Many people in Bangkok complain about corruption
Most of the respondents in a nationwide survey say the political conflict, corrupt bureaucrats and politicians, as well as violence in the deep South is adversely affecting them.
This was part of the findings from a public-opinion survey launched by the National Statistical Office, which the agency's director-general Jirawan Boonperm said would be used in the national reform efforts.
The survey was conducted on 100,920 people aged 15 and above across the nation from June 18 to 24.
Of the respondents, 50.2 per cent surveyed said the political conflict was the main cause for their suffering, followed by corruption (49.3 per cent), and violence in the deep South (46.8 per cent). Details differed in regions, like in Bangkok, for instance, most respondents rated corruption higher than political conflict, and in the South insurgency was given the highest rating, according to Jirawan.
She said the questionnaire divided the issues into six categories: personal and household; career and work; income and debt; education; the environment; and others. The political conflict and corruption problems were included in the "others" category.
Regarding personal and household problems, the largest number of people in all regions - almost 30 per cent - pointed to health issues.
Under career and work, more than 54 per cent said their problem involved the high cost of production.
In the income and debt category, almost 55 per cent complained about insufficient income, followed by low prices for their farm produce.
Regarding problems related to education, most complained about high competition for school admission and a low chance of getting their children enrolled in a prestigious school.
As for problems involving the environment, more than 79 per cent of the respondents pointed to global warming, followed by long periods of drought (72.6 per cent).
The survey found that an average 12.8 per cent said they could be labelled "poor". In the Northeast, 14.9 per cent of the respondents said they were poor, representing the highest number in the country, followed by 14.5 per cent of Bangkok residents. Only 8.2 per cent in the South complained about poverty.
Jirawan said that though many people in Bangkok felt they were poor, only 0.8 per cent of them could be considered actually poor based on the poverty threshold of a monthly income of less than Bt1,579.
When asked about the reason for poverty, 65.9 per cent of the respondents complained about the lack of financial resources, lack of opportunity (45.3 per cent), and lack of education (40.2 per cent).
Asked about their source of satisfaction, 76.2 per cent pointed to their family, followed by personal freedom (68 per cent), and public utilities (65.6 per cent). For things they find unsatisfactory, 28.9 per cent identified the economic situation, followed by debts (26.9 per cent), and the social situation (10.8 per cent).
When asked to compare their well-being this year to last year, 51.9 per cent said they saw no difference and 33.9 per cent said this year was worse. Only people in the South said they felt better this year than last year.