Top 26 Urban Centres

[GWR]

Khun Ton's post on Skyscraper.com puts the whole business of Local Admin and quoted populations in reasonable perspective:-
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=3709594&postcount=1
First please understand that in Thailand the meaning of a “City” is a municipality ( เทศบาล ) NOT Amphoe Mueang ( อำเภอเมือง ) because Amphoe Mueang or City District is a capital district of the province that including cities. Amphoe Mueang has a large and wide area that some area of Amphoe Mueang still has no power or water. And Some cities aren’t Amphoe Mueang like Hat Yai.


NOTES : There are 74 Amphoe Mueang in Thailand NOT 75 or 76 ( Ayutthaya has no Amphoe Mueang - - they called Amphoe Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya instead of Amphoe Mueang and also Bangkok because Bangkok isn’t a province but Bangkok is a special administration district like Pattaya. So in official, Thailand has 75 provinces NOT 76 provinces. )


Please remark that in Thailand, the provinces’ capital cities and provinces’ name are the same like Chiang Mai, it is also a name of a city ( capital city of Chiang Mai Province ) and a name of a province too.

There are 3 kinds of municipality, depend on population and revenues. They are…

1. City Municipality ( Thetsaban Nakhon – เทศบาลนคร ) which population is over 50,000

2. Town Municipality ( Thetsaban Mueang – เทศบาลเมือง ) which population is 10,000 – 50,000

3. Commune Municipality ( Thetsaban Tambon – เทศบาลตำบล ) which population is below 10,000

There are 21 City Municipalities, 85 Town Municipalities and 1,024 Commune Municipalities right now.

Here are 26 reality biggest cities in Thailand. Some cities, the population that you see is much less than that you think like Nakhon Ratchasima ( Khorat ). The city population is 152,857 ( In municipality ). Because the population you think is the population of the City District ( In all Amphoe Mueang ), that is 204,433.


No. --- City --- Province --- Population --- Notes / Municipal Status


1.---Bangkok ( Krung Thep Maha Nakhon )----Bangkok Metropolitan Administration---5,640,258---Bangkok isn’t a province but Bangkok is a special administration district like Pattaya and hasn’t a municipality . So in official, Thailand has 75 provinces NOT 76 provinces.

2.---Nonthaburi---Nonthaburi Province---266,731---City Municipality ( เทศบาลนครนนทบุรี )

3.---Pak Kret---Nonthaburi Province---164,966---City Municipality ( เทศบาลนครปากเกร็ด )

4.---Hat Yai---Song Khla Province---154,852---City Municipality ( เทศบาลนครหาดใหญ่ )

5.---Nakhon Ratchasima---Nakhon Ratchasima Province---152,832---City Municipality ( เทศบาลนครนครราชสีมา )

6.---Chiang Mai---Chiang Mai Province---151,052---City Municipality ( เทศบาลนครเชียงใหม่ )

7.---Udon Thani---Udon Thani Province---144,920---City Municipality ( เทศบาลนครอุดรธานี )

8.---Khon Kaen---Khon Kaen Province---122,039---City Municipality ( เทศบาลนครขอนแก่น )

9.---Surat Thani---Surat Thani Province---121,010---Town Municipality ( will become City Municipality soon. ) ( เทศบาลเมืองสุราษฎร์ธานี )

10.---Nakhon Si Thammarat---Nakhon Si Thammarat Province---104,973---City Municipality ( เทศบาลนครนครศรีธรรมราช )

11.---Nakhon Sawan---Nakhon Sawan Province---93,823---City Municipality ( เทศบาลนครนครสวรรค์ )

12.---Pattaya---Chon Buri Province---92,800---Pattaya City ( A special administration district ) ( เมืองพัทยา )

13.---Ubon Ratchathani---Ubon Ratchathani Province---87,024---City Municipality ( เทศบาลนครอุบลราชธานี )

14.---Nakhon Pathom---Nakhon Pathom Province---84,403---City Municipality ( เทศบาลนครนครปฐม )

15.---Phitsanulok---Phitsanulok Province---80,504---City Municipality ( เทศบาลนครพิษณุโลก )

16.---Song Khla---Song Khla Province---76,732---City Municipality ( เทศบาลนครสงขลา )

17.---Phuket---Phuket Province---74,743---City Municipality ( เทศบาลนครภูเก็ต )

18.---Chiang Rai---Chiang Rai Province---69,231---Town Municipality ( will become City Municipality soon. ) ( เทศบาลเมืองเชียงราย )

19.---Yala---Yala Province---65,595--- City Municipality ( เทศบาลนครยะลา )

20.---Lampang---Lampang Province---61,504---City Municipality ( เทศบาลนครลำปาง )

21.---Sara Buri---Sara Buri Province---61,444---Town Municipality ( will become City Municipality soon. ) ( เทศบาลเมืองสระบุรี )

22.---Trang---Trang Province---59,392---City Municipality ( เทศบาลนครตรัง )

23.---Samut Prakan---Samut Prakan Province---57,471---City Municipality ( เทศบาลนครสมุทรปราการ )

24.---Samut Sakhon---Samut Sakhon Province---56,769---City Municipality ( เทศบาลนครสมุทรสาคร )

25.---Nakhon Si Ayutthaya---Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province---55,257---City Municipality ( เทศบาลนครนครศรีอยุธยา )

26.---Rayong---Rayong Province---54,400---City Municipality ( เทศบาลนครระยอง )


Data from :

Ministry of Interior, Royal Thai Government
www.moi.go.th

Department of Provincial Administration, Ministry of Interior www.dopa.go.th

Department of Local Administration, Ministry of Interior
www.thailocaladmin.go.th/index.jsp


All data is updated on 30 March 2005.

[ncr]

A very good summary of the Thai administrative structure indeed! And illustrating the grotesque centralism in this country, with BKK as one of the world's most extreme primate cities. (Sure, these are only the population figures, but it extends to all levels.)

Didn't know that Pak Kret has a nakhon status though.....
And btw, what happened to Chonburi proper? The list only shows Pattaya.

If you go by amphoe muang population, I think Samut Prakarn turns up as Thailand's second biggest "city" at 450,000 people or something. But of course that is not correct. (Or is it? It has become one large conurbation anyway.)

[Ahoerstemeier]

Sadly Khun Ton hasn't been active in that forum for a long time and thus didn't answer the question I posted there in reply to that posting. But maybe someone here can help:

a) when will be/were those elevations of some of the thesaban mueang to thesaban nakhon? Did it already take place for Surat Thani as Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_and_towns_in_Surat_Thani_Province) suggests?
b) is there any list on the web which lists the tambon which belong to a thesaban mueang/nakhon?
c) while khun Ton gave his sources, he only gave the generic website. However as I don't speak Thai yet I cannot find the actual data there - the only thing I could find so far are census 2000 data (which only goes down to Amphoe level) and also data at dopa, but also not including the thesaban.

[Wisarut]

The Web link of City Municiple is here:
http://www.thailocaladmin.go.th/total_web/website_TN.htm
The Web link of Town Municiple is here:
http://www.thailocaladmin.go.th/total_web/website_TM.htm
The Web link of Communme Municiple is here:
http://www.thailocaladmin.go.th/total_web/website_TB.htm
The Web link of Tambon Administration Organization is here:
http://www.thailocaladmin.go.th/total_web/website_abt.htm

[Wisarut]

The list of Tambon in Northern region is here (In Thai):
http://www.thaitambon.com/tambon/tmapnorth.htm

The list of Tambon in North Eastern region is here (In Thai):
http://www.thaitambon.com/tambon/tmapne.htm

The list of Tambon in Central region is here (In Thai):
http://www.thaitambon.com/tambon/tmapcentral.htm

The list of Tambon in Southern region is here (In Thai):
http://www.thaitambon.com/tambon/tmapsouth.htm

[Ahoerstemeier]

The list of Tambon in Northern region is here (In Thai):
http://www.thaitambon.com/tambon/tmapnorth.htm
...
Thanks, but a tambon list I have found myself before http://www.dopa.go.th/dload/ccaa.txt - my question is which tambon belongs to which thesaban.

[Wisarut]

the ONLY way to know the name of Tambon within the municiple
is to go into the Royal Gazette and hten draw the olien on the map to see the coverage ... since they RARELY show the list of Tambon within the jurisdiction of Municiple....