Bangkok

People

Thailand is one of the most racially homogenous countries in Asia, with more than 80 percent of its population being native Thai. The major minority group is Chinese, comprising ten to 14 percent, while all other ethnic groups combined, including Malays, Indians, Burmese, Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Europeans, account for approximately five percent.

In Bangkok these numbers are even more extreme, with native Thais making up as much as 90 percent of the population. The Chinese are again the largest minority group, at about nine percent, and they are the most integrated of the non-Thai populations. Intermarriage between Chinese and Thai is common and accepted, and the Chinese population has a long and historic presence in Bangkok. Because of restrictive foreign immigration quotas adopted after World War II (1939–45), Bangkok's population is becoming less, not more, diverse.

Bangkok is a rapidly expanding city, with the population growing from approximately five million in the early 1990s to more than ten million at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The population is overwhelmingly young, with as many as half of Bangkok's residents under the age of 20. Females slightly outnumber males.

The main language of Thailand is Thai (or Tai). In Bangkok and the southern regions of the country, a dialect of Thai is spoken that is faster and more abbreviated than other Thai dialects. English is the secondary language of the country's educated and elite, and English is spoken much more commonly in Bangkok than other regions of the country.

Buddhism is considered the country's official religion, and Bangkok is Thailand's Buddhist center, home to many of the country's most famous temples, called wats. Buddhism is also the city's largest religion, with close to 95 percent of all citizens being Buddhist. Four percent of Bangkok's population is Muslim while Christians, Hindus, Confucians, and Sikhs account for less than one percent.