Most recent figures show that about three million of Thailand's four million foreign workers are Myanmar nationals. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimated that about 4.1 million Myanmar nationals were living in Thailand in 2024, with 2.3 million officially registered by the Thai Ministry of Labour. Today, however, the number of documented workers has dwindled to approximately one million, according to the ministry's latest update.
This discrepancy suggests that much of the workforce is becoming undocumented, which in the long term will pose serious economic, social and security challenges for Thailand.
