UNSDG #3 – Good Health and Wellbeing Bhutan's Gross National Happiness

UNSDG #3 – Good Health and Wellbeing
Bhutan's Gross National Happiness

1. Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness

2. Area: 14,824 mi 2 Population: 797,765 (2016) GDP: 2.237 Billion (2016)

3. Bhutan Video

4. “Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross Domestic Product.” -His Majesty, the Fourth Druk Gyalpo , Jigme Singye Wangchuck

5. The retired Fourth King of Bhutan, first coined the phrase ‘Gross National Happiness’ in 1972. Until 1950s: Absolute Monarchy 1952: Groundwork for democracy starts 2006: Fourth King abdicated in favor of the Fifth 2008: Bhutan transitioned from a monarchy to a democratic constitutional monarchy. The Constitution of Bhutan(2008, Article 9) calls for the State to “promote those conditions that will enable the pursuit of Gross National Happiness. Historical Context

6. What is GNH? A development philosophy Essentially that development should be sustainable and take a holistic approach, giving equal importance to non-economic aspects of wellbeing. An index Gross National Happiness Index is a measurement tool for policy making.

7. The Four Pillars of GNH Sustainable Socio-Economic Development Environmental Conservation Cultural Preservation Good Governance Cr: bhutannomad.com Cr: Authentic Bhutan Cr: bbs.bt

8. Further classified into 9 Domains

9. GNH Index With the pillars and domains, Bhutan has developed 38 sub-indexes, 72 indicators/33 grouped indicators and 151 variables GNH index is a single number index developed from these indicators. A person is identified as ‘happy’ when they achieve sufficiency in 70% of the domains

10. How Does gnh Guide Bhutan’s Development? Policy making is centered around the GNH index ‘ GNH Policy Lens ’ Government projects and policies work together to maximize GNH 2011: UN General Assembly unanimously adopted Happiness as an independent goal for all countries

11. GNH Index in 2015 The government conducts surveys to gauge the general happiness level of the public

12. GNH Index in 2015 Across all groups: Men are happier than women People in urban areas are happier than rural residents Single and married people are happier than widowed, divorced or separated people More educated people people are happier Farmers are less happy than other occupational groups

13. How Has Happiness changed? Compared to the 2010 Survey: GNH increase by 1.8% Increases were equalizing Urban areas growth outstripped rural areas Percentage of deeply happy and extensively happy people increased to 43.4% from 40.9% Concerns: Reduction in sufficiency Psychological well-being, community vitality, and cultural diversity

14. What does this mean? The sustainable goals for Bhutan must reflect these results Preserve the indicators that saw decreases Increase happiness for those groups that saw less growth

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