59 Facts About Bhutan

Bhutan is known as "Druk Yul, " or "Land of the Thunder Dragon".

Bhutan is a constitutional monarchy with Vajrayana Buddhism as the state religion.

The wildlife of Bhutan is notable for its diversity, including the Himalayan takin.

Bhutan ceded the Bengal Duars to British India during the Bhutan War in the 19th century.

Bhutan is a founding member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.

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In 2020, Bhutan ranked third in South Asia after Sri Lanka and the Maldives in the Human Development Index.

Bhutan is a member of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, the Non-Aligned Movement, BIMSTEC, the IMF, the World Bank, UNESCO and the World Health Organization.

Bhutan ranked first in SAARC in economic freedom, ease of doing business, peace and lack of corruption in 2016.

Bhutan has one of the largest water reserves for hydropower in the world.

Stone tools, weapons, elephants, and remnants of large stone structures provide evidence that Bhutan was inhabited as early as 2000 BC, although there are no existing records from that time.

Bhutan ordered the construction of two Buddhist temples, Bumthang in central Bhutan and at Kyichu in the Paro Valley.

Until the early 17th century, Bhutan existed as a patchwork of minor warring fiefdoms, when the area was unified by the Tibetan lama and military leader Ngawang Namgyal, who had fled religious persecution in Tibet.

In 1711, Bhutan went to war against the Raja of the kingdom of Koch Bihar in the south.

In 1971, Bhutan was admitted to the United Nations, having held observer status for three years.

In 1988, Bhutan conducted a census in southern Bhutan to guard against illegal immigration, a constant threat in the south where borders with India are porous.

In July 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bhutan became the first world-leading nation in its role of vaccinating 470, 000 out of 770, 000 people with a two-dose shot of AstraZeneca vaccines.

Bhutan is on the southern slopes of the eastern Himalayas, landlocked between the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north and the Indian states of Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam to the west and south, and the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh to the east.

The forests of the central Bhutan mountains consist of Eastern Himalayan subalpine conifer forests in higher elevations and Eastern Himalayan broadleaf forests in lower elevations.

The Bhutan Duars is divided into two parts, the northern and southern Duars.

Bhutan signed the Rio Convention on Biological Diversity on 11 June 1992, and became a party to the convention on 25 August 1995.

Bhutan has a rich primate life, with rare species such as the golden langur.

All of Bhutan's protected land is connected to one another through a vast network of biological corridors, allowing animals to migrate freely throughout the country.

Bhutan had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 8.

Bhutan has enforced a plastic ban rule from 1 April 2019, where plastic bags were replaced by alternative bags made of jute and other biodegradable material.

Bhutan is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary form of government.

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The current Prime Minister of Bhutan is Lotay Tshering, leader of the Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa Party.

In 2019, Bhutan was classified in the Democracy Index as a hybrid regime alongside regional neighbours Nepal and Bangladesh.

Bhutan maintains strong economic, strategic, and military relations with India.

The first bilateral agreement between China and Bhutan was signed in 1998 and Bhutan has set up honorary consulates in the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau.

Bhutan has very warm relations with Japan, which provides significant development assistance.

Japan is helping Bhutan cope with glacial floods through developing an early warning system.

Bangladesh and Bhutan signed a preferential trade agreement in 2020 with provisions for free trade.

Bhutan has diplomatic relations with 53 countries and the European Union and has missions in India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Kuwait and Belgium.

Bhutan maintains formal diplomatic relations with several Asian and European nations, Canada, and Brazil.

The latest country Bhutan has established diplomatic relations with is Israel, on 12 December 2020.

Royal Bhutan Army is Bhutan's military service and is one of the weakest armed forces in the world, according to the Global Firepower survey.

Women in Bhutan tend to be less active in politics than men due to customs and aspects of Bhutan's culture that dictate a woman's role in the household.

Bhutan has made steps toward gender equality by enrolling more girls in school as well as creating the "National Commission for Women and Children" in 2004.

Bhutan elected its first female Dzongda, equivalent to a District Attorney, in 2012, and its first female minister in 2013.

In 1977 followed by in 1985, Bhutan's government enacted legislations which impacted the Lhotshampa ethnic minority.

Bhutan is divided into twenty Dzongkhag, administered by a body called the Dzongkhag Tshogdu.

The basis of electoral constituencies in Bhutan is the chiwog, a subdivision of gewogs delineated by the Election Commission.

Bhutan's currency is the ngultrum, whose value is fixed to the Indian rupee.

In 2007, Bhutan had the second-fastest-growing economy in the world, with an annual economic growth rate of 22.

Bhutan's economy is based on agriculture, forestry, tourism and the sale of hydroelectric power to India.

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This, and a lack of access to the sea, has meant that Bhutan has not been able to benefit from significant trading of its produce.

Bhutan has no railways, though Indian Railways plans to link southern Bhutan to its vast network under an agreement signed in January 2005.

Bhutan had trade relations with the Tibet Autonomous Region of China until 1960, when it closed its border with China after an influx of refugees.

Incomes of over Nu 100, 000 per annum are taxed, but as Bhutan is currently one of the world's least developed countries, very few wage and salary earners qualify.

In 2013 the government announced the aspiration that Bhutan will become the first country in the world with 100 percent organic farming.

The key manufacturing sectors in Bhutan include production of ferroalloy, cement, metal poles, iron and nonalloy steel products, processed graphite, copper conductors, alcoholic and carbonated beverages, processed fruits, carpets, wood products and furniture.

Bhutan is a high-value destination, it imposes a daily sustainable development fee of US$200 a day on all nationals except Indians.

Bhutan has numerous tourist sites that are not included in its UNESCO tentative list.

Bhutan has one element, the Mask dance of the drums from Drametse, registered in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List.

The languages of Bhutan are still not well characterized, and several have yet to be recorded in an in-depth academic grammar.

Today, Bhutan has two decentralised universities with eleven constituent colleges spread across the kingdom.

Bhutan has a rich and unique cultural heritage that has largely remained intact because of its isolation from the rest of the world until the mid-20th century.

Varicolored scarves, known as rachu for women and kabney for men, are important indicators of social standing, as Bhutan has traditionally been a feudal society; in particular, red is the most common colour worn by women.

Bhutan has numerous public holidays, most of which coincide with traditional, seasonal, secular or religious festivals.