Thailand is located approximately in the center of the Indochina peninsular and
surrounded by 4 countries; Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. The size of the country
is 513,115 km is 1.4 times as large as Japan and the second largest among the ASEAN
countries following Indonesia. The land used for agriculture occupies 45 % of the total
land. This percentage is the highest of the ASEAN countries and implies fertility of the
land. (See following table.)
Table 2.1 - 1 Size and population of ASEAN countries
Country
Size（km2）
Percentage of agricultural land
Population（millions）
Indonesia
1,904,570
17.7
('91)
191.7
Thailand
531,115
44.8
('93)
58.34
Malaysia
329,750
14.9
('92)
18.79
Philippines
300,000
30.8
('92)
64.26
Brunei
5,770
2.3
('91)
0.26
Singapore
620
1.6
('92)
2.82
Japan
376,520
13.8
('92) 124.34
(2) Population
In 1993, the total population of Thailand was 58.34 million, increasing by 1.0 % over
the previous year and the population density was 114 per km2. The population growth in the
last 10 years was lower than that of any other ASEAN countries. The population of the
capital city Bangkok, which is the center of the trade and industry is about 5.6 million,
or about 10 % of the total national population.
