Bhutan's fourth king, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, coined the term Gross National Happiness in 1972, declaring it more important than gross domestic product as a measure of a nation's progress. The idea was later written into Bhutan's 2008 constitution and formalized into a Gross National Happiness Index developed with researchers at Oxford. It remains one of Bhutan's most internationally recognized contributions to development thinking.
Record no. MRB-2026-005938
Origin of the Gross National Happiness Concept
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