Home to about 70 million people, Thailand is a Southeast Asian nation sharing land borders with Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia and Myanmar (Burma) and a maritime border with Vietnam.

In the last 40 years, the country has made significant strides in social and economic development, moving from a low-income to an upper-middle-income country. However, significant disparities in wealth remain, particularly between urban and rural populations. Half of the population remains in precarious employment.

Thailand has experienced political turmoil in the last century, with 10 successful and five attempted coups between 1945 and 2014, and 20 constitutions and charters since 1923. However, Thailand’s relative stability compared to its Southeast Asian neighbors has led to it hosting several waves of refugees.

In the 1970s and 1980s, thousands of refugees from Vietnam and Cambodia found sanctuary in eastern Thailand. Since 1984, tens of thousands of refugees from Myanmar have sought sanctuary on Thailand’s western border.

Rising conflict and instability in Myanmar since the February 2021 coup have pushed thousands more to cross the border seeking shelter.

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