. Other minority groups include the Malay-speaking Muslims in the south, the hill tribes in the north, and Cambodian (Khmer) and Vietnamese refugees in the east. The population of Thailand is 80 percent rural.
             APopulation Characteristics The population of Thailand is about 59,450,818 (1997 estimate), yielding an overall population density of 116 persons per sq km (300 per sq mi). The population is unevenly distributed, however, with the greatest concentration of people in the central region.
             BPolitical Divisions Thailand is divided into 76 provinces ( changwats). The provinces are further subdivided into districts (amphurs), subdistricts (king amphurs), communes (tambons), villages ( moobans), municipalities (tesabans), and sanitation districts (sukhaphibans).
             CPrincipal Cities Bangkok is the capital, chief seaport, and largest city (population, 1992 estimate, Bangkok Metropolis, 5,562,141). Other important towns include Chiang Mai (170,269), the largest in northern Thailand; Songkhla (80,881), on the Malay Peninsula; and Nakhon Si Thammarat (79,447), als
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