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Chumphon province is located in the most upper part of the
Southern region. Following the Highway No.4, it is approximately
463 kilometers from Bangkok or about 476 kilometers by railroad.
The total area of Chumphon is about 6,009 square kilometers, the
fourth largest province of the South.
 The
province is divided into 8 Districts, 70 Tambons, and 655 villages.
Considering the administrative area, there are 2 municipal areas
12 Sanitary areas and 66 Sub-district Administration Organization The
boundary to the north is Prachuap Khiri Khan, to the south is Surat
Thani. The Gulf of Thailand situates on the east, while the west are
the Union of Myanmar and Ranong. The shape of the province is long and
narrow, the west consisted of mountains which are also the natural
international boundary. The plain area which is suitable for
farming is in the central part. The east of Chumphon consist of
222 kilometers long coastal with beaches. Raining season in Chumphon
is relatively long, last from May to November. The temperature
is not too high in summer and not too low in winter as well.
At June 1997 the population residing in Chumphon is 444,820; 222,865
are male and 217,955 are female. The population density is 72
per square kilometer. The highest population was found in
Chumphon district while the lowest are is in Patao district.
About 15.47% of total population live in the urban areas 65.41% are
over 13 years old with 52.78% of labour force and 2.13% of
unemployed persons. The minimum wage in Chumphon is 130 Baht
daily.
In 1996, it is found that 55.38% of total area is cultivated land, 19%
are under forest and 41.68% are under residential land.
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Chumphon is the small province with the high growth rate.
Gross Provincial Product has been increased 3 times in 10 years.
Compare to the Gross Domestic Product the product share of Chumphon is
constantly at 0.55% except in 1989-1990 the share was down to 0.5% due
to the typhoon "Gay" Anyway, Chumphon per capita income has been
growing at the high rate. In 1995, per capita income was 49,324
Baht, accounted for the 7th highest of the south or the 26th
highest of the kingdom. The economic growth rate is also
relatively high which was 10.27% compare to 6.24% of the South, 4.23%
of Surat Thani, and 8.84% of the whole Kingdom.
 During
the last 10 years, agriculture has been the most important sector,
followed by trade sector and service sector, Manufacture sector.
In agriculture sector, cultivation is the main actively, about 40% of
GPP. In 1995, the main crop was coconut, para rubber, coffee,
durian, rambutan and mangosteen. However, some of these are
under government subsidy and may get some negative impact by GATT and
AFTA. Fishery is the second most important activity and has the
potential to develop.
Manufacture sector in Chumphon is small and has not fully developed
most factories are small agro-industries factories, such as cannery
and vegetable-oil extraction. Chumphon is the center of
manufacturing.
For the rest of economic sector, the change has been slightly during
last decade. In general, Chumphon is the province with the
good economic condition and high purchasing power. Anyway,
Chumphon economy depends upon only agriculture sector which is so
sensitive to the uncontrolled factors, such as natural disaster and
world market condition.
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There are several natural beauty both inland and coastline, including
beaches, islands, national parks and mountains. Basically, most
natural places still keep their original charm and this strong point
should be promoted for tourism.
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