People
The population of Thailand is 54.6 million, the growth rate 1.4%, infant mortality 24 in 1,000 life births, and literacy 88.8%. With 54.6 million citizens, Thailand is less populous than Vietnam (68 million) and the Philippines (62.8 million) and much less populous than Indonesia (182.5 million) but larger than any of its immediate neighbors, Burma (42.5 million), Malaysia (18.3 million), Cambodia (8.2 million) and Laos (4.2 million) [Source: Asiaweek, edition of August 16, 1991].
The population growth rate is among the lowest in the region. Thailand’s 1.4% is the same as in China and lower than in Laos (2.9%), the Philippines (2.3%), Malaysia (2.3%), Vietnam (2.2%), Cambodia (2.2%), Burma (2.1%) and Indonesia (1.8%). The infant mortality rate is lower than in all the above cited countries. Of those countries, only Vietnam has a higher literacy rate (94%).
There are no ethnical conflicts worth mentioning in Thailand. The only low-key internal conflict, in the southernmost provinces of the kingdom, is based on a different religion and not ethnically caused. The southernmost provinces are predominantly Muslim, and the population there has Malay traits and many speak a Malayan dialect aside from Thai. Although the relationship between these southernmost provinces and Bangkok is sometimes not exactly harmonious, there are no serious secessionist or separatist tendencies.
The absence of ethnically based conflicts leads observers to assume that the Thailand is ethnically more coherent than is actually the case. While there is indeed no single large ethnical minority (as for example the Kurds in Iraq, Iran and Turkey), there is a very large number of small ethnic groups with societies less civilized than the mainstream Thai society. Most of these tribal societies are found in the northern part of the country.
But even the mainstream Thai society is far less coherent than, for example, the Japanese society. Originally, the Thais lived in what is today Yunnan Province in southern China, and indeed, the Thai language is similar to and tonal like the Chinese (see chapter Language for details). Only in the first centuries of the second millennium A.D. did Thais in substantial numbers migrate to what is today Thai territory. Thais mixed with a number of peoples already inhabiting the region. Furthermore, substantial relocations of large numbers of people occurred whenever a regional power gained political and military predominance.
Thailand, or rather Siam, also has a long tradition of granting political asylum to groups from neighboring countries who fled their homes because of religious or ethnically motivated persecution. Vietnamese Christians, Mon people from Burma and political dissidents from Cambodia have sought and received shelter in Thailand not just after the Vietnam War but already hundreds of years ago. And last not least, a large number of Chinese has migrated to Thailand from times when the Thais themselves only gained the territory of what today by and large is Thailand. The Chinese, though, rather came for commercial than religious or political reasons. The son of a Chinese father and a Thai mother, Taksin, even was king of Thailand from 1767 to 1782.
Large sections of northern Thailand have been under Burmese rule for many centuries, and this not only resulted in a Burmese-influenced architecture but also in an ethnical mix.
Therefore, what gives the Thai citizenry its strong sense of identity is rather of cultural, linguistic, religious and political than ethnical nature. Though the Thai language is spoken quite differently in the South, the North or the Northeast, the written language is the same. A politically unifying influence of a scale hard to underestimate is exerted by the monarchy, for decades personalized by the extremely popular King Bhumiphol Adulyadej.
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