The index presents a stark picture, but by measuring what matters – beyond only GDP – the data shows how fragility and crisis block the arteries of progress.
Last week I had the opportunity to visit Bhutan for the first time, a trip I’ve been looking forward to for many years. The country’s quest to buck the global trend of measuring human development success by Gross Development Product and going instead with Gross National Happiness has long intrigued me.
The World Health Organisation warns that by 2030, depression will be the leading contributor to the global disease burden. So, should countries set out to make their people happy as a goal in itself? Countries like these are following a recognized, if alternative, path forged by pioneers of measuring what matters.The tiny Kingdom of Bhutan, located in the heights of the Himalayan mountain range between China and India, is one of them.
Twice, in 2010 and 2015, the Centre for Bhutan Studies – a think tank in Bhutan’s capital city of Thimphu – carried out a national census-like Gross National Happiness Survey to measure with empirical precision the quality and depth of each person’s happiness over time. Espousing a different route to GDP does not mean the economy does not matter. It does. Even as one the fastest growing economies in the world, there is mounting pressure in Bhutan to create more jobs. In 2023, Bhutan is set to graduate from the world’s least developed countries group, signalling a potential change in the relationship between Bhutan and the rest of the world.
These goals set out an international plan of action for peace, people, the planet, prosperity and partnership, driven by the same ethos and instincts as GNH.
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