About Bhutan

A gist about bhutan and its geographical location

Bhutan or Drukyul, is also called The Land of Thunder Dragons, is a landlocked tiny Buddhist country snuggled on the foothills of the eastern Himalayas between 88*45' and 92*10' longitude east and 26*42′ and 28*15' latitude north with a total area of 38,394 sqkm. Bhutan is surrounded by Tibet, a plateau which is an autonomous region of China in the north and India, in the east, west and south. While West Bengal and Assam border the southern part of Bhutan, Arunachal Pradesh andA gist about Bhutan and its Geographical Location: Bhutan or Drukyul, is also called The Land of Thunder Dragons, is a landlocked tiny Buddhist country snuggled on the foothills of the eastern Himalayas between 88*45' and 92*10' longitude east and 26*42' and 28*15' latitude north with a total area of 38,394 sqkm. Bhutan is surrounded by Tibet, a plateau which is an autonomous region of China in the north and India, in the east, west and south. While West Bengal and Assam border the southern part of Bhutan, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim border the East and West of Bhutan respectively. Sikkim border the East and West of Bhutan respectively.


Almost everyone, who is interested to know Bhutan better is aware with the fact that Bhutan is guided by the development philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH), instead of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Therefore, GNH being one of its primary development principles, High Value-Low Volume is the outstanding feature of Bhutan's Tourism Policy which puts Bhutan as one of the top high end tourist destination in the world. Bhutan has three different ecological/ climatic zones. They are; Sub-tropical in the south, Temperate in the central and Sub-alpine to the north. This clearly indicates that Bhutan has extreme weather conditions if taken in totality from North to South. These varied climatic zones make a chilling and snowy winter in the North and a pleasant dry winter in the south. The weather conditions in the central region of Bhutan remain reasonably moderate throughout the four seasons. Monsoon in Bhutan are with heavy torrential rain in Southern region and mild on and off rainfalls in the Central upward North. The typical monsoon starts from June and will go till the end of August with some rainfall even during the month of September in the southern foothills. Therefore, the suitable time to visit Bhutan for getting maximum benefit from this pristine land is encouraged during the month of March to May and September to November.

Bhutan History

The pre-historic era of Bhutan dates back to 600 to 700 AD. Only after the 17th Century, the country called Bhutan came into birth and to be called as Drukyul of The Land of Thunder Dragon. This name is derived from the Drukpa Kargyu School, one of the sub-sects of Vajrayana Buddhism. Until 1961, Bhutan remained isolated from outside world in terms of modern development and it was only in this year that the third King of Bhutan Late Jigme Dorji Wangchuck ended the isolation and launched Bhutan forward on the path of modern development by introducing the first Five Year Plan in Bhutan. Thereafter, Bhutan's pace of modernization in terms of Education, Health, Tourism, Agriculture, renewable natural resources etc has been commendable and is been applauded by development partners even by mentioning Bhutan as a great example. Without much compromising on its pristine environment, Bhutan, on today's date is the only country in the world with carbon negative. For this, the unwavering gratefulness and thankfulness from the citizens of Bhutan goes to our forth Druk Gyalpo, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck for incepting his farsightedness policy of maintaining 70% of the total land as forest cover at all times.

Bhutan With International Organizations

With the first Five Year Plan 1961-66, Bhutan gained enormous experience in taking the country further as an independent self-reliant nation. In this process, the third king (then reigning king) with his far-sighted vision exposed the country with some of the oldest and the most important UN Organizations by officially becoming the member of those Organizations. Below mentioned are some of the most popular UN Organizations that Bhutan had joined hands with

1.    1969-(UPU) Universal Postal Union

2.    1970-(UNCDF) United Nations Capacity Development Fund

3.    1971-(UNDP) United Nations Development Fund

4.    1974 (UNICEF) United Nations Children's Fund

5.    1976-(WFP) World Wildlife Fund

6.    1978-(IFAD) International Fund for Agriculture Development

7.    1979-(UNFPA) United Nations Fund for Population Activities

8.    1981-(MF) International Monetary Fund

9.    1981-World Bank

10.   1981-(FAO) Food and Agriculture Organization

11.   1982-(WHO) World Health Organization

12.   1982-(SEARO) South East Asia Regional Organization of WHO

13.   1982-(UNESCO) United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organization

14.   1983-(APPU) Asian Pacific Postal Union

15.   1988-(ITU) International Telecommunication Union

16.   1989-(CAO) International Chill Aviation Organization

17.   1994-(WIPO) World International Property Organization

18.   2003-(UN-WTO) United Nations- World Tourism Organization




Simultaneously, Bhutan had joined its membership with many other International and Regional Organizations as and when the need aroused for the country for balanced and wholesome modernization and globalization. Below mentioned are some of the important such Organizations that Bhutan joined gradually.


1.   1962 Colombo Plan

2.   1973-(NAM) Non Aligned Movement

3.   1982-(ADB) Asian Development Bank

4.   1984-WFB)World Fellowship of Buddhists

5.   1985-(SAARC) South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

6.   1985-(ICIMOD) International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development

Tourism And Economy

Tourism plays a vital role in tapping the major revenue generation to the government account. It was first introduction to the country dates back to 1974 when Bhutan received a total number of 287 Tourists that year. After a decade and a half time, government thought it wise to privatize it and today Tourism is one of the major government revenue generators besides hydropower, cottage industries. Agriculture is the major source of livelihood for almost 60% of the total population. Although, a small developing country in the south east Asian region, Bhutan now is considered as one of the fastest growing countries in the world. Its average annual economic growth rate stands at 7.5%.


Environment: Bhutan is committed in its policy of preservation and protection of its rich pristine environment. In consideration to its size and geographical location, it is one of the very few South East Asian Countries which has the greatest bio-diversity in the Continent. Our fourth King, His Majesty King Jigme Singye Wangchuck's vision of maintaining at least 60% of the total land as forest reserve can be still seen even today. Some of this forest territory is maintained as national parks, reserves and protected areas. The Forest and Nature Conservation Act enacted in 1995 plays a vital role in maintaining and protecting the country's forest and wildlife.