Happiness in the World · Episode 8 of 8 · 24 min
Gross National Happiness: What Bhutan Measures Instead of GDP
Bhutan declared in the 1970s that Gross National Happiness mattered more than gross national product, but its story has a hard shadow in the 1990s expulsion of the Lhotshampa. The finale tours alternatives, from the Human Development Index to New Zealand's Wellbeing Budget, finding they converge on relationships, trust, health, freedom and purpose. The conclusion: best was never measured, only assumed.
Who's who
- Jigme Singye WangchuckFourth king of Bhutan, credited with the Gross National Happiness phrase
- Jigmi Y. Thinley+1 more episodeBhutan's first elected prime minister, who drove the UN happiness resolution
- Sabina AlkireOxford researcher who co-developed the method behind Bhutan's GNH Index
- Mahbub ul HaqCo-creator of the Human Development Index
- Amartya SenEconomist whose capabilities approach underlies the index
- David CameronUK prime minister who ordered national wellbeing measurement in 2010
- Jacinda ArdernNew Zealand prime minister behind the 2019 Wellbeing Budget
- Daniel KahnemanPsychologist in the 2023 money-and-happiness collaboration
Where it happens
- Bhutan+1 more episodeBuilt a Gross National Happiness Index; enshrined it in 2008 constitution
- Eastern NepalRefugee camps that received expelled Lhotshampa
- New ZealandAdopted the world's first Wellbeing Budget in 2019, dropped in 2024
- WalesPassed a future-generations law in 2015
Timeline
- 1972Conventional date of the Gross National Happiness coinage
- 1988Crackdown begins; roughly 90,000 to 110,000 Lhotshampa flee or are expelled by 1993
- 1990Human Development Index debuts
- 2008Bhutan's constitution enshrines Gross National Happiness
- May 2019New Zealand's Wellbeing Budget
- 2023Kahneman, Killingsworth and Mellers resolve the money-and-happiness dispute
Still debated
The 1972 coinage date is canonical but best documented only from 1979. Bhutan's government disputes the Lhotshampa numbers and characterization, claiming many were illegal immigrants, which UN refugee data reject. Whether New Zealand's experiment failed is debated, and the money curve beyond high incomes remains open.