thmap
Source: IKAP Foundation
allsmth
Source: IKAP Foundation
Map of Ethnic Groups in Thailand
Map of Ethnic Groups in East Asia
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Highland Ethnic Population in 20 Provinces of Thailand
(Northern Part of the Country Only)

Ethnic Group

Village

Household

Male

Female

Total

Hill Tribes

Karen
Hmong
Mien
Akha
Lahu
Lisu
Lua
H’tin
Khmu
Mlabri

 

1,912
253
178
271
385
155
69
159
38
2

 

87,628
19,287
6,758
11,178
18,057
6,553
4,361
8,496
2,256
63

 

221,379
76,960
22,869
33,704
51,489
19,082
10,990
21,595
5,357
147

 

216,752
76,995
22,702
34,949
51,389
19,217
11,270
21,061
5,216
135

 

438,131
153,955
45,571
68,653
102,876
38,299
22,260
42,657
10,573
282

Total

3,422

164,637

463,573

459,684

923,257

Minority groups

Palong
Tongsu
Tai Lue
Yunnanese
Shan
Khmer
Chinese
Burmese
Mon
Lao
Others

 

7
4
16
55
71
1
8
12
31
2
3

 

459
42
857
3,773
4,059
1
599
285
1,616
18
93

 

1,135
123
1,849
13,181
10,459
-
14,865
623
3,349
53
289

 

1,189
103
1,931
13,144
10,952
1
2,291
614
3,476
51
274

 

2,324
226
3,780
26,325
21,411
1
4,376
1,237
6,825
104
563

Total

210

11,802

33,146

34,026

67,172

Lowland Thai

847

50,257

107,328

105,392

212,720

Total

4,479

226,696

604,047

559,102

1,203,149

Source: Directory of Highland Communities in 20 Provinces of Thailand, 2002. Department of Social Development and Welfare, Ministry of Social Development and Human Security.

   

NATIONAL, ETHNOGREGIONAL, AND ETHNIC COMPOSITION OF THE POPULATION OF THAILAND (63 Million)

CATEGORY

% TOTAL POP.

‘Thai’

 

‘True Thai’ (Thai Tāē)

 

  Domestic speakers of Standard Thai (not including Sino-Thai)

9.0

  Central Thai

27.0

‘Regional Thai’ (Thai Phāk Tāngtāng)

 

  Isan (Northeastern Thai)

27.0

  Khon Müang (Northern Thai)

10.0

  Khon Pak Tai (Southern Thai)

8.0

  Other Tai Speakers

1.0

‘Assimilated Thai’

 

  Sino-Thai (Lūk Cīn); domestic speakers of Standard Thai

6.5

  Domestic speakers of Mon-Khmer languages; bilingual in Standard Thai

2.5

Total

91.0

 

 

‘Ethnic’ (‘Problematic Thai’)

 

Chinese (Cīn)

2.0

Thai-Malay

6.0

Hill Tribes (chāo khao)

1.0

Total

9.0

 

 

‘Not Thai’

 

Refugees (by 2004, total number is probably on the order of 300, 000 mainly Burmese).

NA

Expatriate Workers (In 2004 over 1,000,000 people, mainly Burmese, registered as legal workers.

NA

Illegal Migrants (by 2004, the estimates range from several hundreds of thousands to over 1,000,000 – mainly from Burma).

NA

Source: Charles F. Keyes. “Ethnicity and the Nation-states of Thailand and Vietnam,” Challenging the Limits: Indigenous Peoples of the Mekong Region, Prasit Leepreecha, Don McCaskill and Kwanchewan Buadaeng, eds. Chiang Mai: Mekong Press. P. 25
   

 

 

 


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