Expat Survey Finds 74% Happy With Life in Thailand

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Thaivisa Member Survey 2014 Results

Expat survey shows 74% happy with life in Thailand, 96% of respondents would recommend Thaivisa to a friend

The survey took place between 12-22 Feb 2014 and received 2,534 responses. A big thank you to those who participated.

The results from the 2014 survey have now been collated and the findings of which are summarised below. As stated, 2,534 people participated this time round (thanks again). Your views and opinions are important to us and will contribute in us helping to improve user experience not only on the Thaivisa Forum but also in our newsletter, across social media, on our Property website and various other Thaivisa outlets.

Previous Thaivisa surveys have always provided interesting results and the 2014 survey is no exception.

Some of the main highlights of the survey are:

• 74% of respondents are happy with life in Thailand.
• 55% of respondents have been a Thaivisa member for more than 3 years.
• 90% of respondents are male.
• 81% of respondents indicate that the moderating on Thaivisa is fair.

Status and Location

The largest single group of respondents told us that they are an expat of 5 - 10 years (21.89%), while 19.07% told us they had been an expat in Thailand for between 10-20 years. The results in full are below:

The results of the survey also found that 47.60% of respondents stay in Thailand on a Non-Immigrant Visa, with 19.15% on an Extension of Stay and 10.74% on a Tourist Visa.

From the 19.15% on an Extension of Stay, most (46.57%) are here on a Retirement, followed by 24.15% on Marriage/Family extension.

Geography

Geographically Bangkok is the mainstay for respondents, accounting for over 28.54% of responses. Pattaya/Chonburi and Chiang Mai follow at 16.07% and 12.18% respectively. Phuket accounted for 5.08% of respondents answers, followed by Hua Hin/Cha Am with 4.72%.

Happiness/Emotional State in Thailand

Q7 asked about how happy you are when living or visiting Thailand. It seems that the respondents are a happy bunch with 73.57% stating they were 'Happy' in Thailand. 14.37% even said they were 'Blissful'.

Vehicle Ownership

Most of the respondents to the survey said they or their partner owned either a motorbike, car or both.

Thaivisa

Nearly 55% of respondents have been members of Thaivisa for more than 3 years.

When asked how often do you use Thaivisa, most respondents said they login every day:

Respondents seemed to happy with the overall quality of the Thaivisa forum:

Respondents also showed they were particularly pleased with the news coverage on the Thaivisa Forum:

Forum Moderating

What is often a bone of contention among some members, results from the 2014 survey indicate that people are satisfied with the moderating of the forum.

Would you recommend Thaivisa to your friends?

Full detailed survey results in PDF format for download:

Thaivisa-Member-Survey-2014.pdf

And finally....

Following completion of the 2014 Survey, members were also invited to enter a prize draw to win a 2 night stay at the luxury Westin Grande Sukhumvit Hotel in Bangkok courtesy of Booking.com. We are pleased to announce that the winner of this lucky prize draw is Thaivisa member: Johan78

There were also 3 x 1000Baht mobile phone top ups available. The three winners are as follows:

1. jm49er1

2. cnxkoolpunt9

3. everett kendall

Congratulations to all of the winners, a member of the Thaivisa Admin Team will contact you via email in the next 48hrs with more details on how you can claim your prize.

Major Prize provided by:

Brought to you by:

Topic guidelines

Please only discuss the survey results in this thread; off topic comments will be moved or deleted.

[SneekyPete]

Oops. The grammar police may differ with the following statement: "...The majority of respondents told us that they are an expat of 5 - 10 years (21.89%),"

It would be more accurate to say that, "The largest single group of respondents... etc." A majority would at least be 50% plus one. Ya, ya. Picky, picky. The point raised becomes clear when reading through the whole article, and most easily understood in the accompanying graph.

[impulse]

Oops. The grammar police may differ with the following statement: "...The majority of respondents told us that they are an expat of 5 - 10 years (21.89%),"

It would be more accurate to say that, "The largest single group of respondents... etc." A majority would at least be 50% plus one. Ya, ya. Picky, picky. The point raised becomes clear when reading through the whole article, and most easily understood in the accompanying graph.

The word you're looking for is plurality. But I dare you to use that word here....

Edited February 25, 2014 by impulse

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Oops. The grammar police may differ with the following statement: "...The majority of respondents told us that they are an expat of 5 - 10 years (21.89%),"

It would be more accurate to say that, "The largest single group of respondents... etc." A majority would at least be 50% plus one. Ya, ya. Picky, picky. The point raised becomes clear when reading through the whole article, and most easily understood in the accompanying graph.

Thanks. Agreed. Fixed

[Kerryd]

I am willing to accept any/all of the prizes in the event the winners are unable/unwilling to collect them.........

[kurnell]

I'm very happy....but then I have just come back from the Dubliner. Ask me again tomorrow morning.

[sirchai]

Not really criticising your grammar now. but is it possible that you'd taken -by accident- the wrong username instead of mine as the winner?

Okay, I could be wrong.-

[Andre0720]

''74% of respondents are happy with life in Thailand.''

And 26% would not be happy living anywhere...

[cooked]

I look into TV every day and I never saw this survey. Doubtless my fault?

[David48]

Self fulfilling prophecy wasn't it?

Ask a Barber, 'do I need a haircut' and inevitability the answer will be yes.

I hope I have discussed the Survey in this thread ...

[Morakot]

Self fulfilling prophecy wasn't it?

Ask a Barber, 'do I need a haircut' and inevitability the answer will be yes.

I hope I have discussed the Survey in this thread ...

Marketing research isn't really in-depth life story interviewing.

It's all about the "feel-good factor".

[billd766]

I look into TV every day and I never saw this survey. Doubtless my fault?

I never saw it either.

[mrtoad]

Never saw it either.

[JesseFrank]

I look into TV every day and I never saw this survey. Doubtless my fault?

I never saw it either.

I never saw the winning members.

[Tywais]

One post removed taking a pot shot at moderators.

[10Yen]

Most ThaiVisa members are too old to adapt

[WitawatWatawit]

Only two and a half thousand members participted? That's less than 2% of the claimed membership. So, does that mean 98% of the members don't care? Or maybe many aren't active. Or simply no longer exist as members, but their accounts do? Sorry, but self-congratulation from such a small survey of what is effectively a captive audience doesn't cut it for me. I also never saw the survey, and I've been pretty active for several months, so let's run it again with a bit more fanfare, huh?

[Mooner]

I guess the other 26% are TV members 55.

[khrab]

Only two and a half thousand members participted? That's less than 2% of the claimed membership. So, does that mean 98% of the members don't care? Or maybe many aren't active. Or simply no longer exist as members, but their accounts do? Sorry, but self-congratulation from such a small survey of what is effectively a captive audience doesn't cut it for me. I also never saw the survey, and I've been pretty active for several months, so let's run it again with a bit more fanfare, huh?

Or just dead....

[ChiangraiTony]

Only two and a half thousand members participted? That's less than 2% of the claimed membership. So, does that mean 98% of the members don't care? Or maybe many aren't active. Or simply no longer exist as members, but their accounts do? Sorry, but self-congratulation from such a small survey of what is effectively a captive audience doesn't cut it for me. I also never saw the survey, and I've been pretty active for several months, so let's run it again with a bit more fanfare, huh?

Everyday I see it posted as a line item of the story or topics of the day. It's usually the first or second line item down from the top of the list.

[sirineou]

Never saw it either.

Me too,

[NeverSure]

Lets' run another poll to see how many members actually saw the survey. I didn't.

[Nautilus05]

I didn't see the thing either, and I'm here pretty much every day.

Run it again, but don't make it look like an ad, if that's what you were doing -- our minds are now trained to completely ignore anything that resembles an ad.

[David48]

I look into TV every day and I never saw this survey. Doubtless my fault?

I never saw it either.

I never saw the winning members.

Well, just quietly ... johan78 http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/user/66151-johan78/?tab=posts made 2 posts in the past 12 months ... interestingly both in the 'How to invest 7 million Baht' thread..

Frugal with his posting, smart with his money ... plus a touch of the Midas about him.

A lucky man indeed.

[simon43]

Lets' run another poll to see how many members actually saw the survey. I didn't.

And nor did I - eyesight must be getting bad in my old age...

[sirineou]

I think we need to talk to Suthep, organise some protests, maybe get the EC involved.

[Kerryd]

The Survey was sent out in a link in an email from TV if I recall correctly. I'm presuming that everyone has a current email address in their profile and has checked the "Send me news and information" box in the Notification section of their Profile Settings ? That adds to you the TV mailing list.

If you're not on the mailing list you probably didn't get the Survey email. (May want to check your junk folders too. I noticed that my Hotmail recently dumped huge loads of stuff I normally receive into my Junk Mail folder for some strange reason.)

[Suradit69]

Lets' run another poll to see how many members actually saw the survey. I didn't.

This sort of thing (click on pix below) appeared in daily notifications for what seemed like an eternity. Maybe in the next survey they should ask how many members are visually-challenged.

[Nautilus05]

The Survey was sent out in a link in an email from TV if I recall correctly. I'm presuming that everyone has a current email address in their profile and has checked the "Send me news and information" box in the Notification section of their Profile Settings ? That adds to you the TV mailing list.

If you're not on the mailing list you probably didn't get the Survey email. (May want to check your junk folders too. I noticed that my Hotmail recently dumped huge loads of stuff I normally receive into my Junk Mail folder for some strange reason.)

Ohhh, it was in an e-mail? Well <deleted>, they seem to send like 4 a day. Quit sending so many, and I may actually open an e-mail when you send it.

[marko kok prong]

nice prize,2 nights in Bangkok,dine to the sound of gunfire and explosions,go and see the rally sites,but watch out for m79 grenades,dam_n,which i had won.