Thai International Schools Keep Growing as the Wider Education Sector Contracts

Thailand's international school sector grew its student body by 8.3 percent in 2025, even as total school enrollment across the country fell by 1.1 percent and the broader private education market lost ground. According to The Thaiger, the sector now encompasses roughly 257 schools and is projected to be worth around 95 billion baht, up from over 85 billion baht the previous year, making it one of the few corners of Thai education showing sustained growth.

The figures expose a striking paradox. Thailand's birth rate is falling, school-age cohorts are shrinking, and the general private school sector is contracting. Yet international schools are expanding. The gap between the two trends is being filled primarily by wealthy Thai families: since Thai nationals were first permitted to enrol in international schools in 1992, local demand has steadily displaced the expatriate community as the sector's primary engine.

Who is paying and what they spend

The number of Thais with assets exceeding USD 1 million is projected to reach around 162,000 in 2026, growing at roughly 11.7 percent annually and concentrated in Bangkok and the larger provincial cities. Research cited by The Nation Thailand shows that class of household now treating an international education as a core investment rather than a lifestyle option. A parallel demand stream from high-skilled foreign workers, whose numbers accelerated to 13.4 percent growth in the first eleven months of 2025, adds further pressure on places.

Annual tuition across Thailand's international schools ranges from approximately 75,000 baht at regional institutions to more than 1.1 million baht at the most prestigious Bangkok campuses, with a national average near 470,000 baht. That spread reflects a sector increasingly differentiated by prestige, curriculum brand, and geography, rather than a single market moving in lockstep.

Bangkok slows; provinces accelerate

The geographic picture is shifting markedly. Bangkok lost international schools at roughly 1.7 percent annually between 2021 and 2025, constrained by space and elevated land costs, while provincial schools grew at an average 9.1 percent yearly rate over the same period. Secondary cities, particularly those in the Eastern Economic Corridor and in the north, are drawing increasing operator interest as Bangkok reaches the limits of its capacity to absorb new campuses.

For the premium British schools opening in Bangkok in 2026, among them Dulwich College Bangkok, Highgate International School, Wycombe Abbey, and SPGS International School Bangkok, the underlying demand story remains supportive. The competitive question for new entrants is less whether the market can absorb fresh supply and more how to position a new brand in a field that is growing quickly from both the top and the provincial ends of the price range.