Songkhla Province - Demographics

Demographics

People of the Buddhist faith make up about three-quarters of the population, most of whom are of Thai or Chinese ethnicity. About a quarter of the population are Muslim, many of whom are of mixed Siamese and Malay ancestry. People claiming to be of Malay ethnicity make up a minority among the Muslim populace. The Songkhla Malays are very similar in ethnicity and culture to the Malays of Kelantan, Malaysia. They speak the Patani Malay language, which differs from the Bahasa Malay predominantly by means of actively used vocabulary and also in pronunciation.