Bhutan
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| Kingdom of Bhutan
འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ (Dzongkha)
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| Anthem: Druk tsendhen The Thunder Dragon Kingdom | ||||||
.svg) | ||||||
| Capital and largest city | Thimphu 27°28.0′N 89°38.5′E | |||||
| Official languages | Dzongkha | |||||
| Religion | Vajrayana Buddhism | |||||
| Demonym | Bhutanese | |||||
| Government | Unitary parliamentaryconstitutional monarchy | |||||
| • | King | Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck | ||||
| • | Prime Minister | Tshering Tobgay | ||||
| Legislature | Parliament | |||||
| • | Upper house | National Council | ||||
| • | Lower house | National Assembly | ||||
| Formation Early 17th century | ||||||
| • | House of Wangchuck | 17 December 1907 | ||||
| • | Indo-Bhutan Treaty | 8 August 1949 | ||||
| • | Constitutional monarchy | 2007 | ||||
| Area | ||||||
| • | Total | 38,394 km2[1][2] (136th) 14,824 sq mi | ||||
| • | Water (%) | 1.1 | ||||
| Population | ||||||
| • | 2012 estimate | 742,737[3] (165th) | ||||
| • | 2005a census | 634,982[4] | ||||
| • | Density | 18.0/km2 (196th) 46.6/sq mi | ||||
| GDP (PPP) | 2015 estimate | |||||
| • | Total | $6.384 billion[5] | ||||
| • | Per capita | $8,196[5] (115) | ||||
| GDP (nominal) | 2015 estimate | |||||
| • | Total | $2.209 billion[5] | ||||
| • | Per capita | $2,836 [5] (130) | ||||
| Gini (2012) | 38.7[6] medium | |||||
| HDI (2014) |  0.605[7]medium · 132nd | |||||
| Currency | ||||||
| Time zone | BTT (UTC+6) | |||||
| • | Summer (DST) | not observed (UTC+6) | ||||
| Drives on the | left | |||||
| Calling code | +975 | |||||
| ISO 3166 code | BT | |||||
| Internet TLD | .bt | |||||
| a. | The population of Bhutan had been estimated based on the reported figure of about 1 million in the 1970s when the country had joined the United Nations and precise statistics were lacking.[8] Thus, using the annual increase rate of 2–3%, the most population estimates were around 2 million in the year 2000. A national census was carried out in 2005 and it turned out that the population was 672,425. Consequently, United Nations Population Division reduced its estimation of the country's population in the 2006 revision[9] for the whole period from 1950 to 2050. | |||||
Bhutan (/buːˈtɑːn/; Dzongkha འབྲུག་ཡུལ Dru Ü, IPA: [ʈʂɦu yː]),[10] officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia at the eastern end of the Himalayas. It is bordered to the north by China and to the south, east and west by India. To the west, it is separated from Nepal by the Indian state of Sikkim, while farther south it is separated from Bangladesh by the Indian states of Assam and West Bengal. Bhutan's capital and largest city is Thimphu.
Bhutan existed as a patchwork of minor warring fiefs until the early 17th century. At that time the lama and military leader Ngawang Namgyal, the first Zhabdrung Rinpoche, who was fleeing religious persecution in Tibet, unified the area and cultivated a distinct Bhutanese identity. In the early 20th century, Bhutan came into contact with the British Empire and retained strong bilateral relations with India upon its independence. In 2006, based on a global survey, Business Week rated Bhutan the happiest country in Asia and the eighth-happiest in the world.[11]
The country's landscape ranges from subtropical plains in the south to the sub-alpine Himalayan heights in the north, where some peaks exceed 7,000 metres (23,000 ft). Its total area was reported as approximately 46,500 km2 (18,000 sq mi) in 1997[12] and 38,394 km2 (14,824 sq mi) in 2002.[1][2] Bhutan's state religion is Vajrayana Buddhism and the population, as of 2015 estimated as 770 thousand people,[3] is predominantly Buddhist. Hinduism is the second-largest religion.[13]
In 2008, Bhutan made the transition from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy and held its first general election.[14] As well as being a member of the United Nations, Bhutan is a member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and hosted SAARC's sixteenth summit in April 2010.