Low Income Housing in a rapid expanding urban economy. Thailand has changed considerably over the last decades. There has been rapid economic growth based on export-oriented industrial development, an expansion of the middle class and a decline in absolute poverty. However, economic activity is still largely concentrated in and around Bangkok and income inequality is high. The country is urbanizing through large-scale, but often circular, rural-urban migration, life expectancy is increasing and fertility rates are below replacement level. Except for health care, social welfare program are rudimentary and cover mainly government officials and some formal-sector workers.