Bhutan Prime Minister Explains Metric of ‘Gross National Happiness’ : Forget gross national product. The prime minister of Bhutan says a nation should measure itself by its gross national happiness.
Jigmi Y. Thinley spoke about his country’s unusual metric to about 450 people in Low Rotunda during Columbia’s World Leaders Forum on Sept. 15. His was the first in the 2010-2011 series of forums and talks by world leaders at Columbia, a year-round event series that includes heads of state and global thought leaders from a variety of countries and fields.
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Jigmi Y. Thinley, prime minister of Bhutan, spoke about gross national happiness at Columbia’s World Leaders Forum.
Image credit: Eileen Barroso/Columbia University
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Bhutan, a Buddhist kingdom of about 700,000 nestled in the Himalayas between China and India, has adopted an unusual and complex system of measuring gross national happiness as an alternative to GNP, the common economic indicator that measures the sum of all goods and services produced by a nation.
Thinley said GNH is based on the belief that the purpose of development and the role of the state is to create a place where people can pursue what they aspire to most in life: happiness.
“It is a holistic development paradigm to make human society resilient,” said Thinley. “We are the only country so far that promotes happiness through deliberate public policy and action.” Continue reading Why ‘Gross National Happiness’ (GNH)? Forget GDP