* An extract from Issue 3 of the Newsletter on "Measuring the Progress of Societies".

[Measuring Gross National Happiness (GNH) in Bhutan]
By Tobias Pfaff

Bhutan is a small, landlocked country located in the Himalayas between Tibet (China) and northeast India. Bhutan has never been colonized and its development was cut off the rest of the world until the late 1950's. Society was deeply rooted in Buddhism. The main income source of the country was agriculture, undertaken in the villages without any use of modern technology or infrastructure.

The Bhutan's fourth King came to power in 1972 at the age of 17. Bhutanese tradition and Buddhist influences might have motivated the young King of Bhutan to draw his conclusions - "Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross National Product".

Based on the classical economic viewpoint of progress, the core of GNH is the equilibrium of economic and non-economic goals of development. Many texts about GNH conclude that "economic growth is not an end in itself but rather a means to achieve more important ends", for example collective happiness. One definition has been formulated by Marc Mancall of Stanford University: "GNH is an integrated and systemic approach to change, with certain particular objectives, into which economic development must be consciously integrated as one, but only one, component."

So far, the country has been doing relatively well under the stable and straightforward reign of the Kings. In recent years, the fourth King of Bhutan has deliberately chosen to decrease his own power and give power to democratically elected institutions. Earlier in 2008, the new parliament has ratified the first constitution of Bhutan. In article 9 it says: "The State shall strive to promote those conditions that will enable the pursuit of Gross National Happiness."

The question of the future will be how the stability of GNH-policies can be guaranteed with changing governments and changing parties. Politicians need to be informed about the GNH-enabling conditions that are claimed in the constitution. And the old management principle "What gets measured gets done" comes into play.

The main executing agency to measure GNH is the Centre for Bhutan Studies, a small autonomous research institute in Thimphu. It has been commissioned with the design and realization of nationwide surveys, the establishment of GNH indicators, and the development of a national GNH index. Especially, the design of the survey was done along nine domains identified as essential to GNH: Psychological well-being, Health, Education, Time use and balance, Cultural diversity and resilience, Good governance, Community vitality, Ecological diversity and resilience, Living standards.

The thematic areas are covering a broad perspective of human life within society and its environment. This reflects the Buddhist foundations of GNH. Happiness could easily be seen as the main dependent variable of the GNH model, but the major part of the survey questionnaire deals with the various aspects that can provide fertile ground for personal and societal happiness.

The work on selecting specific GNH indicators from the entity of the survey variables is currently being done. Also, the work on constructing a GNH index has not been finished to date. However, officials in Bhutan have expressed that the current efforts do not aim at maximizing subjective happiness, expressed by a single number. Rather, each of the nine domains has an influence on happiness, and should be looked at individually as well as in connection with the other domains.

It is too early to assess all the impacts of this Bhutanese approach of measuring progress. And it is especially too early to reach a conclusion about the functioning of this system in other societies. When following the future development of GNH, the specific GNH model should always be read in the context of cultural, religious, and political actors that have made and still make Bhutan a unique country on our planet. Luckily, we have come to a position where we are indeed concerned about the quality of our lives. And the growing number of efforts in the world to rethink about measuring progress - Bhutan's Gross National Happiness as a veteran - is the manifestation of this.

* For further information, please visit www.oecd.org/progress/newsletter.