What makes Thailand a third world country?

[marko kok prong]

No one has ever told me what a second world country is . Is there such a thing ? TLoS is not soo bad if first, second or third world which is why we like it here, some things those that stay in their comfort zones or Nanny States would not understand over here are poverty and the gap between the fithy rich BKK Elite. My local pub has Ladyboys , Toms and a mixture of all types , back in the UK they would love this if they accepted it but I think they can't assimilate , been brought up to accept normal . OK ,just back from a passport run to BKK. The place stinks ! Very bad air quality , traffic jams , drunken tourists buses that rattle and a lot more but don't whinge it is part of here.

I too would like to know what is a 2nd world country,would it be somewhere like an eastern european country,anyone know?

[BKKBobby]

I will probably live in Thailand more than Canada. I just like it better. To me it's a better place to live in, but I just can't get over certain things that make Thailand an extremely obvious 3rd world country.

My example is public busses. The complete disregard for the customer and the way the busses don't even stop when people with children or elderly enter and exit unlike in Canada and I assume other developed countries where I see people take their sweet time to do so. Also any lack of facilities on the bus for disabled people makes it very third country.

What would be your example?

Nothing in particular. Everything Ive seen while driving around and having stops and browsing around all the way to the burmese border from bkk and everything all the way to cambodia either going to poipet or the trat border, pranburi and sam roi yot (west gulf of thailand) has a very undeveloped and lagging feel. Ive been to most countries in west and central europe and thats what im comparing to. Gdansk in Poland felt like it was on the same third world level though. Its just a feeling. Edited February 13, 2015 by BKKBobby

[SoiBiker]

No one has ever told me what a second world country is . Is there such a thing ? TLoS is not soo bad if first, second or third world which is why we like it here, some things those that stay in their comfort zones or Nanny States would not understand over here are poverty and the gap between the fithy rich BKK Elite. My local pub has Ladyboys , Toms and a mixture of all types , back in the UK they would love this if they accepted it but I think they can't assimilate , been brought up to accept normal . OK ,just back from a passport run to BKK. The place stinks ! Very bad air quality , traffic jams , drunken tourists buses that rattle and a lot more but don't whinge it is part of here.

I too would like to know what is a 2nd world country,would it be somewhere like an eastern european country,anyone know?

Have you considered reading the thread? It's been explained several times already.

[Greydog]

I have lived in Thailand for 10+ years and never had food poisioning - therefore it is safe to eat anything anywhere in Thailand.

I have never been killed in a traffic accident, therefore it is perfectly safe to drive in Thailand - and people who claim otherwise are thai-bashers who should "go home" to their own countries.

Also, Thailand does not have any homeless people, because I haven't seen any around where I live and work.

Hello..... anyone home?

[BKKBobby]

I have lived in Thailand for 10+ years and never had food poisioning - therefore it is safe to eat anything anywhere in Thailand.

I have never been killed in a traffic accident, therefore it is perfectly safe to drive in Thailand - and people who claim otherwise are thai-bashers who should "go home" to their own countries.

Also, Thailand does not have any homeless people, because I haven't seen any around where I live and work.

Hello..... anyone home?

Sarcasm, right?

[gandalf12]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

I have lived in Thailand for 10+ years and never had food poisioning - therefore it is safe to eat anything anywhere in Thailand.

I have never been killed in a traffic accident, therefore it is perfectly safe to drive in Thailand - and people who claim otherwise are thai-bashers who should "go home" to their own countries.

Also, Thailand does not have any homeless people, because I haven't seen any around where I live and work.

Hello..... anyone home?

Sarcasm, right?

I have lived here 30 years and my experience has been the same. Never had a problem. As was said above, if you dont like living here or it isnt to your taste then go home, no will mind trust me

[BKKBobby]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

I have lived in Thailand for 10+ years and never had food poisioning - therefore it is safe to eat anything anywhere in Thailand.

I have never been killed in a traffic accident, therefore it is perfectly safe to drive in Thailand - and people who claim otherwise are thai-bashers who should "go home" to their own countries.

Also, Thailand does not have any homeless people, because I haven't seen any around where I live and work.

Hello..... anyone home?

Sarcasm, right?

I have lived here 30 years and my experience has been the same. Never had a problem. As was said above, if you dont like living here or it isnt to your taste then go home, no will mind trust me

I like it better than the country i was born and lived in.

Ive had bad food poisoning, with hospital treatment.

And I was hit by the side window of a van on Suk 16 this week.

I thought his post was silly.

I like living here.

I have no problem with thais or Thailand. Their logic and reasoning is amusing, but it doesnt annoy me. Just funny.

The foreigners in BKK are funny.

They would never see a undemocratically elected leader or government acceptable, no matter what, no excuses, in their own country.

In my gym all the gym rats with no education and too much steroids seem to be employed by the 'yellow' movement when you hear them talk.

Amusing.

Thailand is different, according to BKK expats and BKK thais.

I dont care.

Just amusing ;-)

Edited February 14, 2015 by BKKBobby

[smokie36]

Inability to fry an egg properly.

A lack of rizla papers in rural villages.

Poor quality flip flops.

Lack of parks in provincial towns.

Political chaos....no wait that includes the US....lol

Edited February 14, 2015 by smokie36

[nithisa78]

Anyone who calls Thailand a third world country probably hasn't been to a third world country before. Go to Sudan, South Sudan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh , Myanmar etc, these can be regarded as 3rd world countries. Bangkok has a public transport infrastructure which rivals that of the first world. Skytrain is amazing, the highways road system is above average etc.

Thailand is an emerging country, def not 3rd world.

I could add a lot more.

Thailand a 3rd World Country. Not by a long shot.

Yes.It is well understood many posters on TV, they just need to post.They don't know who they are, they know nothing about Thailand, the world, or the nose on their face. They are third world thinkers. Doesn't matter where they might be. Don't know their neighbors, don't know themselves.

[NickJ]

The shear absolute number of thai residents....

[seancbk]

Like the guy before you saying only poor people ride the bus. I have never read anything more stupid in my life to be honest. No, not only poor people ride the bus. University students, office workers, professionals who don't live near a MRT/BTS stop all ride the bus. People sometimes take bus because it's faster than taxi.

Perhaps it would have been made more sense to you if I'd said "Rich people don't use buses"

[eldragon]

A better question would be "What's annoying about TH?" OP, what you're getting at here can basically be described as the functional mayhem of this place. The way buses, taxis, etc. operate. The fact that you can ride a motorcycle on the sidewalk, but not a bike. Street vendors taking too many liberties and helping themselves to every eligible piece of concrete. The list goes on. But the thing is, for every time I've been bothered by one of those things, there's at least two times I've found those same things to be really convenient. I mean, I can't count the number of times I've been walking down the street and said to myself "I need one of those." Or the number of times I've jumped off a bus in the middle of traffic b/c I didn't want to wait for it to get to the bus stop. I can see these things becoming more annoying as I get older. It makes getting around a bit like running an obstacle course. But for now, I deal with and- when possible- appreciate them.

[stonycan]

Ye thinking canada might fit that discription.we have first nations here that live in third world conditions.

[NeverSure]

Ye thinking canada might fit that discription.we have first nations here that live in third world conditions.

Yeah, anytime I want to see a third world country I just cross the US border into Canada, LOL.

What's that about? Canada is a beautiful first world country with some of the nicest people on the planet. Parts of some big cities excepted of course like any other country.

[AZBill]

What doesn't?

[spidermike007]

For me, it is the lack of law enforcement, and concern for traffic safety. If the police here had some skills and competence, it would be a very different place. The road fatalities would drop precipitously. There are many laws on the books, but they seem to be rarely enforced.

[gandalf12]

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Ye thinking canada might fit that discription.we have first nations here that live in third world conditions.

Yeah, anytime I want to see a third world country I just cross the US border into Canada, LOL.

What's that about? Canada is a beautiful first world country with some of the nicest people on the planet. Parts of some big cities excepted of course like any other country.

Canada a beautiful country? Really? Apart from BC the rest is as boring as it gets

[theguyfromanotherforum]

Why is this thread still going?

[nidieunimaitre]

? What makes Thailand a (close to) third world country?

Simple answer.

Thailand's GOVERNMENTS (of all colours).

[VIPinthailand]

Thailand is not a third class country anymore.

they are fatca compliant, they give free loans to buy 1 million bahts cars, people are in debt, people worry all day long....

like in the number 1 country.

soon we will all eat hamburger.

[georgemandm]

Hi we're are you going to use it thailand , not care about people in wheelchairs that is the bad thing about thailand not care about disabled people.

[georgemandm]

Hi we're are you going to use it thailand , not care about people in wheelchairs that is the bad thing about thailand not care about disabled people.

Sorry wrong post to place it here

[lumply]

Anyone who calls Thailand a third world country probably hasn't been to a third world country before. Go to Sudan, South Sudan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh , Myanmar etc, these can be regarded as 3rd world countries. Bangkok has a public transport infrastructure which rivals that of the first world. Skytrain is amazing, the highways road system is above average etc.

Thailand is an emerging country, def not 3rd world.

A third world classification cannot be judged purely on its' infrastructure. However that's what most people actually see! So the judgement is easily made on that basis alone. One should perhaps consider also the mentality of the inhabitants and social fabric of the population. For example I do not consider some Middle East Gulf countries as first world...yet. Lots of fantastically modern buildings, yes, but there is very little that points to really hard work and innovation by the indigenous population. Throw enough money at a problem and get foreigners to carry out the hard graft hardly counts to a truly first world country.

[Stradavarius37]

The quality of the farangs it attracts...

[fitzcaraldo]

In thailand i can see easily the primitive man once i little scratch the varrnish of the elaborate society

[NoshowJones]

I always praise the Thais for their honesty and decency, but I know some posters will not be happy at me for saying this, but IMO, Thailand is still a third world country mainly because of the Thais low mentality.

Thailand could attract many more people as tourists and immigrants, but their lack of common sense is a big drawback, while I agree with the government doing as much as they can to stop illegal workers, they are making it harder for honest tourists and immigrants by making them jump through many hoops, instead of punishing the illegal workers and the Thais who employ them.

The lack of common sense among drivers, motorbike riders, and parents allowing their underage children to ride motorbikes is astounding.

It would be unfair to mention corruption here as I believe every country whose Prime Ministers, MPs etc, or a countries equivant, are mega rich, is full of corruption, that is why they are mega rich in the first place.

So there you have it, the low mentality of the Thai people from top to bottom is what makes Thailand a third world country. I love living here, but rightly or wrongly, I will always call things as I see them.

[sidjameson]

Possum, what 'first world country' makes it easier for tourists than Thailand?

[aronp1]

I can sum this up with one word. NOTHING.

[Stradavarius37]

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I can sum this up with one word. NOTHING.

Nothing makes Thailand a 3rd world country? Not the horrendous road fatalities, the corrupt institutions, the poor infrastructure outside the city centers? You sir, are a true believer. When does the spaceship to Alpha Centari arrive to take you away?

[paddyjenkins]

Thailand is certainly not a third world country, taken in aggregate. It has come a long way in the past several decades, like many countries in Asia. The driving forces of globalisation, tourism and out sourcing have resulted in a huge transfer of wealth from West to East. And waves of technological revolution from the West have allowed these countries to leapfrog the legacy of outdated technology and jump straight into the modern age, at least superficially.

This happened very quickly. It happened so quickly that many aspects of the country and culture were left behind, slowed by their own inertia. So what we see is contradictory. Economically advanced in so many ways, but remedial in so many others.

On the one hand we see many facets of a modern world, like subways and MRTs, power, internet, high class cars, international chains and brands.

On the other hand we still see pockets of deep poverty in some areas, severe corruption within various institutions and really a way of life for many people, we see ineffective rule of law and no accountability for many crimes, and an education system that is shockingly ineffective. I'm sure the are many other examples.

I think Thailand has gone as far as it can on good fortune alone and now either has to truly shape up or stagnate or even slip backwards....MRTs, 60" TVs, 4G, BMWs on every corner notwithstanding.

Edited March 1, 2015 by paddyjenkins