Bhutan’s population decline is an existential threat. Can GMC solve it? |
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Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story
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Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit
ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures
Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story
More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice
Bhutan’s population decline is an existential threat. Can GMC solve it?
Australia has become one of the top destinations for Bhutan’s educated youth. Among those moving to other countries, many are high-skilled, including civil servants.
Whenever Bhutan attracts global media attention, it is often about the country’s Buddhist spirit or scenic beauty. But the media glare is also on the geostrategic front: Bhutan is a landlocked country, threatened by China from the north, especially as Beijing builds dams and engages in salami-slicing on the border territories.
However, in the last decade, Bhutan has faced a challenge of its own. Its falling birth rate and voluminous migration to countries such as Australia, Canada, and the United States pose an existential crisis.
In the first week of May 2026, Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay presented a mid-term review for the health ministry, emphasising the need to boost the birth rate in a country of approximately 8 lakh people.
“It is the responsibility of all of us. Even wartime countries would not suffer such a level of population decline. That is not sustainable,” he said.
Where does Bhutan stand today, and what lies ahead?
The data on Bhutan’s falling birth rate paints an alarming picture. In 2024, a mere 9,914 births were recorded in Bhutan, a 0.5 per cent drop from the previous year.
In 1952, Bhutan’s population growth rate was 2.74 per cent, and in 1979, it reached 3.44 per cent. Since 1980, the percentage has been on a downward trajectory, with the lowest dip in 1993, resulting in a growth rate of negative 4 per cent.
While multiple factors explain the population decline, globalisation and the opening up........