Thailand's Top 5-Digit Industry Codes by Survival Rate 2026
In short
Eighteen of Thailand's 1,031 sizeable 5-digit industry codes post a perfect 100 percent survival rate as of 17 July 2026. Four codes sit at the opposite extreme with zero percent, every registered company gone. That spread covers the full mathematically possible range, a 100 percentage point gap from top to bottom. The average code in this group holds 53.25 percent of its companies active. The median code sits close behind at 54.01 percent. A cluster of flawless codes coexists with a small handful that have lost every company ever registered under them.
Which industry code has the highest survival rate, and how wide is the gap?
Rank Thailand's 5-digit TSIC industry codes by survival rate and the top of the list is a flat line at 100 percent (DBD, 2026). Eighteen codes carry a perfect record among the 1,031 codes with at least 10 registered companies, a floor that filters out the smallest and noisiest codes from the full set of 1,228. The largest of those flawless codes, number 85497 in section P, education, keeps all 265 of its registered companies active. At the other end, four codes report a survival rate of exactly zero percent, meaning every company ever registered under that code has since gone inactive. The largest of those, code 56000 in section I, accommodation and food service, has lost all 18 of its registrations. Subtract zero from 100 and the gap between the best and worst performing codes is the full 100 percentage points, the maximum the metric can possibly show. A fifth code, 35100 in section D, electricity and gas, sits just above true zero at 1.69 percent, with only 1 of its 59 companies still active.
Survival rate at the five highest and five lowest industry codes
- 85497: Section P100
- 63990: Section J100
- 96304: Section S100
- 95210: Section S100
- 85494: Section P100
- 35100: Section D2
- 49000: Section H0
- 49200: Section H0
- 46420: Section G0
- 56000: Section I0
Figures in percent of registered companies still active.
Five codes sit at a flawless 100 percent. Four sit at a flat zero, and a fifth barely clears 1.69 percent.
Ten industry codes at the extremes of the survival distribution
| Code | Section | Companies | Active | Inactive | Survival rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 85497 | P | 265 | 265 | 0 | 100.00% |
| 63990 | J | 256 | 256 | 0 | 100.00% |
| 96304 | S | 181 | 181 | 0 | 100.00% |
| 95210 | S | 137 | 137 | 0 | 100.00% |
| 85494 | P | 103 | 103 | 0 | 100.00% |
| 35100 | D | 59 | 1 | 58 | 1.69% |
| 49000 | H | 11 | 0 | 11 | 0.00% |
| 49200 | H | 11 | 0 | 11 | 0.00% |
| 46420 | G | 13 | 0 | 13 | 0.00% |
| 56000 | I | 18 | 0 | 18 | 0.00% |
Five highest and five lowest 5-digit TSIC codes by survival rate, limited to codes with at least 10 registered companies, as of 17 Jul 2026.
The shape of the whole distribution
Look past the two extremes and the broader distribution tells its own story. Across the 1,031 codes with at least 10 registered companies, survival rates average 53.25 percent. The median code sits close by at 54.01 percent, both just above the halfway mark. That average treats a 12 company code the same as a 10,000 company code. Weight every company equally instead, counting each firm once rather than each code once, and the national active share falls to 50.0 percent, the anchor figure for the full 1,986,709 company registry with a size band (DBD, 2026). The roughly three point gap between those two figures shows that a good number of the economy's largest, most crowded codes survive at a lower rate than the typical smaller code. Scale alone does not buy durability. A big code can just as easily be an old, crowded one, full of firms that registered years ago and never formally closed.
Why this matters
Thailand's SMEs have posted a five year survival rate near 80 percent by one OECD estimate cited in a 2025 World Bank review. That figure beats Italy, Spain, Britain and the United States, which all sit below 60 percent on the same measure (World Bank, 2025). The 1,031 code level rates in this registry are not directly comparable, since they measure a point in time registration status rather than a five year cohort, yet the contrast is instructive. A reassuring national or five year average can coexist with individual industry codes that have lost every single company on the books, and with others that have never lost one at all. For a lender setting a risk premium, a franchise operator picking a category, or an entrepreneur choosing where to register a new company, the code level number is the one that actually applies to their decision, not the softer national figure.
Definitions
- Survival rate
- The share of companies registered under a code that the DBD registry still marks active, expressed as a percentage of every company ever registered under that code.
- Active company
- A company whose current DBD registration status is active, as opposed to a status such as dormant, dissolved or deregistered.
- 5-digit TSIC code
- The most detailed level of Thailand's Standard Industrial Classification, identifying one specific trade or activity rather than a broad sector.
- Section
- One of 21 broad industry letters, such as P for education, that groups many 5-digit codes together.
- Median
- The middle value of a sorted list, the point where half the codes have a higher survival rate and half have a lower one.
- Aggregate
- A statistic built by summing or dividing totals across many companies, rather than describing any single firm.
Assumptions
- Codes with fewer than 10 registered companies are excluded so that a single closure or a single new registration cannot swing a tiny code's rate to an extreme.
- Survival rate is a snapshot of current registration status as of 17 July 2026, not a multi year cohort study, and does not confirm that an active company is still trading.
- The simple average across codes, 53.25 percent, is not the same figure as the national company weighted active share of 50.0 percent, since the two weight codes differently.
Methodology
Survival rate is each 5-digit TSIC industry code's active company count divided by its total registered company count, drawn from the DBD company registry as of 17 July 2026. This ranking covers 1,031 codes, out of Thailand's 1,228 total 5-digit codes, that carry at least 10 registered companies, a floor chosen so a single company opening or closing cannot swing a small code's rate to an extreme. An active company is one still carrying an active registration status with DBD. The DBD registry leaves the plain English description blank for every 5-digit code, so codes are identified here by number and by the broader industry section letter they sit inside, never by name. This is a snapshot of current registration status, not a multi year cohort study.
How we verified this
- 993,373 active companies divided by 1,986,709 registered companies with a size band recomputes to 50.00 percent, matching the national active share anchor.
- 1,228 total 5-digit codes minus the 197 codes with fewer than 10 registered companies leaves 1,031 codes in this ranking, confirmed by direct count.
- 0 active divided by 18 registered at code 56000 recomputes to exactly 0.00 percent, tied for the lowest rate in the ranking with three other codes.
- 265 active divided by 265 registered at code 85497 recomputes to exactly 100.00 percent, tied for the highest rate with 17 other codes.
- 100.00 minus 0.00 equals a 100.00 percentage point gap between the highest and lowest ranked codes, the maximum the metric can show.
- The 18 codes with a perfect record sum to 1,399 registered companies, all marked active, so the combined rate for that group also equals 100.00 percent.
- 1 active divided by 59 registered at code 35100 recomputes to 1.69 percent, the lowest nonzero rate in the ranking.
References
- Department of Business Development. (2026). Registered juristic persons and company status by TSIC industry code. Ministry of Commerce, Thailand. https://www.dbd.go.th/
- World Bank. (2025). Thailand economic monitor February 2025: Unleashing growth, innovation, SMEs and startups. World Bank Group. https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/thailand/publication/thailand-economic-monitor-february-2025-unleashing-growth-innovation-smes-and-startups
Frequently asked questions
Which Thai industry code has the highest company survival rate?
Eighteen 5-digit codes tie for the highest rate at a perfect 100 percent. The largest is code 85497 in section P, education, which keeps all 265 of its registered companies active.
Which Thai industry code has the lowest company survival rate?
Four codes sit at exactly zero percent. The largest is code 56000 in section I, accommodation and food service, where all 18 registered companies have gone inactive.
How wide is the gap between the best and worst performing codes?
A full 100 percentage points, from zero percent to 100 percent, the maximum spread the survival rate metric can show.
Why does this ranking exclude some 5-digit industry codes?
Codes with fewer than 10 registered companies are left out so that a single closure or a single new registration cannot swing a tiny code's rate to an artificial extreme.
Cite this page
Chatpong L. (2026). Thailand's Top 5-Digit Industry Codes by Survival Rate 2026. Max Data Insights. https://maxdatathailand.com/insights/top-5-digit-tsic-codes-by-survival-rate-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.