Population Statistics

[Wallich]

Are any substantiated/official figures available giving the number of Foreigners living in Thailand on a permanent basis?

A nationality breakdown would also be of interest.

Thankyou.

[DoctorG]

The lack of responses would suggest "no". 

 

[does]

It's an interesting question. My guess would be that the number of "farang" (Western expats/retirees) in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and Phuket is far in excess of 10.000 each, with Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket at the top of the list. Again, just guessing. If you include Asian expats and laborers, legal and illegal, the figure should be way in excess of a million.

[1FinickyOne]

I would be interested in seeing a breakdown by nationality as well... 

[MrMo]

No official figures are available from what I know.   For a rough idea from rough numbers take a look at  http://dougsrepublic.com/thailand/foreigners.php   Not exactly authoritative but at least give something.  

 

Farangs married to Thais may be another start point.   I recall our Provincial Governor quoting a very precise number for Buriram at a presentation some 12 years ago.

[The Deerhunter]

I don't know either but I would love to know it too.   Based on what the people I know bring into the country every month or so, it would be noticeable in the Thai treasury and they would be scared to tell us in case it let us know just how important to the economy we are.  It represents a large invisible export and the jobs created by us all and the money we spend on cars, houses would be equivalent to the addition of a prosperous Thai city or three or a million more middle to upper class Thai Bangkokers.    I know there are ratbags among the ex-pats and of course the overstayers, but apart them, we are a very valuable asset to the the exchequer and  we are far from being the cause of all Thailand's woes.  They would miss us if we left.  It would impact on every part of that Thai economy, from sale of vehicles to real estate prices and rental accomodation, let alone the money we spend inside Thailand on power, petrol, food clothes etc every month.  Several cities and provinces would be devastated economically.

Edited September 3, 2016 by The Deerhunter

[gemguy]

Geez...I hope not....Because ...if so then the pencil pushers will use those figures as statistical data and dream up cock eyed reasons to stop any increases of foreigners living in Thailand and or take measure to rid the country of all too many permanent foreigner influences.......lol....you know..."they" being of the "mentality" commonly seen practiced by those in positions of power.

 

Cheers

Edited September 3, 2016 by gemguy

[Kwasaki]

OP Why would you want to know that.?

 

@ gemguy  " Permanent foreigner influences "    what influences. ?

 

[bazza40]

There probably are; however, it's likely no-one will tell you. The Thais won't, because they don't want us to realise how much we are contributing to the economy via bank deposits to qualify for retirement visas. Various nationalities won't, because they don't want us becoming a lobby group or voting bloc.

[bbbbooboo]

Hmmmm..... How many stars are in the sky?

[Deepinthailand]

I will start 

Number 1

[bazza40]

3 hours ago, Deepinthailand said:

I will start 

Number 1

Wallich was first, and I'm #9. Manners please.

[Deepinthailand]

1 hour ago, bazza40 said:

Wallich was first, and I'm #9. Manners please.

Now there's a problem there how do we know who of the posters are actually in thailand full time????

[Scotwight]

11 minutes ago, Deepinthailand said:

Now there's a problem there how do we know who of the posters are actually in thailand full time????

I'm the only one.

[pkspeaker]

i think i saw the # published previously somewhere.. it's about 100,000- that's sort of the number of people living here, not the entire number which includes all short time tourests here at any given time

[Deepinthailand]

If I knew how to have a poll I would ask straight yes or no do you live in Thailand full time ie (365 days a year or your full time home is here if you work away for periods of time).

[chiang mai]

There's lots of data on the internet on this subject some of it almost agrees. The first question to ask is what do you mean by foreigner, do you mean a foreigner of influence such as a western expat who contributes to the economy by means of the 800K rule, or do you mean everyone who is not Thai?

 

There seems to be agreement that there are about 50,000 British expats living in Thailand, there also seems to be agreement that there are over 3.5 million Chinese living here.

 

So, what numbers do you want to see and have you read the various reports on the internet?

 

http://www.dougsrepublic.com/thailand/foreigners.php

http://www.burning-bison.com/expats.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Thailand

[ExpatOilWorker]

Nobody really knows, but somewhere around 400,000 seems like a reasonable number.

 

 Here are some guestimates (http://www.dougsrepublic.com/thailand/foreigners.php) that adds up to:

UK + Germany + USA + France + Australia + Sweden + Holland = 204,000 in Thailand.

The remaining European countries, NZ, Canada and Latin America probably add another 200,000, so best estimate at this time is 400,000.

[ezzra]

Perhaps the reason that there isn't government's  substantiated/official figures

is because, A. what we don't know we don't acknowledge and have to deal with,

B. they will probably be shocked to learn how many are actually living here,

C. by not publishing the real numbers, maybe not to antagonize the Thais who don't like foreigners muscling in on their beloved country.....

[chiang mai]

46 minutes ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Nobody really knows, but somewhere around 400,000 seems like a reasonable number.

 

 Here are some guestimates (http://www.dougsrepublic.com/thailand/foreigners.php) that adds up to:

UK + Germany + USA + France + Australia + Sweden + Holland = 204,000 in Thailand.

The remaining European countries, NZ, Canada and Latin America probably add another 200,000, so best estimate at this time is 400,000.

 

Hmm, seems to ignore the Chinese (3.5 mill.).

[Oxx]

Looking at language, according to the United Nations, based upon the 2013 census, there were native speakers as follows:

 

Language    Value
Burmese    827,713
Chinese    111,866
English    323,779
Hindi    22,938
Japanese    70,667
Malay    2,913
Thai    59,866,190
Vietnamese    8,281

 

So, roughly 320,000 farang here.

 

Source:  http://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode:27

 

 

[GOLDBUGGY]

25 minutes ago, Oxx said:

Looking at language, according to the United Nations, based upon the 2013 census, there were native speakers as follows:

 

Language    Value
Burmese    827,713
Chinese    111,866
English    323,779
Hindi    22,938
Japanese    70,667
Malay    2,913
Thai    59,866,190
Vietnamese    8,281

 

So, roughly 320,000 farang here.

 

Source:  http://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode:27

 

 

I am sorry but I don't see how you can come up with a number value of 320,000 Farangs when you already have more English Speakers then that at 323,779. 

 

Also when you add everyone you have listed up, you end up with a total population of about 61,235,000 People. While Thailand has a total population of about 67,000,000 People. So where do these other 6 Million People fit in here? 

 

To be honest I doubt anyone knows for sure how many people. So at best it is just anyone's guess. 

[Oxx]

13 minutes ago, GOLDBUGGY said:

I am sorry but I don't see how you can come up with a number value of 320,000 Farangs when you already have more English Speakers then that at 323,779. 

 

To be honest I doubt anyone knows for sure how many people. So at best it is just anyone's guess. 

 

Get your eyes checked.  You missed the word "roughly".

 

And yes, of course a Thai government census is "just anyone's guess".

 

 

[rickudon]

To give some idea, how many do 90 day reports at immigration each day? In Udon, i would say about 20. that gives you a figure of 100 a week, 5000 a year. Then some do online as well. And that is people on extensions only. Add on those using multi-entry O's, single entries, tourist visas, agents etc. I would say about 7-10,000. That is just one province. Working expats mainly in central region, and did once see estimate for Bangkok of over 100,000. The total, i expect, is half a million or more for all of Thailand

[Caspersfriend]

More importantly perhaps: What percentage are the "good guys" who deserve to be in and the "bad guys" who deserve to be out?

[AlfonsV]

On 4.9.2016 at 10:00 AM, GOLDBUGGY said:

I am sorry but I don't see how you can come up with a number value of 320,000 Farangs when you already have more English Speakers then that at 323,779. 

 

Also when you add everyone you have listed up, you end up with a total population of about 61,235,000 People. While Thailand has a total population of about 67,000,000 People. So where do these other 6 Million People fit in here? 

 

To be honest I doubt anyone knows for sure how many people. So at best it is just anyone's guess. 

In addition some hundred thousands of expats with another mother tongue are not included to this "calculation"

 

[TacoGuy]

On 03/09/2016 at 10:33 AM, The Deerhunter said:

I don't know either but I would love to know it too.   Based on what the people I know bring into the country every month or so, it would be noticeable in the Thai treasury and they would be scared to tell us in case it let us know just how important to the economy we are.  It represents a large invisible export and the jobs created by us all and the money we spend on cars, houses would be equivalent to the addition of a prosperous Thai city or three or a million more middle to upper class Thai Bangkokers.    I know there are ratbags among the ex-pats and of course the overstayers, but apart them, we are a very valuable asset to the the exchequer and  we are far from being the cause of all Thailand's woes.  They would miss us if we left.  It would impact on every part of that Thai economy, from sale of vehicles to real estate prices and rental accomodation, let alone the money we spend inside Thailand on power, petrol, food clothes etc every month.  Several cities and provinces would be devastated economically.

 

If it's say 350,000 (a figure some of the above posts have pointed toward) it really isn't that large, and you vastly overstate the impact to the Thai economy Johnny Farang makes.   That's not saying it's zero or significant, but it's not as significant or substantial as you suggest.  Judging by comments on BE and visits to places like Lotus, there is no shortage of impoverished farangs, eeking out a modest existence in Thailand. 60 million + people here and rapidly expanding middle class. So to say "several cities and provinces would be devastated economically" is rubbish.  

 

 

 

 

 

[Dumbastheycome]

The  question  is  amusing. It is  certainly possible that there  exists  some sort of  official guesstimate total that could/will be  eventually compiled once there is a functional network link in the  Government computer system. But given the  numerous points  of  entry and the historical handwritten processing and filing combined  with  the  historical issuing of genuine but not quite officially correct visas, extensions , work permits which have  been stashed in  paper files   somewhere it is unlikely  any historic  or  actual true number could  be  made. Even the  official  figure of the Thai population is still inaccurate due to the number who still have no  ID.  Due to the  need for one  to access state services that number has been decreased rapidly over the last decade. It was a complication in the  aftermath of the  great tsunami when than identification by facial recognition of victims left many officially unknown. The  death toll was  only a body  count. Actual  numbers are  unknown but acknowledged  to be significantly  more.

In my  locality I know  of  10 teenage  males  who have  no  (smart)  card,  have never attended  school  for more than 3  years. Who knows  how  many there  are  across  Thailand? Asian  workers here with or  without a  work permit who  give  birth(s).

What  bemuses me is the  almost  auto response  by  many responders  who  make the assumption  the word foreigner implies westerner  despite the definition included in the original post. For those  who feel perpetually  alienated rest assured the  average Asian non Thai suffer more !

 

[chiang mai]

On 05/09/2016 at 8:31 PM, Dumbastheycome said:

The  question  is  amusing. It is  certainly possible that there  exists  some sort of  official guesstimate total that could/will be  eventually compiled once there is a functional network link in the  Government computer system. But given the  numerous points  of  entry and the historical handwritten processing and filing combined  with  the  historical issuing of genuine but not quite officially correct visas, extensions , work permits which have  been stashed in  paper files   somewhere it is unlikely  any historic  or  actual true number could  be  made. Even the  official  figure of the Thai population is still inaccurate due to the number who still have no  ID.  Due to the  need for one  to access state services that number has been decreased rapidly over the last decade. It was a complication in the  aftermath of the  great tsunami when than identification by facial recognition of victims left many officially unknown. The  death toll was  only a body  count. Actual  numbers are  unknown but acknowledged  to be significantly  more.

In my  locality I know  of  10 teenage  males  who have  no  (smart)  card,  have never attended  school  for more than 3  years. Who knows  how  many there  are  across  Thailand? Asian  workers here with or  without a  work permit who  give  birth(s).

What  bemuses me is the  almost  auto response  by  many responders  who  make the assumption  the word foreigner implies westerner  despite the definition included in the original post. For those  who feel perpetually  alienated rest assured the  average Asian non Thai suffer more !

 

"almost  auto response  by  many responders  who  make the assumption  the word foreigner implies westerner  despite the definition included in the original post".

 

Where? There is no definition in the original post!!!

 

 

[sandgroper2]

On 03/09/2016 at 11:55 AM, Kwasaki said:

OP Why would you want to know that.?

 

@ gemguy  " Permanent foreigner influences "    what influences. ?

 

Boredom.