A unified Thai kingdom was established in the mid-14th century. Known as Siam until 1939, Thailand is the only Southeast Asian country never to have been taken over by a European power. A bloodless revolution in 1932 led to a constitutional monarchy. In alliance with Japan during World War II, Thailand became a US treaty ally following the conflict.

A military coup in September 2006 ousted then Prime Minister THAKSIN Chinnawat. The interim government held elections in December 2007 that saw the pro-THAKSIN People's Power Party (PPP) emerge at the head of a coalition government. The anti-THAKSIN People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) in May 2008 began street demonstrations against the new government, eventually occupying the prime minister's office in August.

Clashes in October 2008 between PAD protesters blocking parliament and police resulted in the death of at least two people. The PAD occupied Bangkok's international airports briefly, ending their protests in early December 2008 following a court ruling that dissolved the ruling PPP and two other coalition parties for election violations.

The Democrat Party then formed a new coalition government with the support of some of THAKSIN's former political allies, and ABHISIT Wetchachiwa became prime minister.

Since January 2004, thousands have been killed as separatists in Thailand's southern ethnic Malay-Muslim provinces increased the violence associated with their cause.

Source: CIA World Fact Book

Population: 65,905,410 note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2009 est.)

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Age structure: 0-14 years: 20.8% (male 7,009,845/female 6,691,470) 15-64 years: 70.5% (male 22,977,945/female 23,512,538) 65 years and over: 8.7% (male 2,594,387/female 3,119,225) (2009 est.)

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Median age: total: 33.3 years male: 32.4 years female: 34.2 years (2008 est.)

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Population growth rate: 0.615% (2009 est.)

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Birth rate: 13.57 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)

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Death rate: 7.17 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)

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Net migration rate: NA (2009 est.)

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Urbanization: urban population: 33% of total population (2008) rate of urbanization: 1.7% annual rate of change (2005-2010)

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Sex ratio: at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.83 male(s)/female total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

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Infant mortality rate: total: 17.63 deaths/1,000 live births male: 18.9 deaths/1,000 live births female: 16.3 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)

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Life expectancy at birth: total population: 73.1 years male: 70.77 years female: 75.55 years (2009 est.)

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Total fertility rate: 1.65 children born/woman (2009 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 1.4% (2007 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 610,000 (2007 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - deaths: 30,000 (2007 est.)

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Major infectious diseases: degree of risk: high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea vectorborne diseases: dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis, and malaria animal contact disease: rabies water contact disease: leptospirosis note: highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza has been identified in this country; it poses a negligible risk with extremely rare cases possible among US citizens who have close contact with birds (2009)

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Nationality: noun: Thai (singular and plural) adjective: Thai

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Ethnic groups: Thai 75%, Chinese 14%, other 11%

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Religions: Buddhist 94.6%, Muslim 4.6%, Christian 0.7%, other 0.1% (2000 census)

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Languages: Thai, English (secondary language of the elite), ethnic and regional dialects

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Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 92.6% male: 94.9% female: 90.5% (2000 census)

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School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education): total: 14 years male: 13 years female: 14 years (2006)

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Education expenditures: 4.2% of GDP (2005)

With a well-developed infrastructure, a free-enterprise economy, and generally pro-investment policies, Thailand was one of East Asia's best performers from 2002-04, averaging more than 6% annual real GDP growth. However, overall economic growth has fallen sharply - averaging 4.9% from 2005 to 2007 - as persistent political crisis stalled infrastructure mega-projects, eroded investor and consumer confidence, and damaged the country's international image.

Exports were the key economic driver as foreign investment and consumer demand stalled. Export growth from January 2005 to November 2008 averaged 17.5% annually. Business uncertainty escalated, however, following the September 2006 coup when the military-installed government imposed capital controls and considered far-reaching changes to foreign investment rules and other business legislation.

Although controversial capital controls have since been lifted and business rules largely remain unchanged, investor sentiment has not recovered. Moreover, the 2008 global financial crisis further darkened Thailand's economic horizon. Continued political uncertainty will hamper resumption of infrastructure mega-projects.

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GDP (purchasing power parity): $553.4 billion (2008 est.) $533.7 billion (2007) $508.8 billion (2006)

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GDP (official exchange rate): $272.1 billion (2008 est.) GDP - real growth rate: 3.6% (2008 est.)

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GDP - per capita (PPP): $8,500 (2008 est.)

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GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 11.4% industry: 44.5% services: 44.1% (2008 est.)

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Labor force: 37.78 million (2008 est.)

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Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: 42.6% industry: 20.2% services: 37.1% (2005 est.)

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Unemployment rate: 1.2% (2008 est.)

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Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 2.7% highest 10%: 33.4% (2002)

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Distribution of family income - Gini index: 42 (2002)

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Investment (gross fixed): 22.2% of GDP (2008 est.)

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Budget: revenues: $45.3 billion expenditures: $55.76 billion (2008 est.)

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Public debt: 42% of GDP (2008 est.)

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Inflation rate (consumer prices): 5.5% (2008 est.)

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Central bank discount rate: 2% (14 January 2009)

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Commercial bank prime lending rate: 7.25% (31 December 2007)

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Stock of money: $28.62 billion (31 December 2007)

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Stock of quasi money: $216.6 billion (31 December 2007)

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Stock of domestic credit: $241.8 billion (31 December 2007)

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Market value of publicly traded shares: $196 billion (31 December 2007)

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Agriculture - products: rice, cassava (tapioca), rubber, corn, sugarcane, coconuts, soybeans

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Industries: tourism, textiles and garments, agricultural processing, beverages, tobacco, cement, light manufacturing such as jewelry and electric appliances, computers and parts, integrated circuits, furniture, plastics, automobiles and automotive parts; world's second-largest tungsten producer and third-largest tin producer

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Industrial production growth rate: 8% (2008 est.)

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Electricity - production: 148.4 billion kWh (2007 est.)

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Electricity - consumption: 138.6 billion kWh (2007 est.)

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Electricity - exports: 731 million kWh (2007 est.)

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Electricity - imports: 4.488 billion kWh (2007 est.)

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Oil - production: 348,600 bbl/day (2007 est.)

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Oil - consumption: 928,600 bbl/day (2006 est.)

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Oil - exports: 207,400 bbl/day (2005)

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Oil - imports: 832,900 bbl/day (2005)

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Oil - proved reserves: 176 million bbl (1 January 2008 est.)

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Natural gas - production: 25.4 billion cu m (2007 est.)

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Natural gas - consumption: 35.3 billion cu m (2007 est.)

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Natural gas - exports: 0 cu m (2007 est.)

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Natural gas - imports: 9.8 billion cu m (2007 est.)

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Natural gas - proved reserves: 331.2 billion cu m (1 January 2008 est.)

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Current account balance: -$1.049 billion (2008 est.)

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Exports: $178.4 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)

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Exports - commodities: textiles and footwear, fishery products, rice, rubber, jewelry, automobiles, computers and electrical appliances

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Exports - partners: US 12.6%, Japan 11.9%, China 9.7%, Singapore 6.3%, Hong Kong 5.7%, Malaysia 5.1% (2007)

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Imports: $179 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)

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Imports - commodities: capital goods, intermediate goods and raw materials, consumer goods, fuels

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Imports - partners: Japan 20.3%, China 11.6%, US 6.8%, Malaysia 6.2%, UAE 4.9%, Singapore 4.5%, Taiwan 4.1% (2007)

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Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $106.3 billion (31 December 2008 est.)

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Debt - external: $64.8 billion (September 2008 est.)

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Stock of direct foreign investment - at home: $80.83 billion (2007 est.)

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Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad: $7.013 billion (2007 est.)

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Exchange rates: baht per US dollar - 33.37 (2008 est.), 34.52 (2007), 37.882 (2006), 40.22 (2005), 40.222 (2004)