Are There Slums in Bangkok Thailand?

Of course there are slums in Bangkok Thailand. However, when compared to other cities and countrysides of Thailand, there are less slums in Bangkok Thailand than there are in the countryside. The good news is that while in the past there are many slums in Bangkok Thailand, nowadays there aren't many slums anymore.

Where are the slums in Bangkok Thailand?

There are more slums the further you go away from the city centers. Bangkok is a very mixed city because there are very rich people in Bangkok and there are very poor people. There are rich neighborhoods and there are slums. The sad truth is that rich people in Bangkok may never the slums in Bangkok even if they live just a few blocks away and the people in the slums will never see how the rich people live. While rich people go about their business happily spending money, people living in the slums of Bangkok struggle day by day one day at a time to survive.

In Thai, the word "slum" is written "สลัม" and it means a crowded area full of poor people, immigrants, less fortunate people. However, unlike in developed countries, people including the Thai government seem to learn to accept the fact that there are slums in Bangkok Thailand.

How many slums are there in Bangkok Thailand?

This is the amazing and rare statistics of the number of slums in the Greater Bangkok Area, Thailand. In 1985, a Thai leading newspaper reported on the front page that there were 1,020 slums in Greater Bangkok Thailand but that was only 27% of the total number of houses in the area. This compared to the number of slums in Bangkok Thailand in 1958 which accounted for 43% of all the houses in the area. In the year 2000, the number of slums in Bangkok Thailand had reduced to only about 5.8%. Now the number of slums in the Bangkok area is greatly reduced thanks to cheap housing.

Do only poor people live in the slums?

Not exactly. Poor people are all over Bangkok. However the definition of the word "poor" varies depending on who you talk to in Bangkok. Because things like food are so cheap, if the word poor means having nothing to eat or cannot afford anything to eat then a very small number of people in Bangkok is poor - maybe 10% of the population. However, there are different grades of being poor. While some people are so rich that they could afford to eat out daily, spending the equivalent of $30-$40 a meal, there are also people who cannot afford to spend any more than $1-2 a meal. However, $2 a meal will get you good meals for an average Thai. But, those who could afford to spend $30-$40 a meal would say that those who could only afford $2 a meal are poor even though the national average indicates that they are not. After all rich Thai people love to spend money on food, clothes, fashion, jewelry and much more.