Language

Official language
Thai (52.6%)

T-index
0.55%

T-Index ranks countries according to their potential for online sales.

Other languages
Lao (23.4%), Chinese (12.3%), Malay (3.6%), Burmese (1.3%), Khmer (1.3%), Kuy (1.1%), other (4.4%).

English
Very low proficiency (EF) – 97 of 111 countries/regions in the world- 21/24 position in Asia.

Conventions

Numbering system
Arabic numbering system and point as decimal separator.

Date format: yyyy-mm-dd / dd-mm-yyyy
Time: 6h system/24h time system
Country code: 0066

Demography

Capital: Bangkok
Currency: Thai baht
Population: 71,60 m
Population density: 140 /km2

Economy

GDP: 505.95 billion USD (2021)
GDP per capita: 7,066.2 USD ‎(2021) ‎
Exports: $243 billion (2020)

Statistics

Internet users: 77.8% penetration, 54.50 million
Unemployment rate: 1.0% (2020)
Urbanisation: 52.16% (2021)
Literacy: 94% (2021)

Economy

Imports
$193 billion (2019). Crude Petroleum ($15B), Integrated Circuits ($9.32B), Gold ($5.07B), Vehicle Parts ($4.95B), and Broadcasting Equipment ($4.6B), importing mostly from China ($51B), Japan ($24.5B), United States ($11.3B), Malaysia ($10.5B), and Singapore ($9.32B).

Financial inclusion factors (over 15 years of  age)
• 81% have an account with a financial institution
• 9.8% have a credit card
• 8.3% have a mobile money account
• 19% make online purchases

Ease of doing business
Easy to conduct business (80.1 out of 100) 5th out of 24 East Asian and Pacific countries, and 21st worldwide out of 190 countries (2022, World Bank).

Global Innovation Index
Ranked 9th out of 17 Central and South-Eastern Asian and Oceanic countries, 43rd out of 132 worldwide.

The Global Innovation Index captures the innovation
ecosystem performance of 132 economies and tracks the most recent global innovation trends.

Exports
$243 billion (2020). Office Machine Parts ($17.2B), Gold ($14.3B), Integrated Circuits ($9.17B), Cars ($8.28B), and Vehicle Parts ($6.54B), exporting mostly to United States ($35.3B), China ($30.2B), Japan ($23.2B), Hong Kong ($11.8B), and Vietnam ($11.2B).

Main local online stores
Lazada, Kaidee and 11street. Other top retail sites include Zalora, Shopee, Central.co.th, Agoda.com, Traveloka, Tarad.com and Ensogo.

Economic freedom
Moderately free (60.6 out of 100) 16th out of 39 countries in Asia Pacific, and 80th worldwide out of 186 countries (2022, Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal).

Media

Media main languages
Thai, English

Information channels
The government and military control nearly all the national terrestrial television networks and operate many of Thailand’s radio networks. Multichannel TV, via cable and satellite, is widely available. The radio market, particularly in Bangkok, is fiercely competitive. There are more than 60 stations in and around the capital. The media are free to criticise government policies and cover instances of corruption and human rights abuses, but journalists tend to exercise self-censorship regarding the military, the monarchy, the judiciary and other sensitive issues. Restrictions on media output accompanied the introduction of martial law and an army coup in May 2014. Print media are largely privately-run, with a handful of Thai-language dailies accounting for most newspaper sales.

The press

Bangkok Post – English-language
The Nation – English-language
Daily News – mass-circulation Thai-language daily
Thairath – mass-circulation Thai-language daily

Television

Thai TV3 – operated by the Mass Communications Organization of Thailand (MCOT), a government agency
TV5 – owned by Royal Thai Army
BBTV Channel 7 – owned by Royal Thai Army
ModerNine (Channel 9) – operated by government agency MCOT
Thai Public Broadcasting Service (TPBS) – public TV, created under 2008 legislation

Radio

Radio Thailand – national network and external service operated by National Broadcasting Services of Thailand (NBT), part of government Public Relations Department
MCOT Radio Network – run by government agency MCOT; operates stations in Bangkok and provincial networks
Army Radio – owned by Royal Thai Army

Internet

MCOT online news – English-language pages

Internet Data

Internet users 77.8% penetration, 54.50 million

Share of web traffic by device
54.95% mobile phones, 42.26% computers (laptops and desktops), 2.78% tablet devices

Median speed of mobile Internet connection 31.91 Mbps

Median speed of fixed Internet connection
171.37 Mbps

Mobile connection as a percentage of total population: 136.5%

Percentage of mobile connections that are broadband (3G-5G): 100%

Most popular web search engines
Google (98.58%), Bing (0.76%), Yahoo (0.49%), Petal Search (0.05%), Naver (0.05%), DuckDuckgo (0.04%),

Most used social media
Twitter (63.64%), Facebook (30.38%), YouTube (2.52%), Pinterest (1.82%), Vkontakte (1%), Instagram (0.39%)