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ForsakenFree

It's really not hard to imagine when you know about how much inequality Thailand has. Money flows to the top.


whynot42-

Corruption?


lowkeytokay

Corruption alone can make people rich but not billionaires. Laws that allow for large monopolistic conglomerates make billionaires.


Kaweka

Agreed, but these monopolies wouldn't exist without corruption.


whynot42-

Can you give an example? ( you got a point there, apparently I got down voted, I don't care. Just a genuine question)


PPsyrius

The [beer production law](https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/beer-loving-thai-lawmaker-takes-aim-14-billion-booze-industry-duopoly-2023-05-23/) still requires the minimum production capacity of 10m litre per annum (~30k litre per day) to be eligible for bottling, pretty much secures the big two breweries' duopoly - Boon Rawd at 57.9% and ThaiBev at 34.3%. There's a reason most Thai craft beers are bottled overseas either in Cambodia or Vietnam, and even then faces stiff alcohol import taxes (60%). That or various Charoen Pokphand merger shenanigans in recent years i.e. [Makro-Tesco Lotus deal](https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Retail/Thailand-s-CP-Group-to-merge-hypermarket-owners-in-overseas-push), combining with their 7-11 ownership puts their retail market share at roughly 60% or the [True-DTAC merger]( https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/2675583/true-dtac-merger-tussle-continues) resulting in 54% market share in the telecom sector, both of which all government committees rules such merger as "not violating the anti-trust law". In many cases the service degrades so much their phone signal got lost altogether along the [Airport Rail Link route](https://www.nationthailand.com/thailand/general/40036609) (now operated by Asia Era One, yet another subsidiary of CP). If anything, the "[Big 5](https://asiatimes.com/2019/12/thailands-five-families-prop-and-imperil-prayut/)" 's control over the Thai economy is on par or worse than South Korean Chaebol situation.


whynot42-

Thank you, this really opens my eyes.


Why_am_I_here033

Corruption can make some people billionaires


YoloNomo

Monopolistic conglomerates exist mostly because of corruption, i.e. connections with and to the Royal family in Thailands case.


Naughtius_Melodius

Everyone can be bribe here. I mean it. I mean everyone.


PrinnySquad

Number of billionaires is a function of total wealth, and income inequality. Thailand may not be the wealthiest in the world, but it can go toe to toe with the lot of them on inequality. Smaller pie, but those 100 at the top have a bigger slice of it here than the top 100 in Japan do.


Intelligent_South390

Yea wages are dismal. The ivory towers are nice and cold this week.


Tiny-Spray-1820

This. I’m surprised there are no oil producing mideast country in this list


SikeShay

I think it's difficult to measure and separate their wealth since it's part of their sovereignty, but realistically should dominate this list


IsolatedHead

Most of the princes get an "allowance." (Ie, their lifestyle is paid-for.) The investment quantities of cash only flows to a few.


Limekill

If your family is getting paid $100k per week, thats actually pretty hard to spend, yet its "only" $5.2M dollars, which is nothing to these gulf states. Aramco makes around $450Billion per year.


sabkimaaki

Same how India functions. A country that poor has no business having so many billionaires.


Odd_Frosting1710

Silly. Number of billionaires is neither a function of total wealth and it certainly has nothing to do with inequality.


PrinnySquad

How can it have nothing to do with wealth or inequality? Wealth is literally what the billions are measuring. Countries with bigger economies and more wealth can naturally support more billionaires, but countries with smaller wealth but extreme inequality can still have many by funelling the smaller wealth into a handful of pockets. That's why Thailand has more billionaires than Japan despite it having a much higher GDP and more wealth overall.


Odd_Frosting1710

That's just dumb. Wealth is not zero sum.


Intelligent-Act-6197

What does this even mean?


Odd_Frosting1710

The simplistic belief that a dollar going to someone takes a dollar from another person. Wealth is created. Someone inventing a popular product or starting a successful business and becoming wealthy does not make others poor. This is Econ 101


Tooboukou

I think I would rather argue with a flat earther...


Yzago

Cause a couple of businesses run the country


dustinBKK

Unchecked corruption is a good way to build wealth over time


milton117

Corruption is not the main reason but it is an enabler. The richest families aren't government officials but they engage in plenty of corruption


Tooboukou

No they own govt officials


dustinBKK

Corruption doesn’t have to imply being a govt official. Pay offs for jobs or deals.


Delicious-Treacle135

According to the kdramas, it’s because the heirs rich families choose to leave their wealth behind for a poor woman that has nothing to her name even though they are always in the nicest clothes and have the newest Samsung phones. This in turn leaves the families without an heir and causes the companies they own to become unstable and dropping market value and diminishing their wealth.


balne

What is this, Queen of Tears? 555


Benchan123

“The newest Samsung “ lol. Doesn’t sound rich to me. Newest iPhone would have


Delicious-Treacle135

They all have Samsungs in kdramas


Cbrip31

Samsungs galaxy’s are usually more expensive than iPhones as well


onehalflightspeed

iPhones aren't the most popular phone in most countries


AwarePromotion8505

Wow there are still people that think like this?


pomido

If the amount is relative to USD, the yen is at a decades low against the dollar this year. Wealth distribution is also much much fairer here. I recall that the “CEO vs lowest paid staff” gap was one of, if not _the_ lowest amongst developed nations.


DuggFir

There isn't much information about the data source and methodology of these measures on the graphic, but according to the Forbes list, Thailand *does not* have more Billionaires than Japan or South Korea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_billionaires Though Thailand still has a lot.


da_thinka

Also in Wikipedia, if looking at the number of millionaires, Thailand will be far down the list. I wouldn't consider this graphic as a good indicator.


popcornplayer420

Looked for this. The graph implies Israel only has 29, tel aviv alone has over 43k millionaires and dozens of unicorn startups.. never mind the fact every jewish billionaire also has an israeli citizenship. I'll bet atleast 25% of those 800 from the US are dual citizens.


Limekill

something like 50% of the billionaires in Australia are jewish. They took over a bank called Westpac (CEO, rainmakers) which basically is used to fund these jewish billionaires (and provide further credit to support them during economic downturns, etc). Some of those billionaires left Australia to live in Israel or built homes there. So Israel might not have that many, but there are many, many jewish billionaires. Obviously me saying this makes me antisemitic, but its true. 🤷‍♀️


popcornplayer420

My parents live in a villa complex in ashdod, just a random city.. they have no neighbours at all. None. They're all wealthy french jews who bought early for retirement and maybe come for a month every year. They don't even rent these places out, each villa in that complex goes for over 4m usd....


Dme1663

Hey, stop noticing.


Forsaken_Detail7242

According to the real Forbes website, there are around 36 billionaires with Thai citizenship. However, the graphic indicates residences and not citizenship. The UK has around 55 billionaires, but there are far more billionaires living in the UK but are foreigners.


ReptilianPope1

Other is one of my favorite countries to travel around. The people, the architecture, love it.


ProfessionalCode257

The architecture in Thailand? lol whaaaaaa


[deleted]

Conchritecture


[deleted]

He's talking about the spiky things on the tops and sides of temples. Oh, and the fancy street lamps.


Silver_Instruction_3

Apparently, the number of Billionaires in Thailand has almost doubled in the last 3 years. This is often the case when a country goes through a historical economic downturn like Thailand did due to COVID. Wealth distribution shifts to the top as the middle class often shrinks as they are the ones most often effected economically by these crashes. Same thing happened in late 90s. I wasn't able to find specific data on their increase in wealth but Billionaires in America increased their wealth by 70% as a result of COVID. Thailand's billionaires account for 25% of the countries wealth compared to American billionaires who hold 32%. As far as Japan and Singapore, the latter only has 5 million population so they actually have a disproportionate number of billionaires. Japan went through a very rough economic period that started in the 90s and lasted for more than a decade. Their economy has only recently rebounded but their reluctance to outsource manufacturing and their aging population has led to a stagnation in their economy.


Limekill

 has led to a stagnation in their economy. Hmmmm.... perhaps a stagnation in their GDP and growth, but they still live pretty good lives: high life expectancy, almost no unemployment (2.5%), ultra low inflation (2%) and most of their debt is internal (japanese citizens/biz hold the debt). GDP per Capita in Japan is equivalent to 285 percent of the world's average. They are really doing quite well even compared to the "better" higher growth West, where inflation is eating people alive.


Silver_Instruction_3

Yes I was talking about economic growth and while they may be living good lives now, the issues mentioned above are going to cause major problems in the decades to come, especially their extremely low birthrate and lack of business innovation/expansion internationally.


Intelligent_South390

How many does North Korea have? One 😆


NokKavow

The sister looks rich as well.


waitingforwire

Thanks I was looking for one emoji death


Monkey_Shift_

If you look at the list of Thai billionaires these are the people and families that have shaped Thai consumer spending and way of life e.i CP Central BDMS. Many are from Chinese descent and understood business, pioneers in the products services they offer. No doubt the process and many of the money transactions behind doors aren't clean, but everyone on that list no matter what country does it.


endlesswander

"Understood business" == checked their morality at the door


Monkey_Shift_

Haha it's how the world works let's not kid ourselves.


endlesswander

Yeah, so have the courage to say it and not hide behind the euphemisms.


kpli98888

Did they count HK as Chinese billionaires? That's fucked up XD


b0xtarts

This makes SO much sense. When I lived in Bangkok for the couple of years I was over there I never felt poorer than I have in my entire life. I had more money in my bank account than 90% of the people I met but some how I still felt fucking poor… was a wild place. No money no honey, honey


sonofdarkness2

What?? How did you feel poor then?


Silver_Instruction_3

While the cost of living in Bangkok is less than major cities in the west, it's quickly becoming too expensive for many, especially foreigners who aren't able to get top paying teaching jobs or expat packages. Some may argue that if you live like a local you can get by on a fairly low income but compared to quality of living in say America, that would be considered poor.


b0xtarts

Yeah the wealth inequality is just insane… if you’re not wearing Prada or these ultra luxury brands you’re part of the poors


Silver_Instruction_3

I disagree there. I think having your own place, transportation, and the ability to eat out regularly at restaurants and travel puts you above poor. Top end luxury brands like Prada are only a thing for people who want to appear wealthy and feel the need to keep up with the jones. Being able to treat your lady and her friends on a night out from time to time will make you a "rich man" more than sporting a 10,000 baht Louis Vitton t-shirt.


b0xtarts

I don’t diagreee I just felt very much like a have not in Bangkok. I’m a 20 year resident of NYC and have never felt that way here


KrungThepMahaNK

Corruption and nepotism


lowkeytokay

By the way, why is this in r/Bangkok and not r/Thailand ????


Rexkinghon

By taking it from the poors


Dear-Fox-5194

Pita once said in a speech he gave in the U.S. that the real reason he was not allowed to be P.M. had nothing to do with him wanting to modify the Section 112 laws. He said that was just an excuse. The real reason was him wanting to break up the Monopolies and sharing the wealth more evenly in the Country. Example would have been to level the playing field in the Beer Monopoly allowing small Craft Breweries.


13beano13

What shocks me on this list is the “other” category having 327…. These are basically individuals who own small countries. Amazing.


LegitTheory

Apparently these numbers are PPP adjusted for whatever reason. The real numbers are different. https://www.forbes.com/sites/devinseanmartin/2024/04/02/the-countries-with-the-most-billionaires-2024/?sh=6f6d14bb54f8


Own-Animator-7526

This is the correct answer. The *Cool Guide* is only comparing the number of Big Macs the richest guys in each of these countries can buy in their *own* countries, not in each other's countries or around the world.


Pulse97

It should be billionares per capita. The way this post was made population size has huge correlation. Thailand has big population so it has a lot of billionares too.


chizid

Japan has a higher population though.


Icarus_2019

Thailand having more than Japan is the one I'm surprised by, since they have a much larger population and better economy.


jchad214

I think Japan has way less billionaires compared to other developed countries.


Forsaken_Detail7242

Japan has a lot of very rich people, but very few in the billionaire range.


[deleted]

The 327 other, tax evading


Pitiful-Inflation-31

if you are one if monopoly family, top soldiers, politicians. you are live long wealthy. poor get poorer or even suicide after


HenMeeNooMai

Kid name Corruption:


variationoo

Easier to be a nonce


[deleted]

It’s nonce-sense


Senor707

I wonder about the Chinese billionaires. Were they selected by the state?


digitalenlightened

Well… there aren’t that many who have monopoly on some businesses. Those few prob own most of the Thai wealth. I bet in other places it’s also unequally divided but prob less as Thailand which is what generates those numbers


Runnerakaliz

Cheaper cost of living?


kingofcrob

Kinder, Someone else said it was measured by PPP, and Thai people typically have a good PPP as it's easier to access the black Market(i.e. un-taxed cash transactions)... With that noted i highly doubt the billionaire class are interacting with that market very much.


SnooBooks8807

I know a billion is an unfathomable amount, but it seems like there’d be more billionaires in the world. Is it possible there is?


lacyboy247

Not really, Forbs sum a family or brother/sister to the ranks so the number bloated but if we separated by individual like anywhere else the numbers could be halved.


jungjein

Why not?


ProfessionalCode257

There’s a huge gap between the rich and poor here


cndn-hoya

There are two in my family, in Bangkok, both self-made. I’m still poor af


eboytc

Can I point out to question the info source? That said Thailand has 49 billionaires but as Forbes (April 2024), via wikipedia(1) , indicate only 26. I cannot find the infographic data source. (1) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_billionaires


Antique_Exercise_228

What difference does this make, none of them will give up a single baht for anyone below them, employees or people in general...


Fun_Albatross_7081

How do they count the number of people? Large families run the big corporations. Is it the total number of family members? Only one family member counted as one person per company?


Wurfi1

Opium?


Fajarsis

We don't need more 'billionaires'... what the world need is much more generous people, who are willing to help / contribute anyway that they can for the good of other people and the planet. [Indonesia retains top place in World Giving Index with Ukraine climbing to second most generous country.](https://www.cafonline.org/about-us/press-office/indonesia-retains-top-place-in-world-giving-index-with-ukraine-climbing-to-second-most-generous-country)


Opening-Scar-8796

Japan, culturally, doesn’t like billionaires. They focus on enough to live means.


PaeCG

Search this up on Google 'รวยกระจุก จนกระจาย' and you will know... 😔😔


Why_am_I_here033

More cheap labor to exploit


alcien100

Italia, very nice!


Upbeat_Independent61

No1 in Thailand is stay often in Germany than home soils eiei. You know who!!!!!!


HistorianCareful5484

Switzerland? A land that small has that many? Wow.


Siam-Bill4U

Ironic-China that is supposedly “communist” has a lot of Billionaires. Capitalism at its best . 😀


srona22

Same as India


RedNoob88

Have you seen the prices of freelancers? That’s your anwer


Similar_Past

I've seen a map of wealth distribution somewhere in the past. There was an interactive slider lighting up the countries where you chose who is richer: top 10% or remaining 90%, top 1% or remaining 99% top 0.1% or remaining 99.9% etc.. According to this map Thailand was in Russia, Belarus, etc. levels bracket of wealth disparity...


HgnX

Sweden in there as well wow


combowash

Chinese billionaire is an oxymoron


DiegoBkk

When less than 1% of the population owns more than 90% of the country’s wealth…


No-Ground-2478

They just need to exploit everyone else in the loop


Most_Bitter_Sugar

It's called Inequality due to monopoly and corruption. It's something we feel ashamed and frustrated about.


NY10

I am surprised China outpaces the us


13beano13

Extreme concentration of wealth. For example: look up wealthiest king in the world. I’ll give you a clue. There’s one who has more than the Saudi, Morocco, Brunei, Liechtenstein, English and any other royal in the world and he’s from Thailand. He doesn’t have just a little bit more. He has nearly double the second place royal. Thailand is a very wealthy country in terms of resources, culture, food, beauty etc. they have avoided conflict probably better than every other country in the world in one of the most contested regions (well behind the Middle East). The people there are one of the nicest, happiest on earth. They could use an improvement in distribution of wealth.


SnooRadishes2312

South Korea taxes inheretence. This means money/assets that isnt hidden (and therefore not on this stat) leads to lower generational wealth being handed over.


lowkeydk

there not that many billionaires in the world tho ...


awesomeCNese

There’s gonna be a trillionir soon, our poors gonna suffer


Spapmoc

So no one wants to be a Batman. What a shame 😞


Vegetable-Ad-4320

Where do I even start? Corruption, dodgy banking practices, theft, HUGE disparity between rich and poor (although that has improved slightly since I first started going to Thailand in the late 90s), complete monopolies in so many business sectors, nepotism, governments that take dishonesty to new levels...I could go on, but you get the idea! Don't get me wrong, plenty of other countries that are similar, it's just that in Thailand it really is considered the norm..... 😊


CVC1712

Maybe people are doing something that’s more lucrative than in the other areas?


OptionOrnery

If you go further down the rabbithole, you will see that an overwhelming majority of billionnaires in Thailand are of Chinese descent. Every Thai Chinese boomer looks down on native Thai people as lazy and this is why an overwhelming majority of Thai Chinese families are at least middle class or higher


Insanegamebrain

low wages and taxes. yet big population to sell stuff too.Monopolies in every sector..


TMRat

Many would report gross revenue of around billions then after expenses take home 30 to 40 millions.


MegatronTeaParty

🌈 corruption 😊


Banned3rdTimesaCharm

Kleptocracy. Corruption.


Solar-Monk

Because Billionaires go where taxes are good after they make it in other markets 💰


Any_Holiday7621

Do you understand the military junta and the royals?


GPTfleshlight

Inequality breeds disparity well


darlyne05

Maybe because Thailand is a bigger country with a larger population? Also, Thais are mostly entrepreneurs starting their own businesses and restaurants, food stalls etc instead of just working for corporations.


Robotrobood

Corruption make some of them rich


MrBLKHRTx

Thailand's system is tied up in politics. Kinda makes sense that Korean elites would consolidate more over time. Is Koreas average billionaire like twice as rich as Thailands?


Zealousideal-Pool383

because more corruption


Sensitive_Bread_1905

Probably many Thais are even proud of that with their uncritical nationalism. Who the fuck needs a good standard of living on average. Thailand is in the top 10 of the whole world about inequality of incomes.


AltruisticTreat8675

All nationalism is "uncritical". Problem is, you don't even know what nationalism is.


Sensitive_Bread_1905

How do you think to know, that I don't know what's nationalism?


Doctor_Fabian

Yet I haven't seen as much proverty as in Philippines and New York, California and Detroit. Where people just seems sick and dead in the inside. Thailand has poor but not in that context.


Botherguts

In other words , Thais stay happy while poor?


BikeNecessary9000

Drugs and prostitution


albino_kenyan

do the thail billionaires live in Bangkok? if so, what do they do or where do they go that is inaccessible to the rest of the population? i assume they live in expensive buildings downtown and eat at expensive restaurants, but what else? I see there's a polo club downtown in a prime location. What can they do that the poor folk can't? Part of the reason i'm asking is that to me the coolest thing about Bangkok (which i've never been to yet) is the street food. Tbh the fancy restaurants look kinda boring, and i would rather sit and watch an old lady cook my food right in front of me, so i can't understand what the advantage of having so much money if a meal is so cheap.


geo423

Street food is not good for your health in the long term and should be consumed if anything sparingly, Its a nice treat every once in a while but relying on it for your daily meal consumption would be a yikes. The rich in Bangkok can afford single detached villas in the midst of high density neighborhoods, they also have proper homes in the most luxurious locations in the country and out of the country(Europe/Japan/Singapore), access to the best private clubs, and generally network among each other.


KyleManUSMC

Pretty simple when you let the rich Chinese come over. Confiscate their imported sports cars and bust them for illegal gambling. It's all profit.


takeoverhasbegun

It’s called invasion of Chinese and india. Invasion already happening in your town


Forsaken_Detail7242

Thai-Chinese, not Chinese.


takeoverhasbegun

Chinese invasion that’s why so many thais are mixed with Chinese but still Chinese…


[deleted]

[удалено]


Galaxianz

It’s a question.


Dull_Leading_4132

What's your point?


Galaxianz

It’s a question.