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Poverty in Bhutan Combated by “Five Year Plans”

Poverty in Bhutan Over the last 14 years, poverty in Bhutan has substantially decreased. This is a result of the nation’s philosophy of Gross National Happiness and its developmental Five Year Plans. Support from other nations has also helped make Bhutan’s successes possible. With further support, the nation could eradicate poverty within its borders. 

History

Bhutan, officially named the “Kingdom of Bhutan,” is a small nation in South-Central Asia. Historically, poverty in Bhutan has been an ongoing struggle. In 2003, the poverty rate in Bhutan was well above 25%, and the proportion of the population in extreme poverty (living on less than $1.90 a day) was 17.6%. 

However, there have since been major successes in the fight against poverty in Bhutan. As of 2017, poverty in Bhutan was 8.2%, less than a third of what it was 14 years prior. More impressively, the proportion of Bhutan’s population living in extreme poverty dropped to 1.5%. 

Gross National Happiness

The key to success in fighting poverty in Bhutan can be attributed to the nation’s developmental philosophy. The nation does not believe in measuring its progress through the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) lens used by other countries. Rather, Bhutan evaluates its success through Gross National Happiness (GNH) indexing.

The GNH system directs Bhutan’s government to step in and present the country with the best path to maximize the happiness of its citizens. The nation places a high priority on taking the initiative to fight poverty and inequality for this reason. In the country’s 1629 legal code, it states: “If the government cannot create happiness for its people, there is no purpose for the government to exist.” This sentiment still stands today in Bhutan. The government continues to direct its focus on allowing more and more people to pursue happy and healthy lives. 

Five Year Plans

To combat poverty in Bhutan, the country began a series of five-year development plans in 1961. Fittingly named “Five Year Plans,” each successive half-decade strategy sets forward a targeted initiative to address the largest assessed proponent of poverty in Bhutan.

Part of the success of the Five Year Plans was derived from its flexibility. As Bhutan continued to develop and change, the development strategies were able to shift with it. Each new implementation of the Five Year Plans would involve recreating the successes of the previous plan. Thus, any practices that proved to be inefficient could be replaced.

Nevertheless, all of the Five Year Plans initiatives had some commonality that greatly boosted the fight against poverty in Bhutan. The strategies all pushed for increased sources of income generation, expanded social resources, and rural development.

Bhutan’s strategic development planning, in combination with its GNH philosophy, was crucial toward its successes against poverty. However, Bhutan’s vast success would not have been possible without assistance from foreign nations. Further global efforts will continue to play a large role in the fight to eradicate poverty in Bhutan. 

– Asa Scott
Photo: Flickr

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Successful Strategies Addressing Poverty in Bhutan

Poverty in BhutanBhutan is a small country tucked away in the mountainous terrain of the Himalayas. Known as the Kingdom of Happiness, Bhutan is notable for creating its Gross National Happiness Index. This index serves as a tool for the Government of Bhutan to outline what must occur in order to foster and maintain a holistically sustainable environment. To uphold this index, Bhutan has made it a priority to reduce poverty in Bhutan and better the quality of life for the population.

Poverty in Bhutan

Poverty in Bhutan stems largely from issues with the country’s terrain. The Himalayas, while beautiful, are also difficult to cultivate, traverse and control. Farmers struggle to grow enough crops to maintain a stable income due to the limited access to farmable land. What workable land there is, often rests at the whims of various natural disasters. The lack of education and diverse job opportunities also have made it difficult for many to rise out of their economic situation without help and intervention.

Over the last 10 years, the government has made impressive strides to address poverty in Bhutan. Between 2007 and 2012, poverty dropped from 23% down to 12%. In 2017, Bhutan announced that it had once again cut its poverty rate by half over five years, dropping the number down to 5.8%.

Strategies and Improvements

The value of land productivity has been rising and thus, farming has become a more profitable and sustainable industry. Bhutan cultivates less than 3% of its land but the country has shifted to producing high-value commercial crops. These crops sell for a high price with countries such as India and Bangladesh, making up for the lack of farmable land. Trade agreements have stimulated the value of agricultural exports, increasing the international cash flow into Bhutan’s own economy.

Infrastructure and road production have become vital players in the reduction of poverty in Bhutan. The Government of Bhutan set out to update existing paths, develop new highways and ensure that no town is more than a half-day walk from the closest road. High-quality roads allow for traffic both through and out of rural areas. This increased traffic to urban areas provides easier access to jobs, education and other opportunities for those who previously struggled with inaccessibility.

Hydroelectric projects also play a sizeable role in Bhutan’s efforts to fight poverty. These projects have not only stimulated job growth within rural communities but have also brought in many foreign workers. The presence of these workers increases local spending, benefitting rural communities with income.

Looking Forward

Over the last decade, the rate of poverty in Bhutan has fallen to new lows. While there are still many in the country that struggle with poor living conditions, the government is working to ensure that they too will benefit from the economic changes that Bhutan is trying to normalize. The Gross National Happiness Index accounts for all the people of the country and thus, Bhutan will continue to work at helping its people until all are holistically happy.

– Nicolette Schneiderman
Photo: Flickr

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Weighing Up GNH in Bhutan

GNH in Bhutan
In 1972, the fourth King of Bhutan declared that “Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross Domestic Product”. This idea has since shaped the nation and was included in the constitution in 2008.

Defining GNH in Bhutan

Bhutan, as a developing country, has designed Gross National Happiness (GNH) as a more holistic measurement of progress and prosperity of a country. Specifically, GNH in Bhutan is based on equitable social development, cultural preservation, conservation of the environment and good governance. This special method of political quantification emphasizes wellbeing over material growth, environmental conservation and sustainability over economic growth.

Some doubt the possibility of creating a nation full of a happy population. However, Bhutan’s minister of education Thakur Singh Powdyel has that “GNH in Bhutan serves as an aspiration, a set of guiding principles through which we are navigating our path towards a sustainable and equitable society”.

Ever since elucidating the ideal of GNH in Bhutan, the government has laid out national policies on the grounds of sustainability. Namely, the country has pledged to remain carbon-neutral and set at least 60 percent of its landmass under forest cover in perpetuity. Moreover, Bhutan prohibited some profit-making commercial activities in forests, like export logging, and also established a monthly pedestrian day that bans all private vehicles from roads.

Demonstrable Success

This visionary model has since demonstrated long-run success both economically and socially. According to the Bhutan Living Standard Survey 2007 Report, the nation successfully met a number of key Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations. Bhutan’s policies halved the number of children wasting or stunted, and the number of people without access to clean drinking water and sanitation. In addition, the nation has experienced strong and stable growth over the past 25 years.

The real growth in 2006-2007 was 8.5 percent and the GDP per capita was $1,313. Likewise, the Human Development Index was improved as well, from 0.325 in 1984 to 0.581 in 1995. This increase was unparalleled among all Least-Developed Countries and shifted Bhutan to the status of a Middle-Income Country. But overall, how effective has it been for Bhutan to lay GNH as the foundation of its national political agenda?

Challenges Remain for Bhutan

Despite its aspirational guiding principles, Bhutan remains one of the poorest countries in the world, with more than 25 percent of its population living on less than $1.25 a day and 70 percent living without electricity. The nation also grapples with rampant violent crime, gang culture and volatile global food prices.

The deep roots of poverty still linger in Bhutan and its people are nowhere near the top rankings of the U.N. Report of Happiness of Countries in 2017, with the ranking of 97. Journalists’ Association of Bhutan executive director Needrup Zangpo told NPR that the outside world “glamorizes Bhutan but overlooks a list of problems besetting the country.”

Bhutan still struggles with socio-economic problems like a widening income gap, youth unemployment and environmental degradation. On top of that, the mysterious reputation of Bhutan being a contented country has attracted many international visitors, which is aggressively encouraged by the government, at the expense of the local environment and culture.

It is difficult to truly quantify happiness, but the wellbeing of the Bhutanese population can indeed be encouraged by simultaneously caring for the environment and the economy.

– Heulwen Leung
Photo: Flickr