Thailand’s latest population census announced to make way for May 7 polls

The bureau announced the population tally as of December 31, 2022, on January 5.

According to the census, Thailand has 66,090,475 nationals, with 65,106,481 holding Thai citizenship and the rest unregistered.

Bangkok is the most populated with 5.394 million residents.

The Election Commission (EC) has set May 7 as a tentative election day on condition that the House of Representatives completes its four-year term on March 22.

Earlier, secretary-general Sawaeng Boonmee said the EC had to wait for the latest population census to be announced before it can draw up constituencies for the election.

The drawing up of constituencies will be based on the number of Thai citizens divided by 400, which works out to about 162,766 people per MP.

Sawaeng said the drawing up of constituencies will be based on the following criteria:

• Provinces with fewer than 162,766 people will have one MP and the entire province will be considered one constituency.

• Provinces with more than 162,766 people will have one MP for every base number of 162,766 residents.

• Once House seats are allocated according to the above two criteria and they do not add up to 400, then provinces with the highest number of people beyond the base number of 162,766 will get one MP for every batch until the 400 number is achieved.

• All constituencies should have an almost equal number of citizens.