Bhutan Systematic Country Diagnostic : Taking Bhutan’s Development Success to the Next Level

Bhutan is a small, landlocked country deep in the eastern Himalayas between India and China. Over a horizontal distance of just 100-150 km, the elevation rises from about 150 meters above sea level in the south to over 7,000 meters in the north. Th...

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Main Author: World Bank Group
Format: Report
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/162771580405026027/Bhutan-Systematic-Country-Diagnostic
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33286
id okr-10986-33286
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-332862021-05-25T09:32:16Z Bhutan Systematic Country Diagnostic : Taking Bhutan’s Development Success to the Next Level World Bank Group HYDROPOWER EQUITABLE GROWTH POVERTY REDUCTION POVERTY ALLEVIATION HUMAN CAPITAL PHYSICAL CAPITAL PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT YOUTH EMPLOYMENT ENERGY SECTOR REFORM MACROECONOMIC MANAGEMENT SERVICE DELIVERY CLIMATE RESILIENCE DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT SUSTAINABLE GROWTH INCLUSIVE GROWTH Bhutan is a small, landlocked country deep in the eastern Himalayas between India and China. Over a horizontal distance of just 100-150 km, the elevation rises from about 150 meters above sea level in the south to over 7,000 meters in the north. The population of about 735,0001 is scattered across steep mountain slopes and valleys, many in remote and far-flung hamlets. This makes Bhutan one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world, ranked 182 out of 215 countries. Nearly half the land area is protected to help preserve biodiversity. With forest coverage exceeding 70 percent, Bhutan is the only carbon-negative country in the world, absorbing more greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) than it produces, and not counting the carbon that its hydropower exports displace in India. Bhutan started opening up to the outside world only in the early 2000s, but its political and economic ties are still mainly with India. Despite sharing a long border with China in the north, the formal relationship is limited. Bhutan’s independence throughout its history has helped preserve its rich cultural heritage and traditions. As its development policies demonstrate, Bhutan strives to be self-sufficient and to conserve its environment and culture. Bhutan’s unique development philosophy, GNH, guides its development plans, emphasizing a holistic and inclusive approach to sustainable development. The four pillars of GNH are (a) good governance, (b) sustainable socioeconomic development, (c) preservation and promotion of culture, and (d) conserving the environment. Since 2008, Bhutan has had a development management system guided by the Constitution, with development strategies and annual budgets driven by GHN principles. The GNH Index and the GNH Policy Screening Tool are its main instruments for operationalizing GNH into the formulation of development policies. The GNH Index measures Bhutan’s progress toward maximizing GNH; the GNH Policy Screening Tool assesses how a new policy will affect GNH. Many of Bhutan’s development achievements can be attributed to this unique development framework, which has been supported by continued efforts to ensure good governance. 2020-02-05T18:04:15Z 2020-02-05T18:04:15Z 2020-01-30 Report http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/162771580405026027/Bhutan-Systematic-Country-Diagnostic http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33286 English CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Systematic Country Diagnostic South Asia Bhutan
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic HYDROPOWER
EQUITABLE GROWTH
POVERTY REDUCTION
POVERTY ALLEVIATION
HUMAN CAPITAL
PHYSICAL CAPITAL
PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT
YOUTH EMPLOYMENT
ENERGY SECTOR REFORM
MACROECONOMIC MANAGEMENT
SERVICE DELIVERY
CLIMATE RESILIENCE
DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT
SUSTAINABLE GROWTH
INCLUSIVE GROWTH
spellingShingle HYDROPOWER
EQUITABLE GROWTH
POVERTY REDUCTION
POVERTY ALLEVIATION
HUMAN CAPITAL
PHYSICAL CAPITAL
PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT
YOUTH EMPLOYMENT
ENERGY SECTOR REFORM
MACROECONOMIC MANAGEMENT
SERVICE DELIVERY
CLIMATE RESILIENCE
DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT
SUSTAINABLE GROWTH
INCLUSIVE GROWTH
World Bank Group
Bhutan Systematic Country Diagnostic : Taking Bhutan’s Development Success to the Next Level
geographic_facet South Asia
Bhutan
description Bhutan is a small, landlocked country deep in the eastern Himalayas between India and China. Over a horizontal distance of just 100-150 km, the elevation rises from about 150 meters above sea level in the south to over 7,000 meters in the north. The population of about 735,0001 is scattered across steep mountain slopes and valleys, many in remote and far-flung hamlets. This makes Bhutan one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world, ranked 182 out of 215 countries. Nearly half the land area is protected to help preserve biodiversity. With forest coverage exceeding 70 percent, Bhutan is the only carbon-negative country in the world, absorbing more greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) than it produces, and not counting the carbon that its hydropower exports displace in India. Bhutan started opening up to the outside world only in the early 2000s, but its political and economic ties are still mainly with India. Despite sharing a long border with China in the north, the formal relationship is limited. Bhutan’s independence throughout its history has helped preserve its rich cultural heritage and traditions. As its development policies demonstrate, Bhutan strives to be self-sufficient and to conserve its environment and culture. Bhutan’s unique development philosophy, GNH, guides its development plans, emphasizing a holistic and inclusive approach to sustainable development. The four pillars of GNH are (a) good governance, (b) sustainable socioeconomic development, (c) preservation and promotion of culture, and (d) conserving the environment. Since 2008, Bhutan has had a development management system guided by the Constitution, with development strategies and annual budgets driven by GHN principles. The GNH Index and the GNH Policy Screening Tool are its main instruments for operationalizing GNH into the formulation of development policies. The GNH Index measures Bhutan’s progress toward maximizing GNH; the GNH Policy Screening Tool assesses how a new policy will affect GNH. Many of Bhutan’s development achievements can be attributed to this unique development framework, which has been supported by continued efforts to ensure good governance.
format Report
author World Bank Group
author_facet World Bank Group
author_sort World Bank Group
title Bhutan Systematic Country Diagnostic : Taking Bhutan’s Development Success to the Next Level
title_short Bhutan Systematic Country Diagnostic : Taking Bhutan’s Development Success to the Next Level
title_full Bhutan Systematic Country Diagnostic : Taking Bhutan’s Development Success to the Next Level
title_fullStr Bhutan Systematic Country Diagnostic : Taking Bhutan’s Development Success to the Next Level
title_full_unstemmed Bhutan Systematic Country Diagnostic : Taking Bhutan’s Development Success to the Next Level
title_sort bhutan systematic country diagnostic : taking bhutan’s development success to the next level
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2020
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/162771580405026027/Bhutan-Systematic-Country-Diagnostic
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33286
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