Population and Demographic Changes
The population of Thailand is about 63 million (2002) and is currently growing at a rate 0.9% per year. More than 20 million or 1/3 of the total population lives in the urban; with some 7 million Thais residing in Bangkok, which by far, is the largest city in the kingdom. Most of the other towns in the country have populations below 100,000. Population growth rate has dropped from 3.5% in 1960 to 0.9% in 2000 and is projected to decrease to 0.3% in 2020 (Fig.1).
Fig.1
Thai population growth
Source:
Bureau of Policy and Strategy, MOPH
As to the family structure and relationships, the trend indicates the change from extended families to nucleus or single family, thus a dropped from 5.6 family size in 1960 to 4.1 in 2000, and is expected to decrease to only 3.5 in 2010.
Fig.2
Estimates of average family size in Thailand
Source: Bureau of Policy and Strategy,
MOPH
