Happiness of Bhutan

The Gross National Happiness (GNH)

The Gross National Happiness Index (GNH) offers an alternate way to measure progress of a country - in fact, a better way. It believes that for development to be sustainable it should take a holistic approach by giving equal importance to non-economic aspects of human well-being also. Therefore, the GNH includes spiritual, physical and social well-being of people as well as health of the environmental.

The idea of GNH was first proposed in 1972 by Bhutan's former king, Jigme Singye Wangchuk. Since then enhancing people’s happiness has been the prime goal of the government. In 1999, the Center for Bhutan Studies (CBS) was established as an autonomous research institute for the purpose of ‘promoting and deepening the understanding of Gross National Happiness’. It also helps policymakers define development strategies to promote the GNH and check that no policy is going against the guiding principle of GNH. The center conceived the idea of quantifying happiness in the form of a Gross National Happiness Index and came up with 9 domains of well-being to be probed by 33 indicators. Thus, GNHI makes it possible to quantify happiness!

The nine domains of GNH are:

1) Psychological well-being
2) Health
3) Time use
4) Education
5) Cultural diversity and resilience
6) Good governance
7) Community vitality
8) Ecological diversity and resilience
9) Living standard

These nine domains actually come from the four pillars (or dimensions) of GNH: 1) Sustainable and Equitable Socio-Economic Development, 2) Conservation of the Environment, 3) Preservation and Promotion of Culture and 4) Good Governance. These are broad foundations of the GNH.

In 2004, Bhutan held an international seminar on GNH. According to the permanent mission of Bhutan in the UN, since the 2004 seminar the GNH became a standard in Bhutan and "a bridge between the fundamental values of kindness, equality, and humanity and the necessary pursuit of economic growth."

The first official GNH pilot survey was conducted in 2006-2007 which showed that over 68% of Bhutan's people were happy and rated income, family, health and spirituality as their most important requirements for happiness