Gross National Happiness – Bhutan in Focus

The Himalayan country of Bhutan aims to measure progress in terms of Gross National Happiness (GNH) rather than GDP.

The Bhutanese government has set out 4 main aspects to GNH:

1. Sustainable and equitable socio-economic development
2. Environmental conservation
3. Preservation and promotion of national culture
4. Good governance.

To support improvement in each of these aspects, the Bhutanese government has developed 9 “domains” that it aims to measure using both surveys (“subjective” measures) and objective measures.

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 standards

GNH as a concept has spread from Bhutan, although is mostly used in cities and areas smaller than a country.

The United Nations now publishes an annual World Happiness Report. In 2019, Finland was declared the happiest country in the world for the 2nd year in a row, followed by Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, Iceland and the Netherlands.

The country experiencing the biggest decline in happiness was Venezuela – a country afflicted by hyper-inflation, mass unemployment and a surge in extreme poverty. The most rapid climber was Togo.