Bhutan GNH Index

Gross National Happiness (GNH) is a development philosophy as well as an index which is used to measure the collective happiness in a nation. The concept is indigenous to the country of Bhutan, and was enshrined in the country’s 2008 constitution which states that “the State shall strive to promote those conditions that will enable the pursuit of Gross National Happiness.” The term ‘Gross National Happiness’ was inadvertently coined in 1979 during an interview in Bombay Airport when His Majesty said “We do not believe in Gross National Product. Gross National Happiness is more important.”

The term “gross national happiness” was famously coined by the fourth king of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, in the early 1970s.

GNH is a continuously evolving concept, but perhaps its most recognizable analytical features are the four GNH pillars, which are: economic self reliance, environmental conservation, cultural preservation and promotion, and good governance.

GNH is distinguishable by for example valuing collective happiness as the goal of governance, and by emphasizing harmony with nature and traditional values.

The GNH concept has evolved through the contribution of international and local scholars and researchers to become an initiative beyond the borders of Bhutan. In 2005, Med Jones, an American economist, proposed a second generation American GNH concept also known as Gross National Well-being or GNW, the first GNW / GNH Index and the first Global GNW / GNH Index Survey. The proposal served as a blueprint for the later well-being development frameworks and happiness econometric models.

In 2006, the International Institute of Management published a policy white paper calling for the implementation of GNH philosophy in the US.

Two Canadians, Michael and Martha Pennock, played a major role in developing the Bhutanese GNH survey. They developed a shorter international version of the survey which has been used in their home region of Victoria BC as well as in Brazil. The Pennocks also collaborated with Ura in the production of a policy lens which is used by the Bhutanese GNH Commission for anticipating the impact of policy initiatives upon the levels of GNH in Bhutan.

In 2010, The Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative OPHI at the University of Oxford in UK, launched the international Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) which has been published in the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Human Development Reports since 2010. Similar to the GNH index, OPHI promotes collection and analysis of data on multiple indicators based on three domains: health, education, and living standards.

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