The process of modern development in Bhutan
started only in 1961, less than four decades ago,
when His Majesty King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, the third
Druk Gyalpo, opened up the country to the rest of
the world by ending the era of self-imposed isolation.
Until then, Bhutan had been geographically isolated.
Spread over 46,500 square kilometers, the country
is landlocked, surrounded by India in the south and
the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China in the north
and the north-west. Bhutan is almost entirely mountainous,
with land rising from about 200 metres above sea level
in the south to the Himalayas in the north, towering
over 7500 metres. The country was never colonized
and has always remained independent.
The traditional society, meanwhile, was a self-contained
rural economy. People cultivated as much as they needed
and had a sustainable relationship with nature. Mountain
slopes were terraced for agriculture and land was
irrigated. They bred animals, wove their own cloth
and made pottery. Surplus rice was exported to Tibet,
and salt, tea and wool were imported in exchange.
The ending of isolation paved the way for human development.
It meant building infrastructure, both physical and
social, promoting economic growth and simultaneously
improving the quality of life of the people.
If the rate of population growth of 3.1% per annum
is maintained, then the country’s population
is likely to double by the year 2020. Apart from the
implications this holds for the availability and quality
of basic social services, this is also likely to pose
a serious threat to Bhutan's environmental resources.
Many forest areas already are under heavy pressure
for exploitation for fuel, timber and other wood products.
The need for more grazing lands also could come into
conflict with the goal of protecting forestlands.
As in all developing societies, the surge in Bhutan’s
population growth is the result of a steep fall in
the death rate, itself a testimony to the success
of health care policies adopted in the last four decades.
However, the fall in the death rate has not been accompanied
by a lower birth rate. To control the population growth
rate, therefore, family planning activities has been
stepped up, including the supply of contraceptives,
the dissemination of information on family planning
and the expansion of maternal and child health care
facilities.
•
Reduce population growth rate to 2.08 per cent
per annum 2002 (end 8th Plan)
• Reduce population growth rate to 1.63
per cent per annum 2007 (end 9th Plan)
• Reduce population growth rate to 1.3 per
cent per annum 2012 (end10th Plan) |
| Children
Underweight Rate: |
3% |
| Drug
access: |
80-94% |
| HIV
AIDS - adult prevalence rate: |
less
than 0.1% (2001 est.) |
| HIV
AIDS - people living with HIV AIDS: |
less
than 100 (1999 est.) |
| (per
capita): |
0
per 1000 people |
| Infant
mortality rate: |
106.79 |
| Intestinal
diseases death rate: |
6.16%
(est) |
| Life
expectancy at birth (female): |
53.25
years (2003 est.) |
| Life
expectancy at birth (male): |
53.9
years |
| Life
expectancy at birth (total population): |
53.58
years |
| Malaria
cases (per 100,000): |
285
|
| (per
capita): |
0.00
per person |
| Maternal
mortality: |
380
per 100,000 |
| Measles
immunization: |
76% |
| Probability
of dying before 5 - females: |
92
per 1000 people |
| Probability
of not reaching 40: |
20.2% |
| Probability
of reaching 65 (female): |
62.3% |
| Probability
of reaching 65 (male): |
57.2% |
| Respiratory
disease child death rate: |
114.36
(est) |
| Spending
(per person): |
$36 |
| Spending
(private): |
3.6% |
| Spending
(public): |
3.2% |
| Tuberculosis
cases (per 100,000): |
114
|
| (per
capita): |
5.32e-05
per person |
| Tuberculosis
immunisation: |
90% |
| Water
availability: |
45,564
cubic metres |
