Ethnic groups in Thailand

Ethnolinguistic groups of Thailand in 1974

According to the Royal Thai Government's 2011 Country Report to the UN committee responsible for the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, available from the Department of Rights and Liberties Promotion of the Thai Ministry of Justice,[1] 62 ethnolinguistic communities are officially recognised in Thailand. However, of these, only 56 were listed in the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security's 2015 Master Plan for the Development of Ethnic Groups in Thailand 2015-2017,[2] with the larger, ethnoregional ethnic communities, including the Central Thai, being omitted; it therefore covers only 9.7% of the population.[2] Twenty million Central Thai (together with approximately 650,000 Khorat Thai) made up approximately 20,650,000 (34.1 percent) of the nation's population of 60,544,937[3] at the time of completion of the Mahidol University Ethnolinguistic Maps of Thailand data (1997), which provides population numbers for most ethnolinguistic minorities.[4]

The 2011 Thailand Country Report provides population numbers for mountain peoples ("hill tribes") and ethnic communities in the northeast and is explicit about its reliance on the Mahidol University Ethnolinguistic Maps of Thailand data.[4] Thus, though over 3.288 million people in the northeast alone could not be categorised, the population and percentages of other ethnic communities c. 1997 are known and constitute minimum populations. In descending order, the largest (equal to or greater than 400,000) are:

• 15,080,000 Lao (24.9 percent) consisting of the Thai Lao[5] (14 million) and other smaller Lao-related groups, namely the Thai Loei (400-500,000), Lao Lom (350,000), Lao Wiang/Klang (200,000), Lao Khrang (90,000), Lao Ngaew (30,000), and Lao Ti (10,000)[5]
• six million Khon Muang (9.9 percent, also called Northern Thais)
• 4.5 million Pak Tai (7.5 percent, also called Southern Thais)
• 1.4 million Khmer Leu (2.3 percent, also called Northern Khmer)
• 900,000 Malay (1.5 percent)
• 500,000 Nyaw (0.8 percent)
• 470,000 Phu Thai (0.8 percent)
• 400,000 Kuy/Kuay (also Suay) (0.7 percent)
• 350,000 Karen (0.6 percent).[1]^:7-13

Khmer and Mon-Khmer make up approximately 6 percent, the Malays of southern Thailand make up around 3 percent. Among the groups categorized as hill tribes in the northern provinces, Hmong (Mien), Karen, and other small hill tribes make up over 1 percent.

In official Thai documents the term "hill tribe" (chao khao) began to appear in the 1960s. This term highlights a "hill and valley" dichotomy that is based on an ancient social relationship existing in most of northern and western Thailand, as well as in Sipsongpanna and northern Vietnam. For the most part the Dai/Tai/Thai occupied the more fertile intermontane basins and valleys, while the less powerful groups lived at the less rich higher elevations. This dichotomy was often accompanied by a master/serf relationship.[6] Vestiges of this dichotomy remain today: for example, 30 percent of ethnic minority children in Thailand cannot read by second grade. The corresponding figure for Bangkok is one percent.[7]

• Thai (Siamese) – c. 53–56.5 million
  • Central Thai – c. 25 million
  • Isan (Thai-Lao; Thai Isan; Isan Lao) – c. 18.5–20 million
  • Yuan (Thai Yuan; Lanna) – c. 6–7 million
  • Southern Thai (Thai Pak Tai) – c. 5.5 million
• Chinese (primarily Teochew and Hakka) – c. 6–9 million
  • assimilated Sino-Thai (Luk Chin) – > 4.5 million
  • non-assimilated Chinese – c. 1.4 million
• Malays – 2–4 million
• Khmer – > 1.2 million
• Karen – c. 1 million
• Phu Thai – 470,000
• Kuy – 400,000
• Hmong – 250,070
• Lao – 222,000
• Phuan – 200,000
• Mon – 114,500
• Lahu – 100,000
• Shan (Thai Yai)– 95,000
• Lue (Thai Lü) – 83,000
• Sô – 70,000
• Nyaw – 50,000
• Tai Ya – 50,000
• Lua – 48,000
• Lisu – 40,000
• Yao – 40,000
• Bru – 25,000
• Akha – c. 20,000
• Phai – 20,000
• Vietnamese – 17,662
• Lawa – 17,000
• Saek – 11,000
• Khmu – 10,000
• Khun (Thai Khun) – 6,280
• Palaung (De'ang) – 5,000
• Cham – 4,000
• Urak Lawoi – 3,000
• Moken – c. 2,000
• Nyahkur (Nyah Kur, Chao-bon) – 1,500
• Tai Dam (Black Tai) – 700
• Chong – less than 500
• Pear – less than 500
• Sa'och – less than 500
• Mlabri – less than 400
• Mani (Negrito) – 300
• Lolo (Yi) – unknown

The following table comprises all the ethnolinguistic identities recognised by the Royal Thai Government in the 2011 Country Report to the UN Committee responsible for the International Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, available from the Department of Rights and Liberties Promotion of the Thai Ministry of Justice[1]

Five ethnolinguistic families of Thailand recognized by the Royal Thai Government[1]

The above table has not yet been harmonised with the alphabetical listing of languages below and is more comprehensive.

The following table shows all the ethnic groups of Northeast Thailand, as recognised in the same report.

Ethnic groups of Northeast Thailand by language family[1]

Note that population numbers are for the northeast region only. Languages may have additional speakers outside the northeast.

Incomplete alphabetical listing of groups:

• Tai–Kadai – Siamese (Central Thai, Southern Thai), Laotian (Isan, Phu Thai), Lanna, Lü, Saek, Shan, Tai Dam, Tai Nüa
• Mon–Khmer – Bru, Khmer, Khmu, Kuy, Lawa, Lua, Mani, Mlabri, Mon, Nyahkur (Nyah Kur, Chao-bon), Palaung (De'ang), Phai, So
• Sino-Tibetan – Chin Haw, Akha, Karen, Lahu, Lisu, Lolo (Yi)
• Malayo-Polynesian – Cham, Malay, Moken, Urak Lawoi
• Hmong–Mien – Hmong, Yao
• Thai Chinese
• Thai Indians (kaek)

• Demographics of Thailand

• Charles Keyes (2008). Ethnicity and the Nation-States of Thailand and Vietnam. Challenging the Limits: Indigenous Peoples of the Mekong Region. Mekong Press.

• Ethnologue report for Thailand