Diplomatic World_nummer 57

BHUTAN: REVOLUTIONARY
CONCEPT OF GROSS NATIONAL
HAPPINESS
Officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, the country
which has become known for pioneering the
concept of gross national happiness, is located
in the Eastern Himalayas between China
and India. Situated on the Silk Road Bhutan
is a Buddhist country and the religion still
informs the leadership of the country. Bhutan
comprises of rich and varied landscapes,
ranging from the Himalayan mountains in the
north to subtropical plains in the south.
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Is it possible to measure happiness? It is quite normal for
the facts and figures of most countries to include indicators
of wealth, of export and imports as well as access to
education and leisure pursuits, it is less common however
for a country to offer figures of happiness and for a country
to place significant emphasis on such figures.
Positioned between India and China, Bhutan has pursued
ambitions to assess national levels of happiness since 1971
and has used such figures to change or create new national
policies in order to improve life in Bhutan.
First conceived by Bhutan’s fourth King Jigme Singye
Wangchuck, the philosophy of Gross National Happiness
places happiness at a greater level than Gross Domestic
Product and since has brought much international interest
and attention to the country.
How the figures of happiness are measured are
complicated, and much discourse surrounds the ways to
achieve the most effective and accurate parameters to
measure happiness.
Differing sources offer up different information with one
site stating twenty-six variables for measuring happiness
whilst another researcher speaks of the nine domains and
thirty-three indicators of GNH.
Ambitions to place a nation's happiness centre stage are
inspirational, but when most countries figure their progress
in purely monetary terms, how does Bhutan hope to
communicate their strategy to the world?
Although the King is known as the architect of the bold
sounding strategy, the philosophy has recently found a more
grounded realisation in the implementation of The GNH
Assessment Tool for Business, which was initiated by Dasho
Tshering Tobgay, the Prime Minister of Bhutan in 2015 at
the sixth annual International Conference on GNH. It is here
that the ambitions of the King can be seen as materialising
and functioning on the level that many international
businesses and diplomatic strategies may understand, that of
promoting and pursuing sustainable business.
The tools and parameters of assessment include such titles
as Psychological Wellbeing, Health, Time Use, Education,
Cultural Diversity and Resilience, Good Governance,
Community Vitality, Ecological Diversity and Resilience
and Living Standards.
“While Business is important for the economy” the
accompanying leaflet from the conference reads, “it can be
harmful to society if the business is conducted purely for
economic ends.”