Here are the essentials at a glance, followed by a little of what makes Bhutan unlike anywhere else on earth.
The basics
- Capital: Thimphu
- Currency: Ngultrum (Nu), pegged 1:1 to the Indian Rupee
- Official language: Dzongkha (English is widely spoken)
- Population: roughly 800,000
- Area: about 38,394 sq km
- Time zone: Bhutan Time, UTC+6
- Religion: Vajrayana Buddhism, with a Hindu minority in the south
- National animal: the takin
What makes Bhutan unique
Bhutan is the world's only carbon-negative country: its constitution requires at least 60% forest cover for all time, and today more than 70% of the land is forested. Famously, it measures national progress through Gross National Happiness rather than economic output alone.
It is also the last surviving Vajrayana Buddhist kingdom, ruled by the much-loved Wangchuck dynasty since 1907 and guided today by a young, reform-minded king. Television and the internet arrived only in 1999, and the country opened to tourism as recently as 1974 — which is part of why its culture remains so remarkably intact.