Bhutan: GNH vs. GNP

Reprinted from the NY Times

Nov. 11, 2005 — You cannot get much further from America. You could call the tiny, landlocked nation of Bhutan the anti-greed country: an ancient Himalayan kingdom where yaks roam the hills and every trail ends at a Buddhist monastery. Forty years ago, it had no roads; today, there are still no traffic lights in a country of only 700,000 people … a nation ranked near the bottom of the world's development scale. When the standard is production and consumption, Bhutan simply can't compete, so it came up with its own way to measure progress, an alternative to the world's economic scale. Instead of seeking a gross national product, the official goal here is gross national happiness. The policy was decreed by King Jigme Singye Wangchuck — by all accounts, an enlightened monarch.

Full story at http://abcnews.go.com/2020/International/story?id=1296605&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312