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Thailand is a South East Asian Country, bordering the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand, southeast of Burma. It is the only country in the South East Asia, which has not been taken over by a European power. A constitutional monarch was established in 1932, after a bloodless revolution.
Thailand is 50th largest country in the world and 28th largest in terms of population. The total land area is 4,863 km. The climate in Thailand is generally tropical. From mid may to September its rainy, warm, cloudy and South West monsoon, followed by dry, cool north east monsoon from November to mid March. The Southern isthmus is always hot and humid.
Bangkok is capital city of Thailand. Besides the capital city, other major cities are, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Nakhon Ratchasima, Ubon Ratchathani, Surat Thani, Hat Yai, Udon Thani and Khon Kaen. |
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| People |
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Population of Thailand can be segregated into the Northeastern Thai, Central Thai, the Northern Thai and the Southern Thai. The Central Thai make upto one third of the total population and they are dominant politically, economically and culturally. The major ethnic group to be found in here is Thai that comprises 75% of the population, 14% are Chinese and others 11%.The most dominant religion is Buddhism with 94.6% of followers especially of Theravada tradition and 4.6% of the population are Muslims , 0.7% follow Christianity and others 0.1%.
The national language is Thai. English is the secondary language of the elite. Thailand also has ethnic and regional dialect.
Culturally Thailand is greatly influenced by india, China and rest of the South East Asia. Thais are hospitable and generous and they strongly believe in social hierarchy. Seniority is dogma in Thai culture.
Thai boxing or Muay Thai as the locals call is the national sport in Thailand. The most famous of all is the Thai cuisine. The staple food of Thailand is rice, particularly the jasmine variety rice, which is part of almost all the meals. Thailand is largest exporter of rice in the world. |
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| Economy |
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Thailand has a well developed infrastructure and is a newly industrialized country. Thailand has achieved the world's highest growth rate in late eighties and early nineties, it has also faced the financial crisis, but have overcome the situation due to strong exports, which has increased about 20% in 2000. Major exports are rice, and footwear, rubber, jewelry, fishery products, automobiles, textiles, computers and electrical appliances.
Thailand is no.1 exporter of rice in the world, exporting about 6.5 million tons of milled rice annually. Other major agriculture products are rice, cassava (tapioca), soybeans, Sugarcane, rubber, corn and coconuts. 49% of the population is into the agricultural sector, a major 37% into the services industry and only 14% in the industrial sector, the unemployment rate is as low as 1.7%. |
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| Government |
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The government of Thailand is a Constitutional monarchy. In 1997, first constitution was drafted by the popularly elected Constitutional Drafting assembly, popularly known as the "People's Constitution". A bicameral legislature consisting of a 500-seat House of Representatives and a 200-seat Senate was formed by the 1997 Constitution.
For the first time in Thai history, both houses were directly elected. Human Rights are outrightly acknowledged, and measures were put into place to ensure the stability of elected governments. General elections were held in 2001, 2005 peacefully. But, in early 2006 elections were held again because of the pressure from the opposition. Taksin Shinawatra was re-elected as the Prime minister. In 2008 January election were held again.
The Chief of the state is the King Phumiphon Adunyadet. Head of the Government is the Prime Minister Samak Sunda elected on 29th Jan 2008. |
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