Thailand's Industry Register Share Shift, 2007 to 2025
In short
Manufacturing's share of Thailand's filing companies fell from 16.6 percent in 2007 to 11.6 percent in 2025. Professional, scientific and technical services rose from 6.4 percent to 8.5 percent over the same eighteen years. Wholesale and retail trade and construction also lost ground, while the classified filing base itself grew from 314,504 companies to 712,785, up 126.6 percent. Thailand's economy of filers shifted measurably from industry and trade toward services and expertise.
Which industries gained or lost ground
Manufacturing lost more ground than any other industry section in Thailand's filing company base between 2007 and 2025. Its share fell from 16.6 percent of that year's 314,504 classified filers to 11.6 percent of 2025's 712,785 filers, a drop of 5.01 percentage points, according to DBD registry data as of 7 Jul 2026. Wholesale and retail trade slipped too, down 1.95 points to 32.98 percent, even though it remains the largest section by a wide margin. Construction gave up 1.55 points and mining gave up 0.18 points, the only other two sections that shrank in relative terms. Every one of the other 14 sections gained ground. Professional, scientific and technical services climbed from 6.42 percent to 8.49 percent, a gain of 2.07 points and the largest of any section. Accommodation and food service added 1.39 points and human health and social work added 0.91 points. Eighteen years turned Thailand's filing base from an industrial and trading mix toward one increasingly led by services, expertise and hospitality.
Change in share of the filing base, 2007 to 2025
- Professional, scientific and technical2
- Accommodation and food service1
- Human health and social work1
- Information and communication1
- Administrative and support1
- Other services1
- Agriculture, forestry and fishing1
- Arts and entertainment0
- Electricity and gas0
- Real estate0
- Education0
- Financial and insurance0
- Transportation and storage0
- Water and waste0
- Mining and quarrying-0
- Construction-2
- Wholesale and retail trade-2
- Manufacturing-5
Figures in percentage points.
Fourteen sections gained share. Manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, construction and mining were the only four that lost ground.
Filing base share by industry section, 2007 versus 2025
| Industry section | 2007 filers | 2007 share | 2025 filers | 2025 share | Change in points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wholesale and retail trade | 109,849 | 34.93% | 235,085 | 32.98% | -1.95 |
| Manufacturing | 52,086 | 16.56% | 82,368 | 11.56% | -5.01 |
| Construction | 37,989 | 12.08% | 75,053 | 10.53% | -1.55 |
| Real estate | 32,433 | 10.31% | 75,731 | 10.62% | +0.31 |
| Professional, scientific and technical | 20,197 | 6.42% | 60,544 | 8.49% | +2.07 |
| Administrative and support | 15,117 | 4.81% | 39,064 | 5.48% | +0.67 |
| Transportation and storage | 12,272 | 3.90% | 28,616 | 4.01% | +0.11 |
| Accommodation and food service | 10,838 | 3.45% | 34,479 | 4.84% | +1.39 |
| Information and communication | 6,698 | 2.13% | 21,031 | 2.95% | +0.82 |
| Financial and insurance | 6,579 | 2.09% | 16,312 | 2.29% | +0.20 |
| Other services | 1,848 | 0.59% | 8,271 | 1.16% | +0.57 |
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 1,709 | 0.54% | 7,521 | 1.06% | +0.51 |
| Education | 1,611 | 0.51% | 5,860 | 0.82% | +0.31 |
| Arts and entertainment | 1,564 | 0.50% | 6,224 | 0.87% | +0.38 |
| Mining and quarrying | 1,411 | 0.45% | 1,950 | 0.27% | -0.18 |
| Human health and social work | 1,218 | 0.39% | 9,221 | 1.29% | +0.91 |
| Water and waste | 603 | 0.19% | 2,061 | 0.29% | +0.10 |
| Electricity and gas | 482 | 0.15% | 3,394 | 0.48% | +0.32 |
Companies with a filed financial statement in fiscal year 2550 and fiscal year 2568, grouped by TSIC section, as of 7 Jul 2026.
Why the shift matters
A move of five percentage points sounds modest until you weigh what it represents. Manufacturing still holds more revenue and larger average companies than professional services, so this is a story about where new companies form, not where output sits today. New filers are choosing consulting, IT services, healthcare and hospitality over opening a workshop or a factory line. That pattern tracks what a middle income economy tends to look like as wages rise and services become easier to start with modest capital. Thailand added 398,281 more classified filers between 2007 and 2025. Wholesale and retail trade added the most filers of any section in raw count, yet professional, scientific and technical services posted the largest gain in share, 2.07 percentage points, the clearer sign of where the register is tilting. Whether skills funding, business registration rules for services firms and export support keep pace with that shift will shape the next eighteen years of the register as much as the last eighteen did.
Definitions
- Filing company base
- The set of companies that submitted a financial statement for a given fiscal year to Thailand's Department of Business Development. It is smaller than the full stock of ever incorporated companies, since dormant or lapsed companies stop filing.
- TSIC section
- One of the eighteen active lettered categories in the Thailand Standard Industrial Classification, the same letter scheme used in the international ISIC system, for example C for manufacturing or M for professional, scientific and technical services.
- Percentage point
- The plain difference between two percentages. A move from 16.6 percent to 11.6 percent is a change of 5.0 percentage points, not a five percent change.
- Fiscal year 2550 and 2568
- Thai statement years are recorded in the Buddhist calendar. Fiscal year 2550 corresponds to 2007 in the Gregorian calendar and fiscal year 2568 corresponds to 2025.
Assumptions
- Shares are based on companies that filed a financial statement for that fiscal year, not the full stock of registered companies, since only filers carry a usable statement year count.
- About a quarter of one percent of filers in 2007 and about a sixth of one percent in 2025 carry no TSIC section classification and are excluded from both totals.
- The 2007 and 2025 fiscal years are treated as comparable endpoints. The path between them may not be a straight line, since some sections likely gained and lost share unevenly across the eighteen years.
Methodology
Share of the filing company base is each industry section's share of all companies that filed a financial statement for a given fiscal year, drawn from the DBD registry, aggregated from five digit TSIC codes up to the eighteen active ISIC letter sections, as of 7 Jul 2026. The 2007 base uses Thai fiscal year 2550 and the 2025 base uses fiscal year 2568, both closed years with a full twelve months of filings. A small share of filers, about 0.25 percent in 2007 and 0.16 percent in 2025, carry no section classification and are excluded from both totals, so section shares sum close to but not exactly 100 percent. Shares are computed once from raw section totals rather than averaged across sub codes.
How we verified this
- Summed company_count across all 18 classified TSIC sections for fiscal year 2550 to get 314,504 filers, then divided the manufacturing count of 52,086 by that total to confirm a 16.56 percent share, which rounds to the 16.6 percent headline.
- Summed company_count across all 18 classified TSIC sections for fiscal year 2568 to get 712,785 filers, then divided the manufacturing count of 82,368 by that total to confirm an 11.56 percent share, which rounds to the 11.6 percent headline, a change of minus 5.01 points.
- Divided the professional, scientific and technical count of 20,197 by the 2007 total and 60,544 by the 2025 total to confirm shares of 6.42 percent and 8.49 percent, a gain of 2.07 percentage points.
- Confirmed the 18 section shares sum to 100.0 percent in both years within rounding, and confirmed 712,785 minus 314,504 equals 398,281 additional classified filers over the period, a rise of 126.6 percent.
References
- Department of Business Development. (2026). Registered juristic persons and financial statement aggregates by industry and year. Ministry of Commerce, Thailand. https://www.dbd.go.th/
- National Economic and Social Development Council. (2025). Thai economic performance in the third quarter of 2025 and the outlook for 2025 to 2026. NESDC. https://www.nesdc.go.th/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/05-PRESSENG-Q3-2568-Final-1.pdf
Frequently asked questions
Which Thai industry lost the most share of the filing company base between 2007 and 2025?
Manufacturing, which fell from 16.6 percent of the filing base in 2007 to 11.6 percent in 2025, a drop of 5.01 percentage points, the largest loss of any of the 18 sections.
Which industry gained the most share over that period?
Professional, scientific and technical services, which rose from 6.42 percent in 2007 to 8.49 percent in 2025, a gain of 2.07 percentage points, ahead of accommodation and food service and human health and social work.
Did the total number of filing companies grow between 2007 and 2025?
Yes. The classified filing base grew from 314,504 companies in 2007 to 712,785 in 2025, an increase of 398,281 companies, or 126.6 percent.
Did every section outside manufacturing gain share?
No. Wholesale and retail trade lost 1.95 points, construction lost 1.55 points and mining and quarrying lost 0.18 points. Manufacturing, wholesale and retail, construction and mining were the only four sections that shrank as a share of the register.
Cite this page
Chatpong L. (2026). Thailand's Industry Register Share Shift, 2007 to 2025. Max Data Insights. https://maxdatathailand.com/insights/thailands-industry-register-share-shift-2007-2025
Data & corrections
Download the data (CSV)Spot something off, or want to ask about the data? Email insights@maxsolutions.co.th. We publish corrections.
Written by
Chatpong L.Founder, Max Data, Max Solutions Co., Ltd.
Chatpong L. leads Max Data, a company-intelligence platform built on Thailand's official business registry. He writes about the structure of the Thai economy using primary registry data. His work covers company formation, industry concentration, and regional business activity.
Related insights
This page reports company-level and aggregate statistics only. It names no individuals and makes no claims about any person. Figures are provided for information and may be revised as source data updates.