The Kingdom of Thailand (population 65.18 million)¹ is a country in south eastern Asia that encompasses 514,000 square kilometres and borders with Myanmar (formerly Burma), Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia.

Formerly known as Siam, a constitutional monarchy was established in 1932. The country is currently led by King Rama IX (Bhumibol Adulyadej), widely regarded as the longest serving living monarch, who was born in 1927 and acceded to the throne in 1946.

The country is divided into five regions – Northern, North Eastern, Central, Eastern and Southern - and 76 provinces. Bangkok (population 6.6 million in 2006)² is Thailand’s capital city and the country’s administrative and business centre.

The United Nations Human Development Index ranks Thailand 78 out of 177 countries worldwide (value 0.781). This places Thailand in the group of countries with medium human development.³

According to the 4-part typology developed by the International Observatory on End of Life Care, Thailand is categorised as a country in Group 3, with localised palliative care provision.⁴