Econo:rnic Develop:rnent and Rural-urban Disparities in Thailand

The development age of Thailand can be said to begin in the early 1960's with the adoption of the first 6-year economic development plan in 1961. A series of 5-year plans has followed. The present 6th plan covers the period from 1987 to 1991. Development efforts have brought many changes to Thai society, both positive and negative. In terms of economic develop-ment Thailand has been able to achieve remarkable growth rates. The National Economic and Social Development Board has estimated that during the past 25 years since 1961, the country's GNP has increased 18 times from 58,900 million baht to 1,407,500 million in 1985. Per capita income is almost 10 times larger, i.e. from 2150 baht to 20,420. Even dis-counting the effect of inflation which can be estimated to reduce the value of the present money to as low as one fifth that in 1961, this achievement still looks im-pressive. The annual growth rates during the 5 plans are estimated at 8, 7.5, 6.2, 7.0 and 4.9 percent respectively [Thai-land, NESDB 1987 a: 16-18]. More important, the economy has been diversi-fied. Formerly rice and rubber were the only important, agricultural export com