Abstract
The population dynamics of Don Daeng, a rice-growing village in Northeast Thailand, was studied as part of an integrated village study program in 1981-1984. The mortaity and fertility rates since the 1930s were determined from data obtained by interviewing 232 ever-married women who gave birth to 876 children, while those for the preceding periods were estimated from the village population in three separate years and by extrapolation of the trend since the 1930s, which was adjusted for the results of the national censuses.
From the mortality and fertility rates thus estimated for four periods, the village population at the end of each of the periods was calculated by assuming a closed population during that period. The differences between the actual and calculated populations indicate roughly the tendency for emigration or immigration during the period. The results are summarized below. [table]
Immigration dominated until the early 1940s, when paddy acreage could no longer be expanded, and since then emigration has taken place. Until recently, most emigrants have made for frontier lands. It appears that a wave of pioneer peasants from the Chi valley in the Khorat plateau reached Don Daeng in the late 19th century, and proceeded further westward.
