POPULATION.
The country's population in 2000 stood at 61.2 million, compared to 55.2 million in 1989, according to the CIA World Factbook. The country's population growth rate from 1988 to 1998 has been estimated at an average of 1.05 percent, according to the Asian Economic Survey . The population is expected to increase by 0.93 percent by 2010. The population is predominantly composed of young people, with 70 percent between the ages of 15 and 64, 24 percent below 15 years old, and only 6 percent older than 64 years.
The majority of the population still resides in rural areas. In 2000, the World Bank reported that approximately 40 percent of the country's population, or 25 million Thais, lived in urban areas and estimates that this will increase to 53 percent by 2010. Bangkok hosts about 12 million Thais.
The majority of the Thai population—75 percent— is of the Thai ethnic group, while 14 percent are Chinese and 11 percent are other ethnic groups. Fully 95 percent of the population is Buddhist, while 3.8 percent are Muslims and the remainder represent a variety of religions.