About 809,000 people migrated to other provinces, mainly for work, between October and December of last year, according to the National Statistical Office of Thailand.
The Central Plains saw the most migration with about 345,000 people, or 42.6% of all people who migrated during the period, said Piyanuch Wuttison, director of the office. The country’s population is around 69.9 million.
Bangkok last year had the lowest migration rate at 6.8%, or about 55,000 people, she said.
Work was the top reason cited by those who moved to live in another province last year, Ms Piyanuch said. A total of 281,000 people, or about 34.8% of the migrating population, said they had to move away as a requirement of their job or to find a new job somewhere else.
About 167,000 people, or 20.7% of the migrating population, said family reasons made them move to another province, she said.
Some said they had to move because their families had to move in relation to their businesses, which required them to relocate, she said.
Another key reason cited by people who moved to a new province is education. Some left their hometowns upon graduating elsewhere, she said.
Migrating from one province to another in the same region was most common, while moving from overseas to Thailand was the least, she said.
The North and Central Plains saw a higher number of people moving in than moving out, while in Bangkok, the Northeast and the South, the number of people moving in was lower than those moving out, she said.
