Wellbeing and Policy in Bhutan

This chapter offers insights into Bhutan’s internationally recognized Gross National Happiness (GNH) policy as a catalyst for the current thinking worldwide beyond Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In particular, it investigates the history and implementation of the GNH philosophy, index, and surveys, to assess the extent to which the government has achieved wellbeing for Bhutanese citizens. The chapter contextualizes the GNH framework within the Relational Wellbeing (RWB) approach, which holds that wellbeing arises through and from the balance of the interdependent relationships between the individual, society, and the environment. By considering GDP as only a means to achieve material wellbeing, the GNH policy has successfully oriented its economic and governance structures to increase people’s multidimensional wellbeing, while concurrently ensuring environmental sustainability. The chapter also highlights that the current focus on excessive material accumulation - inspired by the perception that GDP growth is the sole measure of wellbeing - negates the relationships at the center of social and psychological dimensions of wellbeing. With a rising number of mental health challenges in Bhutan and globally, the chapter recommends measuring inner or cultural poverty (a state or level of emotional or relational deficiencies, due to a lack of psychological or relational wealth within oneself) at national and global levels with the same importance that income poverty is assessed. It subsequently emphasizes that further research into Indigenous Knowledge and their relational approaches to wellbeing - like GNH - could provide the intellectual and cultural diversity needed for holistic wellbeing and sustainable development.