Over the past five decades, Thailand has made remarkable progress in economic development, elevating Thailand from a low-income country to a middle-income country. However, this progress came at the expense of the country’s natural resources and environment. There has been a change in the country’s nature of production structure from agriculture to export-led growth industry. Foreign direct investment (FDI) in basic industries such as automobile, electronics component and electricity appliances has been one of the major sources of national income. Per capita income has been increasing due to higher employment rate while number of the poor and population under poverty line has been decreasing within the past seven years. Nonetheless, income disparity still exists.

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