Thailand

Population

Population

2022:70 million people

Average growth

Migration

2024: Digital Nomad Visa Launch

On May 28, 2024, the Thai cabinet approved new visa rules designed to stimulate the development of tourism in order to strengthen the country's economy. In particular, a new type of visas for digital nomads, remote workers and freelancers is being introduced - Destination Thailand Visa (DTV).

DTV will reportedly be active for five years. The visa allows you to stay in Thailand for up to 180 days. The visa fee is 10 thousand Thai baht, or approximately $272 at the exchange rate as of May 31, 2024. For the same fee, stay in the country can be extended for another 180 days.

In addition to digital nomads, people who engage in certain activities will be able to use DTV. Among such areas are Thai boxing, cooking, medical care, organization of art and music events, etc. The right to issue DTV is also granted to spouses of recipients and their children under the age of 20.

To qualify for a new visa, applicants must be at least 20 years old. They also need to confirm the presence of financial reserves in the amount of 500 thousand baht (about $13.6 thousand) throughout their stay in Thailand. The DTV visa allows its holders to stay in the country and work remotely for companies or customers located in other states.

The Cabinet of Ministers of Thailand approved other visa changes. In particular, the list of countries for which the visa-free regime is valid has been expanded from 57 to 93: it includes Cambodia, India, Kazakhstan, Laos, etc. The visa upon arrival will be issued to citizens of 31 countries, not 19 as before. International students who receive a bachelor's degree and above in Thailand are allowed not to leave the country after graduation for a year - this will help them find work.^[1]

2021: Net population inflow in 4 years

Son

2018: Average sleep duration 6 hours 57 minutes

Mortality

Number of road deaths

Politics in Thailand

Main article: Politics in Thailand

Economy

GDP

2023: World's twentieth largest PPP GDP

2022

Thailand's share of global PPP GDP to 0.92%

Main article: World Economy

GDP size - $0.52 trillion

2021

GDP size - $0.55 trillion

Cut GDP growth forecast to 2.8%

The Ministry of Finance of Thailand at the end of January 2021 lowered its forecast for GDP growth for 2021 to 2.8%, from 4.5%, which it predicted in October 2020.

Non-financial debt

2022: Aggregate non-financial debt

National debt

2023: State debt - 54% of GDP

2017: State debt - 33% of GDP

Currency: Bath

Main article: Digital baht of Thailand

Inflation

2024: 1.8% in May

Unemployment

2020: Unemployment rate - 1%

Incomes of the population

2023: Minimum wage - $195

Hunger

Tourism

2024: Tourist flow approaching pre-COVID-19 level

In October 2024, the Thai authorities expect the number of foreign tourists to reach 40 million in 2025, exceeding the record set before the COVID-19 pandemic.

2023: Growth of tourist flow from Russia 10 times to 203 thousand people in January

Russia took second place in terms of tourist flow to Thailand in January 2023, the number of tourists visiting the country increased 10 times compared to the same period last year to 203 thousand travelers.

2022: The flow of tourists from Russia to Thailand has grown 14 times to 435 thousand people

The tourist flow from Russia to Thailand in 2022 increased by more than 14 times compared to 2021 - up to 435 thousand people - ATOR.

2021: Development of Cryptotourism

At the end of November 2021, the Tourism Authority of Thailand announced that it was working with the country's regulators and the local cryptocurrency exchange to pave the way for the adoption of digital tokens for travel. According to Governor Yutasak Supasorn, this can help a country dependent on tourism to reimburse part of the income lost due to coronavirus infection in the amount of $80 billion.

In 2022, the country's tourism authority will create a new division that will produce its own crypto coin, create a wallet and a new tourism ecosystem. The Office is already in talks with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Bank of Thailand and the country's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Bitkub. Thailand, popular among vacationers with its tropical islands with clean beaches and stormy nightlife, attracted almost 40 million foreign travelers in 2019, which brought in more than $60 billion in income.

If Thailand wants to restore about 80% of pre-pandemic tourism revenue in 2023, but with half the number of foreign tourists we've seen in 2019, we can achieve that by bringing people like Russell Crow or cryptocurrency holder Tim Cook here. Cryptocurrencies are the future, so we have to make Thailand a cryptopositive society to take in this group of quality tourists, "said Governor Yuthasak Supasorn.

Although Thailand allowed quarantine-free entry to travelers from more than 60 countries, tourism will return to the level that existed before the COVID-19 pandemic, only by 2024. In the first quarter of 2022, the country plans to receive about 1 million wealthy tourists, and before that, the country closed its borders to foreign citizens for more than a year. The country's authorities are betting that 10% of cryptocurrency owners will eventually go to Thailand.^[2]

2019

40 million foreign tourists

How dependent Thailand is on tourism:% of the industry in GDP

2018

Food industry

Alcohol market

2018: Minimum age to purchase alcoholic beverages

Foreign trade

2024: US becomes main export destination

2023: World No. 2 rice exporter

2022

The United States is the largest export destination

Decline in exports to Russia by 40% due to shortages of ships and containers after the imposition of sanctions by the United States and its allies

Imports from Thailand to Russia in the first 10 months of 2022 decreased by 40.31%, amounting to $495 million. The main reason for the reduction in supplies is the lack of ships and containers due to the restrictive measures introduced by Western countries.

No. 2 in the world in terms of rice exports

2021: China's tenth largest trading partner

2019: Computer Device Exports

2017: Trade turnover between Russia and Thailand increased by 26.7% to $2.2 billion

On February 20, 2018, a series of bilateral meetings of Russian and Thai companies took place, at which the parties discussed possible project areas of cooperation and an algorithm for interaction within the framework of the agreements reached.

During the business mission on February 21, 2018, a plenary meeting was held with the participation of Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Alexei Gruzdev, who headed the Russian delegation during the visit. He noted that Thailand is one of Russia's key partners in Southeast Asia.

"We observe positive dynamics of economic indicators of Russian-Thai interaction - in 2017, trade turnover increased by 26.7% compared to 2016 and amounted to $2.2 billion," said Alexey Gruzdev. - There are opportunities for expanding cooperation, there are serious reserves and significant potential. First of all, it is necessary to diversify the structure of trade. It is now, unfortunately, largely traditional: Russia supplies mainly mineral raw materials, Thailand - spare parts for vehicles, rubber, food products and agricultural raw materials. Along with the optimization of mutual trade, we need to move on to the implementation of specific, large, mutually beneficial infrastructure projects. "

Anna Belyaeva, Managing Director for International Development of the Russian Export Center, also spoke at the plenary session with a presentation of the REC. She noted that REC in 2017 provided financial and non-financial support to Russian-Thai projects for a total of $41.8 million.

"Financial support was provided primarily to companies in the metallurgical industry and the helicopter industry, the amount of allocated funds amounted to $40 million," Anna Belyaeva said.

The most popular services in the field of non-financial support were market research, the search for international partners and buyers, consulting (logistics, buyers, etc.), as well as certification.

After the plenary session, a memorandum of intent was signed between the Russian Export Center and Eximbank Thailand. Anna Belyaeva and President of Eximbank Thailand Pisit Serevivattana participated in the signing.

On February 22, 2018, for the participants of the business mission, a visit to the facilities of the Eastern Economic Corridor program was organized. Alexey Gruzdev noted that Russian companies are already showing interest in investment projects with Thai companies under the Eastern Economic Corridor program.

Minerals

2021

Thailand's share in the global production of rare earth minerals - 2.9%

Oil production per day

Power

Energy consumption per capita

and

R&D

2020: R&D spending - $5.2 billion

Agriculture

2019: Low use of pesticides in agriculture

Real estate

2023: Chinese and Russians top list of foreign condo buyers in Thailand

The Chinese and Russians topped Thailand's list of foreign condo buyers in 2023, with sales soaring at tourist destinations such as Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket. Sales rose 38% to 10,703 units in the first nine months of the year.

Consumption

Meat

2023: Fish consumption is higher than meat consumption

Automobile traffic

Thailand is a left-hand country.

Communication

2021: Thailand has a mobile operator with half of the country's subscribers

At the end of November 2021, Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group, controlled by Thailand's richest man Danin Cheravanont and his family, and Norwegian telecom operator Telenor agreed to merge their telecommunications divisions in Thailand - True Corporation and Dtac, respectively. The deal cost $8.6 billion, after its closure, a joint operator with just over half of the country's mobile subscribers will appear in the country. Read more here.

Education

2022: 5,000 Thai students study in the US

52% of all international students in the United States come from only two countries: China (290 thousand students as of 2022) and India (199 thousand)

The third place with a lag of almost 5 times from the second is occupied by South Korea: a little more than 40 thousand residents of this country at that time studied in the United States.

Only 4.8 thousand people left Russia for the United States to study, 14.4 thousand from Nigeria, 5 thousand from Thailand, 5.3 from Venezuela.

2019: Number of years of education by citizens over 25

Health care

2022: Thailand first in Asia to fully legalize marijuana

In January 2022 Thailand , it became the first country in to approve actual Asia decriminalization, marijuana although the authorities left a gray zone around its recreational use. health care Minister Anutin Charnvirakul announced that the Drug Control Committee had approved the removal of cannabis from the list of drugs controlled by the ministry. The updated rules in the document will take effect from the end of May 2022. More. here

2020: Duration of guaranteed paid sick leave 6 months or more

Maternity leave

in

Crime

Prisons

2019: Minimum age of imprisonment for children - 7 years

2021: Number of prisoners - 309,282

2018: Number of prisoners per 100 thousand citizens

Sport

2022: The most popular sport is football

in

Ecology

2021: Among the anti-leaders for clogging the world's oceans with plastic

The United States, which ranks third in the scale of clogging of the world's oceans. Researchers have acknowledged that the US and Britain are taking huge amounts of plastic for burial to other countries and their contribution to clogging the world's oceans is key.]]

Calendar

History

2016: Death of King Rama IX

200 g BC.

Notes