Gross National Happiness (also known by the acronym: GNH) is a developing philosophy as well as an "index" which is used to measure the collective happiness in any specific nation.
The concept was first mentioned in the Constitution of Bhutan, which was enacted on 18 July 2008.
However, the term itself, 'Gross National Happiness', was previously coined in 1979 during an interview at Bombay airport when the then king of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, said "We do not believe in Gross National Product. Gross National Happiness is more important."
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History
Origins
The term "gross national happiness" was coined by the fourth king of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, in the 1970s.
The GNH's central tenets are: "sustainable and equitable socio-economic development; environmental conservation; preservation and promotion of culture; and good governance".
GNH is distinguishable by for example valuing collective happiness as the goal of governance, and by emphasizing harmony with nature and traditional values.
Other developments
Two Canadians, Michael and Martha Pennock, played a major role in developing the Bhutanese GNH survey. They developed a shorter international version of the survey which has been used in their home region of Victoria BC as well as in Brazil. The Pennocks also collaborated with Ura in the production of a policy lens which is used by the Bhutanese GNH Commission for anticipating the impact of policy initiatives upon the levels of GNH in Bhutan.
GNH was later articulated as nine domains, which provides a further level of conceptual analysis for policy making. These are: psychological well-being, health, time use, education, cultural diversity and resilience, good governance, community vitality, ecological diversity and resilience, and living standards.
Adam Kramer, a psychologist from the University of Oregon, has developed a behavioral model of "Gross National Happiness" based on the use of positive and negative words in social network status updates, resulting in a quantitative GNH metric.
The former king of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadej, was a close friend of King Jigme Singye Wangchuck and conceived the similar philosophy of "Sufficiency Economy." In 2016, Thailand launched its own GNH center.
The current prime minister of Bhutan, Tshering Tobgay, has preferred to focus on more concrete goals instead of promoting GNH.
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Implementation
The implementation of a GNH policy can be challenging as it requires considerable institutional support. In Bhutan, the implementation - or mainstreaming - of GNH into political institutions has been a gradual process for several decades but recently accelerated with the introduction of the GNH Index and the GNH Screening Tool.
As part of a lengthy and ongoing process of integrating the GNH philosophy into public policy, the GNH Index was developed by the Centre for Bhutan Studies (CBS) to help measure the progress of Bhutanese society. In 2010, the first nationwide GNH survey was conducted with a sample size of 8,510 Bhutanese aged 15 and above. The second nationwide survey was conducted in 2015 and had a sample size of 8,871. After all three rounds of surveys, follow-up interviews and additional data gathering was conducted in order to review and refine the survey. The GNH survey covers all twenty districts (Dzonkhag) and results are reported for varying demographic factors such as gender, age, abode, and occupation. The survey therefore provides a rich dataset to compare the happiness between different groups of citizens, and how this has changed over time.
Criticism
GNH has been described by critics as a propaganda tool used by the Bhutanese government to distract from ethnic cleansing and human rights abuses it has committed.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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