Ethnic groups in Thailand

Thailand is a country of some 70 ethnic groups, including at least 24 groups of ethnolinguistically Tai peoples, mainly the Central, Southern, Northeastern, and Northern Thais; 22 groups of Austroasiatic peoples, with substantial populations of Northern Khmer and Kuy; 11 groups speaking Sino-Tibetan languages ('hill tribes'), with the largest in population being the Karen; 3 groups of Austronesian peoples, i.e., the Malay, the majority ethnic group in the southernmost three provinces, together with the Moken and Urak Lawoi ('sea gypsies'); and both groups of Hmong-Mien. Other ethnic groups include longstanding immigrant communities such as the Chinese, Indians and Thai Portuguese [th].

Historical development

Background

Thailand was mainly inhabited by indigenous

From approximately the 7th until the 13th centuries, the Tai, who may have originated in what is now Guangxi in China and bordering areas of Northwest Vietnam, gradually populated the Mekong, Chao Praya, and Salween river valleys, fuelled by a sophisticated rice production system. Strong Tai societies emerged on the Shan plateau in upper Myanmar, along the Mekong in the north in Xishuangbanna, in the Yuan empire of Lan Na, and in the Middle Mekong in the Lao empire of Lan Xang. These societies subsequently developed into polities, for example Chiang Mai, the capital of Lan Na, and Sukhothai. The most powerful to emerge was Ayutthaya, which superseded Sukhothai in the 16th century. From the 16th to the 18th centuries the Burmese expanded east, occupying Lan Na and parts of the Xishuangbanna and eventually destroying Ayutthaya. Nonetheless, Thonburi, the Tai successor state to Ayutthaya, established suzerainty over the Lanna, Luang Prabang, and Malay states and thereby defeated the Burmese, ensuring the primacy of the Tai ethnic groups in the region.^[1]

The nation-building era

Under the Bangkok-based Chakri dynasty, Siam formally incorporated and integrated large numbers of ethnically Laotian people, themselves formed of various subgroups. Siam brought the remaining Lan Xang city-states of Vientiane (destroyed in 1827) and Champasak under direct control in the 19th century. What remained of Lan Na became a vassal until 1896, when it was formally annexed, incorporating large numbers of Kham muang speakers, together with the various ethnic groups sometimes called 'hill tribes', such as the Karen.^[1]

In the

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,^[9] 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,^[10] with the larger, ethnoregional ethnic communities, including the Central Thai, being omitted; it, therefore, covers only 9.7% of the population.^[10] 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^[11] at the time of completion of the Mahidol University Ethnolinguistic Maps of Thailand data (1997), which provides population numbers for most ethnolinguistic minorities.^[12]

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.^[12] 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^[13] (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)^[13]
• 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).^{[9]: 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.^{[citation needed]}

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

• Tais
  – c. 53–56.5 million
  • Central Thai (Siamese) – 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, Southern Siamese) – c. 5.5 million
• Chinese (primarily Teochew ) – 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
• Thai Indians (multiple ancestries) – 450,000
• Kuy – 400,000
• Pakistanis – 250,000
• Hmong – 250,000
• Lao – 222,000
• Phuan – 200,000
• Mon – 414,500
• Lahu – 100,000
• Shan (Thai Yai)– 95,000
• Lue (Thai Lü) – 83,000
• Iranians – 70,000
• 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

List by language group

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^[9]

Five ethnolinguistic families of Thailand recognized by the Royal Thai Government^[9]

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^[9]

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

See also

• Demographics of Thailand
• Languages of Thailand
• Nationality, religion, and language data for the provinces of Thailand

Further reading

• Keyes, Charles F. (2008). Ethnicity and the Nation-States of Thailand and Vietnam. Mekong Press. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
• Laungaramsri, Pinkaew (2003). "Ethnicity and the politics of ethnic classification in Thailand". In Mackerras, Colin (ed.). Ethnicity in Asia. London: RoutledgeCurzon.
• Schliesinger, Joachim (2000). Ethnic Groups of Thailand: Non-Tai-speaking Peoples. White Lotus Press.
• Schliesinger, Joachim (2015). Tai Groups of Thailand Vol 1: Introduction and Overview. BooksMango.
• Schliesinger, Joachim (2015). Tai Groups of Thailand Vol 2: Profile of the Existing Groups. BooksMango.
• Wijeyewardene, Gehan, ed. (1990). Ethnic Groups Across National Boundaries in Mainland Southeast Asia. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

References