COUNTRY  PROFILE   Thailand has a total land area of 514000 sq.km. It has a common boundary with Myanmar in the west, with Laos in the north and in the east, and with Cambodia in south-east. In the south it becomes a peninsula surrounded in the west by the Indian Ocean, in the south by Malaysia and in the east by the Gulf of Thailand.

Administratively Thailand is divided into four regions and 76 provinces. Since 1932 Thailand has been a constitutional monarchy, with houses of representatives and senate. Most Thais are Buddhists (94.3%), followed by Muslim (4%), Christians (0.5%), and other religions (1-2%). Thai is the official language.

Thailand is predominantly a rural nation with 91% (in 2002) of its population living outside Bangkok. The people of Thailand are extremely settled; there is little internal migration and there is very little emigration to other countries. 87% of the population live and die in the province they were born. Immigration has been small, except for a period in the 1920s when relatively large numbers of Chinese entered the country.