Country Analysis – Thailand
Thailand is located in the in the southern part of the continent Asia, and it is the second largest country on the Southeast Asian mainland, which holds about 70 million people. The country has access to the gulf of Thailand which connects to the Indian Ocean, but Myanmar limits access to the Andaman Sea. The countries that surround Thailand are Myanmar, Malaysia, Laos, and Cambodia.
Thailand's geography is somewhat simple. The country has mountains up in the northwest which run all the way down to the peninsula. The native people rely on the flat lowland basin in order to grow rice or other crops for trade which is 90% of the trade comes out of Bangkok. Thailand is also large producers of coal, gold, lead, tin, zinc, and stone. This basin is one of the world's most fertile agricultural areas. It has made it a target for foreign invasion. Thailand's heart and their access to the South China Sea it was they struggle to keep protected. What protects them from invasion by the north is their mountainous region and the Khorat Plateau. Surprisingly, Thailand's biggest threats come from Myanmar through the mountain ranges or all the way down into Cambodia.
Thailand had struggles with developing a population at first due to the British and French empires which used Thailand as a divider between the two countries. As well as its borders having challenges, Thailand has its own internal challenges. One of their challenges is their size has limited transportation to fit the needs of the entire population. In order to fix their internal struggles they are trying to connect roads with South East Asian countries to connect across borders for easier transport. The mountain range that lies north makes it hard for the government to control the civilization that is sustained there. Those civilizations are often ignored and as a result they choose to defy the nation's capital, Bangkok.
Although we know that Thailand has struggled with transportation internally, they are top exporters with computers, petroleum, and cars. With these products being in high demand, Thailand faces the large barrier to trade of the high transportation costs. Located in the southern region of Thailand, Alor Selas provides a market for easy access of goods. Along with this market there is another in the northern region in Chang Mai.
According to the CIA World Factbook, in 2005 98.1% of adults in Thailand were literate. Thailand has 2 primary languages which are Thai and English. English is taught from 5th grade and on. Student will attend school for 9 years and have the option to go to college, but Thailand doesn’t have many college within the country. As of 2010, there were 14 million students throughout the country.
Given the problems that have taken place in the northern part of Thailand, the abundance of people is scarce. Because more people are living close to the capital there are more jobs available. The problem that most Thai people face when working is how to get along with the Germans because Germans are used to working in a aggressive environment. Thai people like to work in groups because they feel more comfortable. If they don't feel comfortable in their work environment they will leave the company. The work environment for people has to be good spirit because the Thai work better under common circumstances that provide wealth.
This is what makes their nation so good for investment making them a popular choice for investment by foreign nations. With the amount of jobs that the large city of Bangkok the per capita income is 5,778 dollars as of 2013. According to The Guardian the government shares 20% of the income. In 1992 the country faced an all time low with only 8.46% being shared. Since then, the wealth shared has increased steadily having 10.44% as a high in 2012.
With the population being seventy million, there are multiple ethnic groups, Thais, Chinese, Tabeto, Indo-bermans, German. Because Thailand has been surrounded by British and French colonies, Germans have partially inhabited Thailand. As we have learned, in order to sustain an economy there has to be a large middle class. Thailand's middle class started to appear after WWII, and it began to appear because Thailand's government decided to add basic social and health benefits to the population. Although there are smaller cities spread throughout Thailand, the main middle class in concentrated in Bangkok or other great urban areas.
Overall Thailand is a great country with many advantages because of the geography. They produce many products and can easily transport them to other countries because of the rivers and other bodies of water. Thailand can improve their economy if their got an even bigger middle class because it started to grow late. Thailand is very educated and almost everyone in the country is literate. Being educated helps the country because if someone is educated they have a better chance at being successful in life and not be so poor. Thailand is overall a very well rounded country. The country can improve in some places, but it is still successful.