Bhutan: Prioritizing Nation-Wide Happiness
Nestled between Tibet and the Indian states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, and West Bengal lies the “Land of the Dragon” or better known as Bhutan. It is perched on a part of the Himalaya Mountains, and is known for their Buddhist monasteries and beautiful, sprawling landscapes. Although these landscapes are very popular amongst hikers, some of their mountain ranges are known for their purity, meaning that due to folklore no one has gone on these specific mountains because of a yeti-type creature. Although many don’t subscribe to this legend today, the citizens still try to uphold these mountains' purity so people continue to let these mountains go untouched by man in any way; including hiking trips.
But many people don’t realize a significant attribute that they should be known for. This is their Gross National Happiness Index or their promise to their people that not a single bill will be passed unless it benefits the well-being of all of their citizens. Don’t allow the title to mislead you, this isn’t about making sure every citizen is laughing everyday, but putting forward initiatives that make the Bhutanese people happier as a whole, through legislature that is environmentally-friendly, designed to improve mental-health, and other social issues that affect every person in Bhutan.
It’s not so hard to understand that the Gross National Happiness became an initiative in Bhutan due to its country’s history stemming back to the 1970’s. In 1972, their King declared the goal of national happiness over a goal of national wealth. Bhutanese culture is hugely-based in their Buddhist traditions stemming from a form of Tibetan Buddhism called Mahayana. Also essential to know is that until the 1970’s, Bhutan was an isolated country; not allowing tourism. By doing this, they could protect their heritage and not be influenced by other nations’ cultures. In this way, they have retained much of their unique culture and with the strong influence of Buddhism (materialism isn’t exactly celebrated in this practice), it is no wonder that they favor national well-being over national wealth.
In the 2012 World Happiness Report, it describes the rise of the national focus on happiness, “Happiness became much more than a guidepost or inspiration; it became an organizing principle for governance and policy-making as well. The Gross National Happiness Index is the first of its kind in the world, a serious, thoughtful, and sustained attempt to measure happiness, and use those measurements to chart the course of public policy.”*
In tandem with the Gross National Happiness initiative, the Bhutanese government has periodic surveys (every five years since 2010) that try to measure their citizens’ happiness. These surveys differ based on age, gender, income-bracket, district, and rural-urban residence. As Bhutan is a collectivistic nation, these surveys examine qualities of well-being based on their own culture, focusing on the pursuit of happiness for their nation as opposed to just focusing on qualities with oneself. Some of these measures include community vitality, cultural diversity, time-use, psychological well-being, health, education, living standards, and good governance standards. Although these are the standards of all of the surveys distributed, there are other categories examined based on the district in which you live. From the 124 variables measured in these surveys, each citizen is put into two categories of “happy” and “not-yet-happy”.
With the aid of these surveys, the Bhutanese government can then focus their efforts on the insufficiencies that can be improved by the government of the “not-yet-happy” citizens. In some of the more poverty-stricken rural areas, the Gross National Happiness can work to improve these areas living standards, education, and general life balance. In urban parts of Bhutan, some insufficiencies for “not-yet-happy” people include lack of community, lack of culture, and problems that arise on a psychological level.
Although well-being is so vital to the Bhutanese, it is interesting that they are consistently not ranked very well on the World Happiness Report. As an agricultural society, with many of their farmers dealing with poverty, Bhutan ranked 95th out of 156 countries in the 2019 World Happiness Report (in case one is curious, Finland is consistently ranked first). The World Happiness Report measures on Life Satisfaction, Happiness (yesterday), Happiness (life evaluation), Log of Income, as well as other standards. Not exactly indicating that their people are exactly happy, so to speak, but keep in mind that the Gross National Happiness Index was introduced around 2010 with the hopes of creating a happier society fully knowing the reality of their country.
Bhutan’s Prime Minister Lotay Tshering not only highly values the Gross National Happiness, but this initiative can be found in his top two priorities as the Prime Minister. While in this position, Tshering’s two main goals are to establish universal healthcare and universal education for Bhutan.
Although Bhutan isn’t ranked the happiest country in the world as of yet, it has made major progress over the past few decades. According to a CNN article on the subject, “The World Bank calls Bhutan a developmental success story, with decreasing levels of extreme poverty and improvements in gender equality, as well as a stable political and economic environment.”**
Due to improved healthcare and better access to nutritious food, the life expectancy has grown from fifty-years-old to seventy-years-old over the past forty years. Also, in 2005 Bhutan became the first tobacco-free nation and made a huge national aim of conserving their parks and lands. In fact, 70% of the country is considered a protected forest land. These levels in progress are hugely substantial and should not be taken lightly. If Bhutan continues at this rate, Finland should be worried about Bhutan taking their number one position.
All positive generalizations aside, although they may not be ranked super high on the report, vision and hope can do so much for a person, which can in turn make incredible strides for a nation or society. The United States and other Western nations should really take the Bhutanese Gross National Happiness initiative into consideration for their own countries. In the very least, we should try to take a greater interest in other people’s well-being and focus more on humanity rather than ourselves as individuals. This has the potential of benefiting everyone.
Bhutan really has their priorities straight on behalf of their citizens. This can be seen in the sheer vast amount of growth and progress that the nation has made over the past few decades, which in hindsight is not that much time at all. I hope for the Bhutanese, that they continue to become happier and have more access to things that affect their well-being. I gain happiness knowing that the Bhutanese government really cares so much about the well-being of their people to such a high degree. Because of this initiative, the Bhutanese people and society will continue to modernize and prosper.
*2012 World Happiness Report (Rep.). (n.d.). Retrieved from https://s3.amazonaws.com/happiness-report/2012/World_Happiness_Report_2012.pdf
**LaMotte, S. (2019, September 13). Meet the smoking-free, carbon-negative country that passes no law unless it improves citizens' well-being. Retrieved January 14, 2021, from https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/13/health/bhutan-gross-national-happiness-wellness/index.html
