A recent trend of large-scale migration out of Bhutan by working-age people has thrown up the question whether the country’s guiding idea of Gross National Happiness, a measure of well-being broader than that reflected in the gross domestic product, is relevant any more to its 7.7 lakh people.

Migration in search of a better life is a trend witnessed across the globe but the numbers in post-pandemic Bhutan, whose government is committed to universal education and healthcare, are so significant that they are drawing the attention of researchers.

Although there are no official numbers on the size of the exodus, a Thimphu-based academic said that “at least 15 per cent” of the population has left the country in the last 12 to 18 months.

This has led to a sharp rise in the populations of Bhutanese across the globe, from Europe and North America to Southeast Asia and the Gulf countries. The most pronounced spike has been seen in Australia.

Information available in various Australian government publications shows that the last 12 months or so witnessed a 500 to 600 per cent rise in visa applications from Bhutan.

According to a Reuters report, over 12,000 students from Bhutan — about 1.5 per cent of the country’s population — migrated to Australia between June 2022 and May 2023.

Even people with stable jobs — senior government officials, doctors, teachers, private-sector employees, established journalists — have migrated to Australia in large numbers in the last couple of years. A significant proportion of them have brought their families along.

The trend is so pronounced that it has inspired a film, Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom, revolving around the great Australian dream of an aspiring Bhutanese singer. It was nominated for an Oscar in the Best International Feature category last year.

The desperation to leave the country can also be gauged from the recent rush to register for the International English Language Test (IELTS), a standardised test of English-language proficiency among non-native English speakers. The craze to clear the IELTS is far stronger than the interest in the Royal Civil Service Examination, a source in Thimphu said.

Several Bhutanese nationals this correspondent spoke to over the last few weeks used expressions like “chasing a dream”, “desire for a better life” and “career prospects” as the reasons behind the exodus.

The unemployment rate in Bhutan rose to around 20 per cent during the pandemic, which dealt a heavy blow to the country’s tourism sector.

The hydropower sector, another driver of the economy, has not grown according to the expectations of the Bhutanese authorities, who had drawn up big plans to feed India’s green energy ambitions.

Employment opportunities beyond these two sectors have remained scarce.

“The primary reason for the trend is that people don’t see opportunities in Bhutan and most of them are looking for better opportunities,” Gopilal Acharya, former editor with Bhutan Times, the country’s first privately owned newspaper, said from Perth, where he is doing a postgraduate course in creative writing.

Acharya, who has taken his family along, said he was taking a mid-career break and would return to his country after expanding his skill set.

Several others who have left Bhutan, however, do not plan to return. They have a range of reasons.

“After getting used to a particular standard of living here, it will be difficult to return,” a former civil servant said.

He referred to the rising cost of living in Thimphu and the lack of opportunities the young have for quality education as some of the other deterrents to return home.

Against this backdrop, the question is being asked whether Thimphu’s focus on a particular idea of happiness, often described as the Himalayan nation’s biggest export to the West, can be fruitful in today’s Bhutan.

The idea of a Gross National Happiness (GNH) was coined by the fourth king of Bhutan, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, in the late 1970s. It captures socio-economic concerns such as living standards, health and education along with more intangible features of life such as culture, community vitality, and psychological well-being.

Earlier this year, Bhutan reported a remarkable rise of 3.3 per cent in its GNH index over the past seven years.

Asked why people were leaving the country despite the growth in the happiness index, the Thimphu-based academic agreed that the concept of a Gross National Happiness was facing a challenge.

“The GNH has elements like community development, fellow feeling, empathy with others, spirituality and concerns about the environment. But it is also true that individuals want to fulfil their ambitions and aspirations, which is rational behaviour. This has to be addressed,” he said.

There, however, seems a general reluctance among the country’s political class to answer questions on the continuing relevance of the GNH.

This newspaper reached out to former Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay and his successor Lotray Tshering for comments on the topic. They did not respond to the queries mailed to them despite showing initial interest in communicating with The Telegraph.

The office of Pema Chewang, a former bureaucrat who has floated a new party to contest the general election and created a flutter among the electorate with his campaign, did not respond to questions on the mass migration, either.

Bhutan, a fledgling democracy, will elect a new government later this year. Last month, all the five political parties submitted their draft manifestos to the country’s election commission.

Although all the manifestos — ranging between 37 and 142 pages — revolved around pledges of economic revival, their contents suggested that the trend of mass migration was unlikely to become a poll issue.

Multiple sources in Bhutan admitted that the exodus was having a significant impact on the supply of labour in a country with an already small population.

The migration of skilled workers has also posed a challenge to the economy. According to projections from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), growth in Bhutan’s GDP will slow down from 4.7 per cent in 2022 to 4.6 per cent in 2023, and further decline to 4.2 per cent in 2024.

While a larger expatriate community is likely to boost remittances to Bhutan, which witnessed a 20 per cent dip in gross international reserves in 2022, the next government will have to find ways to reduce the volume of migration to ensure a steady labour supply for the country’s agriculture, industry and service sectors.

Expressing concern at the trend of migration, Kuensel, the state-owned newspaper, wrote in a recent editorial about the need to create an environment where people felt secure and encouraged to develop and nurture their families.

“Let us seize this opportunity to prioritise the well-being and future of our nation by actively pursuing policies that encourage a healthy and thriving population,” it commented.

While the policymakers in Bhutan deserve to be complimented on their continuing stress on the GNH, the time seems to have come for them to make some serious policy interventions to deliver on the promise of happiness.