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Measuring Happiness in Bhutan
Out of the small Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan came a concept that has enthralled the international development community: Gross National Happiness. GNH offers up a different way to measure a country's well-being, based on the common welfare and infused with a good dose of spirituality--in contrast to the materialism represented by the Gross National Product (GNP). In a time dominated by anxiety about recession, climate change and spiraling energy and food prices, GNH seems to offer a respite, an alternative vision.
I had the chance to explore the concept while visiting Bhutan this month, and saw that, unlike the romantic vision of Shangri-La widely painted in the West, GNH in Bhutan is a complex national quest with wide, if not universal, implications.
King Jigme Singye Wangchuck planted the seeds of GNH in the early 1970s as Bhutan, until then extraordinarily isolated from the forces of modernization, joined the United Nations. The king wanted to avoid what he saw as the many pitfalls of modernization and he feared losing both Bhutanese culture and autonomy. GNH was formally set out as a national objective in 1982 and it figures in the Bhutanese Constitution approved earlier this year (Article 9, 2, "The State shall strive to promote those conditions that will enable the pursuit of Gross National Happiness.") Bhutan's leaders have been consistent in their dedication to GNH over the decades.
One of the key themes is balance: balancing material welfare with concern for nature, preservation of culture with technological change (for example the ubiquitous cell phones clasped to everyone's ears). Among the most important are balancing rights with responsibilities and individual happiness with that of the community. Material wealth is viewed as a means, not an end. As Bhutan has embarked on a process of modernization, its leaders hope that with GNH they can preserve the country's culture without forgoing the benefits of globalization and social change.
I was particularly interested in the role of Buddhism in GNH, since Bhutan was for many years the world's only formally Buddhist country (the new constitution does not give Buddhism a formal role but rather cites "a good and compassionate society rooted in Buddhist ethos and universal human values"). Buddhist values and teachings are clearly evident in the way GNH is described. The linking of happiness with enlightenment and focus on moderation are two such threads. But Bhutan's GNH leaders stress that GNH is Bhutanese more than Buddhist, and for them GNH contains many elements of universal values.
Dr. Karma Ura, leader of the Center for Bhutan Studies, is charged with measuring progress towards national happiness in objective, scientific ways. This is done, he said, through 31 sets of indicators that are tracked twice a year through sample interviews. Spirituality, for example, is measured through four main indicators: practice of meditation, prayer, commitment to non-violence, and belief in a broader life purpose, for example reincarnation. For emotional welfare, he said, three negative emotions and three positive (out of 14) seem the best predictors: on the negative side, frustration, selfishness, and anger, and on the positive end, compassion, generosity, and calmness.
Beyond Bhutan, the GNH concept means different things to different people. There is an impressive battery of GNH analysis, with several international conferences devoted to the topic (the next is in Thimphu, Bhutan's capital, in November). For some, GNH is that elusive "alternative path" to development that avoids the evils of greed and environmental destruction that they see at the root of capitalism and globalization. For others, GNH symbolizes the enrichment and broadening of objectives and learning that reflect the best in contemporary development thinking. In fact, the Bhutanese articulation of GNH, with the possible exception of its spiritual dimensions, includes many of the cutting edge ingredients of thinking about development, including a focus on environment and good governance.
Happiness is a tantalizing and important topic with universal implications: when I Googled the word I got 104 million hits. It is a universal quest, for everyone and for every society and questions about what brings happiness abound: is happiness part of genetic makeup? Part of a culture? Is it a personal matter, or a social condition? Both Bhutan and Buddhism have a lot to teach us about what happiness means and how we can advance in our own pursuit of it.
By Katherine Marshall |
August 22, 2008; 6:57 PM ET
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Posted by: RAS | August 26, 2008 9:16 AM
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Cigarettes are not for sale in Bhutan. Animals are not killed for food in Bhutan. Plastic bags are not used in Bhutan. In Bhutan, to protect the forests, paper is made from bamboo (and not wood).
Graffiti in Bhutan is painting "Say no to alcohol" on a roadside rockface.
Where else but Bhutan would farmers and their families willingly leave their land and their homes so the valley in which they lived and work could be dedicated to the survival of the world's last 800 black-necked cranes?
Bhutan is advanced in ways that the rest of the world can only envy.
One of the ways is the Bhutanese concept of happiness -- which is almost totally unrelated to the Western concept of happiness.
Posted by: RAS | August 26, 2008 12:41 AM
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Cigarettes are not for sale in Bhutan. Animals are not killed for food in Bhutan. Plastic bags are not used in Bhutan. In Bhutan, to protect the forests, paper is made from bamboo (and not wood).
Graffiti in Bhutan is painting "Say no to alcohol" on a roadside rockface.
Where else but Bhutan would farmers and their families willingly leave their land and their homes so the valley in which they lived and work could be dedicated to the survival of the world's last 800 black-necked cranes?
Bhutan is advanced in ways that the rest of the world can only envy.
One of the ways is the Bhutanese concept of happiness -- which is almost totally unrelated to the Western concept of happiness.
Posted by: RAS | August 26, 2008 12:39 AM
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Interesting concept. But it's very simplistic. One can argue that everything we do is to bring us happiness. Putting everything that can bring us happiness into neat buckets (31 sets of indicators) is kind of silly. It's like trying to sum-up all the self-help books ever written, the books about finances, about all aspects of life that are supposed to make life easier into a simple list. Also, why make happiness an objective? I mean, there are a lot of idiots and jerks in the world who are happy all the time. Also, we become better people when we go through pain and suffering. Again, this article the GNH see life as too simplistic.
Posted by: John | August 25, 2008 1:33 PM
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I second Ron Sitoula. Being a Nepali, I feel extremely sorry for thousands of Nepali speaking people who were kicked out of Bhutan several years ago. The writer probably does not know about this ethnic cleansing.
Posted by: Casey | August 25, 2008 12:51 PM
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I have to agree with the readers who questioned Katherine Marshall's absurdly rosy perspective. Whenever I read one of these articles praising Bhutan's GNH (and there have been many, some of which offer some nuance), I have to wonder whether the author would really want to be a part of a society that manages and controls the freedoms of its citizens to the extent that Bhutan does. It would be good to have a conversation about what "progress" actually means for our lives and our world, but if that conversation completely ignores the obvious problems that arise when a government claims the authority to control all aspects of its citizens' lives, it will remain not only academic but meaningless.
Posted by: Erik | August 25, 2008 12:49 PM
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I went to the Bhutan exhibit at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival this past July. It was fascinating. The people were genuinely friendly and happy to be there, of course. But they really seem to be resolving their issues and working on a different perspective. It looks like a fascinating place to visit.
Posted by: Athena | August 25, 2008 11:26 AM
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Bhutan is directing itself towards a much improved set of values compared to most everywhere else in the world. But Bhutan's progress in this direction is hindered as long as there is no solution to the plight of the 100,000+ refugess that are starving in Nepal.
Posted by: Alfred | August 25, 2008 11:25 AM
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Where do I sign up? The world is speeding up in a race for the bottom...in terms of waging war instead of waging peace, human and civil rights, feeding, housing, providing medical care, and educating our young (girls and boys). I fear Earth will resemble a Mad Max film in 50 to 100 years without a serious about face.
Posted by: Kim in DC | August 25, 2008 11:02 AM
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I guess the annual GHN has been -ve for Bhutan for the last 15 plus years because of their atrocities committed against their own minority Nepali speaking population who were kicked out of Bhutan and are mostly languishing in refugee camps in Jhapa, Nepal. I suggest the writer to visit those camps as well before determining GHN for Bhutan.
Posted by: Ron Sitoula | August 25, 2008 10:21 AM
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This article brings a very refreshing perspective! There can be something other than crass materialism coupled with zero-sum, sensationalist religion. I like the way Buddhism strives to establish balance, and emphasizes the relationships between people and between people and things.
Posted by: julie | August 25, 2008 10:20 AM
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Another interesting point about Bhutan:
Every Bhutanese child, based on scholastic ability, has the opportunity to attend University.
This means going abroad (as Bhutan's first University is only now being built).
After studying abroad (in Europe, the US or India), almost every single Bhutanese returns to Bhutan.
This is certainly not the case with students from other countries who study abroad.