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Straddling the eastern ridges of the Himalayas, Bhutan is defined by mountains. Apart from the slender Duars Plain in the south near the Indian border, all of this small, landlocked country is either glaciated peaks, swooping valleys, alpine meadows, or montane forest. Roughly 72 percent of the country is forested, and, as mandated in its constitution, the country will always preserve 60 percent of its land under forest cover.
A former monarchy that became a parliamentary democracy in 2008, Bhutan maintains the world's only official Gross National Happiness (GNH) Index. Bhutanese King Jigme Singye Wangchuck coined the term "Gross National Happiness" in 1972, believing it to be more important than Gross Domestic Product.
Apart from exhaustive reports on happiness, GNH provides a foundation for its government and citizenry to encourage sustainable development over unchecked economic progress, and to highlight the many facets of well-being (it is worth pointing out that the United Nations' World Happiness Report ranks Bhutan 95th out of 156, not exceptionally happy. However, this discrepancy could be the result of different criteria and methodology).
Mountains—which may have a direct impact on happiness—hold a central and sacred place to the Bhutanese. The Buddhist kingdom forbids mountaineering on peaks above 6,000 meters (19,700 feet). This includes what is considered to be the world’s highest unclimbed mountain, Gangkhar Puensum, at 7,570 meters (24,800 feet).
With countless Buddhist deities believed to reside in the mountains, the government in the 1990s decided to close them to climbers. This decision might also, in part, be due to the glaring environmental impacts of overcrowding on Mount Everest.
These are a few of the results from Bhutan’s most recent Gross National Happiness Report:
- 89 percent of the population report "normal mental well-being."
- 82 percent of Bhutanese feel "highly responsible" for conserving their natural environment.
- 90 percent rated their health as "good," "very good," or "excellent."
- 64 percent describe their sense of belonging to their local community as "very strong"; a further 32 percent describe it as "somewhat strong."
Read an analysis of the Index here.
