Rural Thailand: Change and Continuity

Abstract

Few countries have undergone greater structural changes in recent years in the passage from rural underdevelopment to urbanization and industrialization than Thailand. As recently as 1980, the Thai rural population made up 82 per cent of the total population and only 15 per cent lived in cities with populations larger than 50,000. The Bangkok metropolis alone accounted for around 60 per cent of the country’s urban population.2 Rice cultivation was still dominant, and was done with limited mechanization, using traditional technology. Today, however, large cities (especially Bangkok, and many other fast-growing centres in the central region such as Rayong) and rapidly expanding industries dominate much of the country. The economic and demographic transformation of Thailand was particularly apparent from around 1986 until the early 1990s. In addition, despite the sharp dip caused by the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, impressive growth continued until recently.