Economic activities
As Bangkok is located in the Chao Phraya sub-basin, this is economically the most important sub-basin, contributing 78.2 percent of the total GDP of the basin. The sub-basins can be divided into three groups based on their economic growth rate:
•Tha Chin, Chao Phraya and Upper Ping, which have higher growth rates than the national average;
•Pasak and Wang, at about the national average; and
• the Lower Ping, Upper Yom, Lower Yom, Upper Nan, Lower
Nan and Sakae Krang sub-basins, all of which have lower
growth rates.
The division of the basin into a prosperous north and south and a poor middle is reflected in the socio-economic conditions (see table 16.2). Formal employment and social services, such as health and education, are similarly concentrated in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region (BMR) and the Upper Ping, and generally have a higher per capita provision. Considerable variation exists in the Gross Provincial Product (GPP) and in the economic growth rates of provinces depending on the relative industrial and agricultural shares of sub-basin economies: high-growth sub basins are industrial while low-growth ones are agricultural. Agriculture accounts for 5 percent of the GDP in the basin, manufacturing for 33 percent, and wholesale and retail trade for 17 percent. The small overall share of the agricultural sector is due to the large influence of the GDP of the Lower Chao Phraya basin where urbanization and industrialization are intense.