Thai Year Converter — Buddhist Era (BE) to Gregorian (CE) and Back

Thai year converter: Buddhist Era to Gregorian and back

This free Thai year converter changes a Gregorian (CE) year into the Thai Buddhist Era (BE, พ.ศ.) and back, and turns a full date into the form written on Thai documents — for example วันเสาร์ที่ 24 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2569 — in Thai and in Thai digits, with the short form used on forms and receipts (24 ต.ค. 69). Type a Thai date and you get the Gregorian date.

It is useful for Thai passports, visas, work permits, title deeds and birth certificates, for reading dates on Thai websites, and for older papers: before 1941 the Thai year began on 1 April, so dates in January to March of those years convert differently, and this converter applies that rule.

How to use the Thai Year Converter (Buddhist Era)

1. For a year, type it in Gregorian year or Buddhist Era year; the other box and the table of nearby years update.
2. For a full date, pick it in Gregorian date or press Today.
3. Or enter the Day, Month and Year (พ.ศ.) of a Thai date to get the Gregorian date.
4. Read the Thai written date, Thai digits, short form and notes, and press Copy result.

Thai Year Converter (Buddhist Era) features

How the Thai Buddhist Era works

Thailand counts years from the Buddha’s passing into parinibbana, placed by Thai tradition 543 years before the Common Era. The rule is simple: BE = CE + 543 and CE = BE − 543, so 2026 is BE 2569 and BE 2570 is 2027. Months and days are the same as in the Gregorian calendar, and the Thai year begins on 1 January.

That has only been true since 1941. Thailand adopted the solar calendar in 1888–89 with the year beginning on 1 April and, from 1912 (BE 2455), the Buddhist Era as the official count. On 6 September 1940 the government moved New Year to 1 January from 1941, so BE 2483 lasted only nine months, from 1 April to 31 December 1940. For dates from 1 January to 31 March in 1890–1940 you add 542, not 543 — 15 February 1940 was 15 กุมภาพันธ์ 2482. Many software calendars ignore this, which is why old Thai documents sometimes seem a year out.

Sri Lanka, Myanmar and other Buddhist calendars

Other Theravada countries count from the same event but begin each year at a different time. Sri Lanka’s Buddha Varsha changes at the Vesak full moon (April–May) and is one higher than Thailand’s after it: Vesak 2026 opened Buddha Varsha 2570, as announced by Sri Lanka’s Department of Buddhist Affairs, and the 2,500th Buddha Jayanti was celebrated in May 1956, while Thailand’s BE 2500 was 1957. Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos also use Buddhist Era years for religious purposes with their own change-over days, and Myanmar’s civil calendar uses a separate era; check a local calendar for those.

The old Rattanakosin era (R.S. = BE − 2324) appears on official papers from 1889 to 1912. For other calendars see the Chinese lunar calendar, the Nepali date converter and the Ethiopian calendar converter.