People, Education & Language

The population of the province is approximately 900,000. Standard Thai is spoken in the provincial capital but most of the rural people speak the Isaan dialect peculiar to northeastern Thailand, which is influenced by, and in some respects similar to, the Lao language. There is also a large component of native Lao speakers who reside in the province, some of whom are illegal immigrants from Laos. Another component of the ethnic make up of the province are Yuan who immigrated from Burma in the last two centuries and who are often engaged in commercial activities such as retailing, while the majority Thai population is more apt to be directly involved in agricultural production. A small minority of ethnic Chinese are also part of the ethnic mix.

There are 1,523 schools in the province where more than 10,000 teachers give instruction to about 233,000 students. Just over 90% of the population was found to be literate in 1990, up from 75% thirty years earlier.

The people of the province have a reputation for being patient and very hard working.

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