Trend Analysis of Migration Data in Thailand 2019-2023

TREND ANALYSIS OF MIGRATION DATA IN THAILAND 2019-2023 14 SECTION 4: RECENT INFLOWS OF INTERNATIONAL MIGRANTS Myanmar is consistently the top nationality among recent international migrants. The share of Myanmar migrants who migrated to Thailand within the past year increased from 61.4 per cent in 2019 to 86.7 per cent in 2021. Meanwhile, Cambodians accounted for a smaller but significant share of recent international migrants, with their proportion increasing from 6.6 per cent in 2019 to 21.2 per cent in 2020. However, the share of recent Cambodian international migrants in Thailand dropped to 9.0 per cent in 2021 and 5.2 per cent in 2022. Nationality 2019 2021 2022 2023 Myanmar Lao People's Democratic Republic N/A Cambodia 61.4% 15.0% 6.6% 86.7% 9.0% 77.8% 8.1% 5.2% 83.7% 5.2% 8.1% 69.4% 5.6% 21.2% 2020 The number of recent international migrants captured by this report was initially around 32,000 individuals in 2019 and declined to 6,600 in 2021. This was likely due to the travel restriction measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, which limited cross-border movement. International migrant inflows increased after 2021, exceeding pre-COVID-19 levels and reaching nearly 57,000 in 2023. Males tended to migrate internationally more than females, except in 2020, when a larger proportion of females migrated internationally to Thailand than males. Recent inflows of international migrants represented only a small portion of the total migrant flow in the country, as illustrated in Table 6 (an average of 3.6% between 2019 and 2023). In 2020, the proportion of recent international migrants out of the total migrant flow fell to 1.4 per cent and then to 1.0 per cent in 2021. However, by 2023, this proportion increased to 5.9 per cent, the highest proportion in the five-year period. TABLE 6: RECENT INFLOWS OF INTERNATIONAL MIGRANTS OUT OF THE TOTAL MIGRANT FLOW PER YEAR FIGURE 15: EVOLUTION OF THE NUMBER OF RECENT INTERNATIONAL MIGRANTS IN THAILAND (2019-2023) 4.9% 1.4% 1.0% 4.9% 5.9% 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 TABLE 5: RECENT INFLOWS OF INTERNATIONAL MIGRANTS IN THAILAND PER YEAR AND PROPORTION BY SEX 2019 32,032 59.5% 40.5% 2020 14,219 45.5% 54.5% 2021 6,601 54.6% 45.4% 2022 39,290 53.2% 46.8% 2023 56,999 56.8% 43.2% Total number Male Female 0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 60,000 70,000 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Number of recent international migrants TABLE 7: TOP 3 NATIONALITIES OF RECENT INTERNATIONAL MIGRANTS PER YEAR