Ethnicity
Thailand's population is relatively homogeneous, however, this is changing due to immigration. Ethnic Tais make up the majority of the population with 75 percent of all inhabitants. Thai Chinese make up 14 percent with the remaining 11 percent made up of various other groups.
The language of the central Thai population is the educational language and administrative language. Several other small Tai groups include the Shan, Lue, and Phutai.
Malay and Yawi-speaking Muslim's language of the south comprise another significant minority group (2.3%). Other groups include the Khmer; the Mon, who are substantially assimilated with the Thai; and the Vietnamese. Smaller mountain-dwelling tribes, such as the Hmong and Mein, as well as the Karen, number about 788,024. Some 300,000 Hmong, who ironically have lived this area for more generations than the Thais themselves, are to receive citizenship by 2010.
Thailand is also home to a significant number of registered foreigners from Asia, Europe, and North America, as well as an estimated several hundred thousand illegal immigrants, some of which are natives. Increasing numbers of migrants from Burma, Laos, and Cambodia as well as nations such as Nepal, India, along with those from the West and Japan have pushed the number of non-nationals residing in Thailand to close to 2 million in 2008, up from about 1.3 million in the year 2000. A rising awareness of minorities is slowly changing attitudes in a country where non-nationals, some having resided in what is now Thailand longer than the Thais themselves, are barred from numerous privileges ranging from healthcare, ownership of property, or schooling in their own language.
Read more about this topic: Demographics Of Thailand