Thailand's Most and Least Micro-Heavy Industry Sections (2026)
In short
Public administration is Thailand's most micro-heavy industry section, with 86.8 percent of its companies classified as micro by DBD's size bands, as of 17 Jul 2026. The section counts only 38 registered companies. Mining and quarrying follows close behind at 85.3 percent micro. Real estate, agriculture and education all clear 81 percent. Human health and social work sits at the opposite end, just 60.7 percent micro, the lowest share among the 19 sections large enough to trust. The gap between the two extremes runs 26.1 percentage points.
Which industry sections are almost entirely micro companies?
Public administration runs the tightest size mix in the entire Thai company registry. The section counts just 38 registered companies as of 17 Jul 2026 (DBD, 2026). Of those, 33 are micro by DBD's size bands, a share of 86.8 percent. Mining and quarrying is close behind at 85.3 percent micro. That share comes from 8,231 companies, a section large enough to trust. Real estate follows at 83.6 percent, agriculture and fishing at 82.4 percent, and education at 81.6 percent. Two sections sit outside this ranking. Households as employers holds only 32 registered companies. Extraterritorial organizations holds just 4. Both are too few to read as an industry pattern rather than noise.
Micro company share by industry section
- Public administration87
- Mining and quarrying85
- Real estate84
- Agriculture, forestry and fishing82
- Education82
- Arts and entertainment81
- Other service activities81
- Financial and insurance81
- Information and communication79
- Construction78
- Professional, scientific and technical78
- Electricity and gas77
- Administrative and support74
- Wholesale and retail trade74
- Accommodation and food service73
- Transportation and storage69
- Manufacturing69
- Water and waste68
- Human health and social work61
Figures in percent micro by company count.
Public administration and mining sit near the top on light, low capital operations. Human health sits alone at the bottom, weighed down by equipment and staffing costs.
Micro share by industry section, ranked
| Industry section | Micro share | Micro companies | Companies with size data |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public administration | 86.8% | 33 | 38 |
| Mining and quarrying | 85.3% | 7,018 | 8,231 |
| Real estate | 83.6% | 125,090 | 149,618 |
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 82.4% | 15,861 | 19,259 |
| Education | 81.6% | 11,344 | 13,897 |
| Arts and entertainment | 81.4% | 15,051 | 18,486 |
| Other service activities | 80.5% | 16,473 | 20,455 |
| Financial and insurance | 80.5% | 28,643 | 35,577 |
| Information and communication | 79.2% | 41,611 | 52,537 |
| Construction | 78.1% | 221,364 | 283,564 |
| Professional, scientific and technical | 77.8% | 108,145 | 138,982 |
| Electricity and gas | 77.0% | 6,032 | 7,833 |
| Administrative and support | 74.3% | 74,827 | 100,711 |
| Wholesale and retail trade | 74.0% | 529,921 | 716,066 |
| Accommodation and food service | 72.5% | 60,575 | 83,608 |
| Transportation and storage | 68.8% | 58,717 | 85,303 |
| Manufacturing | 68.7% | 158,376 | 230,396 |
| Water and waste | 67.9% | 3,270 | 4,818 |
| Human health and social work | 60.7% | 10,499 | 17,294 |
Share of companies classified micro by DBD size band, as of 17 Jul 2026. Households as employers and extraterritorial organizations are excluded for holding fewer than 40 registered companies each.
Why the mix matters
Human health and social work is the outlier at the other extreme. Its 17,294 sized companies carry a micro share of just 60.7 percent, the lowest of any section large enough to trust. That is more than 7 percentage points below the next lowest, water and waste, which sits at 67.9 percent. Hospitals, diagnostic labs and specialist clinics carry equipment and staffing costs that push many operators past the micro threshold into small or medium territory. Public administration and mining sit at the opposite pole for different reasons. A registered public administration company is almost always a narrow special purpose entity with light capital, and small scale mining operations rarely carry the balance sheet weight to graduate out of the micro band. The 26.1 percentage point gap between public administration and human health is the widest size mix spread among Thailand's interpretable industry sections, and it says something plain about capital intensity. Sectors that require physical infrastructure and specialized staff push companies up the size ladder, while sectors built on light contracting and paperwork keep almost every operator micro. Nationally, 75.1 percent of the 1,986,709 sized companies are micro (DBD, 2026). OSMEP's own white paper puts the broader micro enterprise share closer to 84 percent once sole proprietors and unregistered operators are counted in (OSMEP, 2025). That gap between the two figures is the gap between Thailand's registered corporate sector and its full informal economy.
Definitions
- Micro company
- A company placed in DBD's smallest size band based on its reported revenue and asset scale, the entry tier before small, medium and large.
- Size band
- DBD's classification of each company into micro, small, medium or large based on filed financial data.
- Micro share
- The share of a section's sized companies that fall into the micro band, calculated as micro companies divided by all companies with a size classification in that section.
- TSIC section
- One of the 21 lettered top level categories in Thailand's Standard Industrial Classification, the broadest industry grouping DBD names publicly.
- Aggregate
- A total or ratio computed across every company in a group, not the average of each company's own figure.
Assumptions
- Households as employers and extraterritorial organizations are excluded from the ranked comparison because they hold only 32 and 4 registered companies nationwide.
- Public administration's 86.8 percent figure rests on only 38 registered companies, a small base that can shift with a handful of new registrations.
- Size bands reflect each company's most recent filed financial data and do not capture companies that have never filed.
- The comparison covers registered juristic companies in the DBD registry only, not sole proprietors or unregistered businesses, which is why OSMEP's broader micro enterprise share runs higher.
Methodology
Micro share is calculated from each company's DBD size band, based on reported revenue and asset scale, aggregated to TSIC industry section from the DBD registry as of 17 Jul 2026. A company is counted only if it carries a size classification, micro, small, medium or large. Households as employers and extraterritorial organizations are excluded from the ranked comparison because each holds fewer than 40 registered companies nationwide, too thin a base for a stable percentage. This analysis groups five digit TSIC codes up to the 21 lettered sections, the finest industry level DBD names publicly.
How we verified this
- Public administration micro share recomputed as 33 divided by 38 equals 86.84 percent, rounded to 86.8.
- Mining and quarrying micro share recomputed as 7,018 divided by 8,231 equals 85.26 percent, rounded to 85.3.
- Human health micro share recomputed as 10,499 divided by 17,294 equals 60.71 percent, rounded to 60.7, the lowest of the 19 ranked sections.
- Spread recomputed as 86.84 minus 60.71 equals 26.13 percentage points, rounded to 26.1.
- Summed count_micro across all 21 sections equals 1,492,884, and summed sized companies across all 21 sections equals 1,986,709, matching the registry total for companies with a size band. 1,492,884 divided by 1,986,709 equals 75.14 percent, rounded to 75.1, matching the national micro share.
References
- Department of Business Development. (2026). Registered juristic persons and size classification aggregates. Ministry of Commerce, Thailand. https://www.dbd.go.th/
- Office of SME Promotion. (2025). White paper on micro, small and medium enterprises of Thailand. https://www.sme.go.th/en/page.php?modulekey=437
Frequently asked questions
Which Thai industry section has the highest share of micro companies?
Public administration, where 86.8 percent of its 38 registered companies are classified micro by DBD's size bands, followed closely by mining and quarrying at 85.3 percent across 8,231 companies.
Which industry section has the smallest micro share?
Human health and social work, where only 60.7 percent of its 17,294 sized companies are micro, the lowest share among Thailand's interpretable industry sections.
Why are households as employers and extraterritorial organizations left out of the ranking?
Those two sections hold just 32 and 4 registered companies nationwide, too few for a percentage to mean anything beyond noise.
Cite this page
Chatpong L. (2026). Thailand's Most and Least Micro-Heavy Industry Sections (2026). Max Data Insights. https://maxdatathailand.com/insights/thailands-most-and-least-micro-heavy-industry-sections-2026
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.
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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.