresspressway (no traffic jam) and see nothing but these forests - of houses.

And Sha is close to 20 million. No, I think Bkk possible 10 million if you make a big enough circle but not much more.

Bj, Sha, Chongqing, Wuhan and.... then you know what I mean.

[pampal]

my guestimate is 10-12 million