Bhutan, after prioritizing happiness, now faces an existential crisis

Bhutan's economy is growing, but it still has a nominal GDP per capita of only $3,700. Their youth unemployment rate is 16%, but 24% in urban areas. For all the talk of gross national happiness, it's hard to imagine a young person feeling happy in a poor country with very limited opportunities for upward mobility.

I'm also not sure that mass emigration should be seen as an existential threat. Many developing economies have very successfully leveraged emigration and remittances as an engine of economic growth. If Bhutan can modernise into a more open economy, those young people could start returning home with the skills, experience and capital to do great things.

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?location...

https://www.nsb.gov.bt/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2023/1...

https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2024/03/11/a-stron...

> nominal GDP per capita of only $3,700.

GDP is not a good measure of whether people have their needs met or not, doesn't factor in COL

> in a poor country with very limited opportunities for upward mobility

on the other hand, with its economy growing and an open-minded leadership, opportunities for enterprising young people would generally be greater

> youth unemployment rate is 16%

to put that in perspective, that's about the same as the EU