butane

A country located in the eastern Himalayas , between India and Tibet . It has an area of ​​38,816 km² and a population of approximately 800,000 (2025). The capital is Thimphu (ཐིམ་ཕུག, Thimphu). It borders the Chinese Tibet Autonomous Region along the Himalayan Mountains to the north .

The majority religion is Tibetan Buddhism (74.8%), but there are also Hindu believers, mainly Nepalese residents . (22.6%)

In 1951 , Tibet and the Kingdom of Si -Kim in 1975 were merged into China and India, and Bhutan became the only Tibetan independent country. The flights are India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates.

The internationally known name Bhutan is presumed to have come from the Sanskrit word " भोट-अन्त", which means "end of Tibet ." Botta (भोट) in the front is "Bodh (བོད་)" which refers to Tibet in the ancient Tibetan language .[12] ", and the reason it is the end of Tibet is because it is literally at the southern end of the Tibetan plateau. The Bhutanese themselves call it Ttukwi (འབྲུག་ཡུལ་ / Druk Yul [ʈuk̚˩.yː˩]), meaning the country of the dragon.

1949 to 1956


1956 ~ 1969


1969 to present

Surprisingly, the flag was made late, which was first created in 1949 and the current flag was first created in 1969.

The national flag of Bhutan is a combination of dark yellow and orange and depicts an oriental dragon, showing the dragon flying while holding a bead with each foot. Yellow symbolizes the glory and brightness of the country and is also the color of the royal family, and orange symbolizes Buddhism . The oriental dragon depicted in a pattern symbolizes Bhutan's bravery, loyalty, strength, unity, and magnificence, and the beads held by each foot symbolize the country's wealth and glory.

The dragon drawn on the Bhutan flag is white dragon, called 'DHURK', and the work method is treated as a first -class secret . It is a symbolic being like a kind of national signature, and it is officially recognized that it is virtually impossible to replicate or imitate the exact form of this dragon at the government level. For this reason, the Bhutan flag must be a genuine product that has been directly aired by the Bhutan government or official agency. The flags that are arbitrarily produced from the outside are not recognized as a formal flag, and cannot be used in commitment or official events.

This white dragon is a core symbol of the national identity, which means 'dragon of thunder' in Bhutan, and is a traditional story called 'Druk' in Bhuttan. The dragon in the flag means to defend the whole country, and the jewelry grabbed on the toenail represents the wealth and well -being of the state. White is purity and loyalty, orange and yellow, respectively, symbolize Buddhist traditions and secular power, respectively. For reference, the name of Bhutan is also a dragon country . In the West, the dragon itself is perceived as destruction and vulnerability, but in the East, it is different from the sanctification of dragons. In Korea, during the dynasty, the container and the dragon of the dragon of the East were used, and the king's face was called Yongan, and the king's clothes were called Yongpo .

It is also linked with Wales because of dragons and dragons , and the dragons on the flags of the two countries are interchanged.

As a side note, it is very similar to the flag of the Qing Dynasty .[13]

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Due to earthquakes and fires, a large number of documents and history books that could serve as historical materials were destroyed, so the history before the 19th century can only be broadly understood. In Bhutan, the first people to settle in Bhutan are taught as the Shartsov people, and when conducting a census, the Bhotiya and the Shartsop people are sometimes grouped together and the Nepalese people are classified separately because they belong to the same Hanjang language family and are Buddhist in the majority. However, while the separation of Tibetan branches such as the Bhotya people from the Chinese branch occurred already in prehistoric times, the Shartsov people separated only in the 2nd century BC.[14] In the meantime, many differences have arisen, and because some Shartsov people speak Assamese as their native language due to Indian influence, the Shartsov people are usually counted separately. However, if you look at Tibet's historical records, Bhutan has been called Lhomon (darkness of the south) or Monyul (land of darkness) since ancient times, so there is speculation that Bengalis may have already been inhabiting the area before the Shartsop people settled there. However, currently, no research has been conducted in this direction.

Songtsen Gampo , who unified Tibet in the 7th century , built two temples in Bhutan, and the Indian monk Padmasambhava is said to have spread Buddhism to Bhutan around the 9th century. This southward movement of Tibetans continued steadily. In addition, according to legends and folk tales that have been handed down orally , when soldiers from Mongolia invaded Bhutan, the princess who cherished Bhutan refused to surrender and died, turning into a swamp leech to prevent the invasion of the world's strongest Mongolian army. This is a legend as far as it goes. It's just that. Regardless of whether the legend is true, it is said that the land of Bhutan has always maintained peace because even invaders from the world's most powerful countries did not gain much from attacking this mountainous region. Therefore, when the Mongol Empire waged wars of aggression and the Manchus of the Qing Dynasty invaded Tibet, some Tibetans fled to Bhutan as other nomadic tribes conquered Tibet .

Records from India and China briefly mention that in the 15th and 16th centuries, kings and monks enjoyed separate political and religious power, and there was a political structure similar to a feudal system in which local lords autonomously held power in mountainous territories. In 1627, Portuguese Jesuit missionaries Estêvão Cacella and João Cabral met Ngawang Namgyal, a monk and lord of Kagyupa who ruled Bhutan, and offered guns and telescopes and offered military support to prepare for an invasion of Tibet, but Ngawang Namgyal refused. As expected, he did not provide support for free, but rejected it because it placed religious conditions such as conversion to Catholicism and liberalization of Catholic missions. And Namgyal prevented the invasion of Tibet even without this support.

Around the 17th century, the 5th Dalai Lama of Tibet, Awang Lopsangyatso, attacked Bhutan four times in 1629, 1631, 1639 and 1647 with the aim of uniting the entire Tibetan territory and the smaller kingdoms under its influence. all failed Tibet, supported by evil, attacked Bhutan again in 1714 with Mongolian support, but failed again. Even now, there are traces of fortresses that fought with Tibet in Bhutan, and as a result, Tibet and Bhutan, which are kin, are completely separated. Of course, Bhutan also has a history of invading neighboring Sikkim , a Tibetan country, several times, so it is not a complete victim. In addition, there is an enemy who invaded Tibet, a country of the same country, along with the British army, a foreign force . In fact, another Tibetan kingdom, Mustang Kingdom, also fought Tibet on the side of Nepal and was incorporated into Nepal.

It was defeated in the Anglo-Bhutan War that began in 1864 and ceded some territory to Britain.

1903 Invades Tibet together.

In 1907, Ugen Wangchuck , the lord of the eastern region , declared an absolute monarchy and established the Wangchuck Dynasty . Since then, the pro-British policy has been implemented, and with the support of Britain, the territory occupied by the local lord forces was rapidly integrated, and the current Bhutan territory was confirmed. And when the British officially proclaimed Ugen Wangchuck, who was the head of Bhutan, as the king, his name became known in world history. Instead, in 1910 diplomatic power was ceded to Britain and it became a protectorate.

It gained complete independence from Britain on August 8, 1949 , but in fact, there was no British exploitation unlike what India experienced because there were no special resources in Bhutan's territory, and therefore there was no reflection. At most, it is said that some English people came to live quietly because they did not like the harsh society. Nevertheless, Britain colonized Bhutan because Bhutan's topography served as an advance base for the British Army when Western countries competed for the Asian market in the late 1800s. Its rugged, mountainous terrain makes it difficult to attack but easy to defend.

Since Bhutan was the same religiously and ethnically Tibetans were the majority, neighboring Tibet was treated preferentially as a big brother country, but as the Chinese army invaded Tibet and was conquered by China, other small Tibetan kingdoms in Ladakh, such as Sikkim and Leh , and southern Tibet Unlike when the pro-Indian side came to power at the end of chaos and was annexed by India , Bhutan maintained its independence. In addition, it was a close relationship enough to hand over diplomatic rights to India from the time of the former British vassalage, but Bhutan was a colony of the Qing Dynasty, and now it has become more pro-Indian in order to survive the invasion of China.

Of course, Bhutan does not completely blindly trust India. The Indian side is also at least vigilant. # However, since China's threat is generally much more dangerous than India's economic subordination, it generally follows pro-India tendencies.

Bhutan has pursued absolute monarchy since ancient times, but public opinion toward the Wangchuk dynasty is not only positive, but many citizens belong to the intellectual class, despite the difficulty of being considered to have a high level of education. However, even such intellectuals did not express opinions on introducing 20th century democracy. This is because King Jigme Singye Wangchuk himself implemented the so-called happiness policy, focusing on the happiness index rather than the economy, and the Bhutanese people at the time had no major dissatisfaction with the monarchy.[15] Congress also feared a radical change toward democracy.

Then, in 2002, as Bhutan's press freedom index improved from 170th place, the king personally actively advocated for democracy, and in the end, the people reluctantly(?) followed the king and accepted democratization , creating a unique case in world history . At the very least, it can be highly evaluated that he tried to limit his power to a certain level.

If we look at this from a political engineering point of view, Bhutan is a country with many Tibetan residents, and it is natural that they will be very dissatisfied with China, which annexed the Tibetan region. Therefore, in reality, there is a lot to rely on India, but since India is a democratic republic at least in appearance and China is a one-party dictatorship, it was advantageous for the survival of the countries caught in the two countries to change it to a democratic system, even if it was a constitutional monarchy in both justification and reality.

Although the democratic system was solidified by holding a general election on March 24, 2008 and forming the House of Representatives, public support for the royal family remained, and the Peace and Prosperity Party led by Wang's uncle won a landslide victory. However, this did not mean that a de facto one-party dictatorship was achieved, and five years later (in the July 13, 2013 election), the opposition People's Democratic Party achieved a landslide victory (32 out of 47 seats), resulting in a change of government . Since then, new political parties, such as the Bhutan United Party (DNT), have continued to emerge and have succeeded in taking power, and the change of government has been taking place quite actively.

Of course , there were pro-democracy protests in Bhutan in 1990 . This is related to the oppression of Nepalese people and the desire of young people for democracy, and at the time, there were pro-democracy figures who fled to India. Also, under the influence of Nepal's Maoist rebels (now the ruling party) at the time, a people's war demanding democratization and the abolition of the monarchy began in Bhutan, and continues to this day.

Actually, there is a rather complicated backstory to this. The Kingdom of Sikkim, where more than half of the population came from Nepal as a labor force, was annexed by India in 1975, and in 1990, when Nepal 's royal authority was weakened and an electoral system was introduced, Bhutanese of Nepalese descent moved to Bhutan to expand their presence in various fields. Democracy was also called for. Accordingly, the Bhutanese government, concerned that if the front cart overturned, the back cart would become a second Sikkim, forcibly expelled the Nepalese people from Bhutan, and the dissatisfied Nepalese people borrowed India 's military force to move from Bhutan to Nepal. An attempt was made to expand the position of Buddhism and Hinduism.

However, India had no intention of overturning Bhutan, which was pro-India in many respects, so it just sat by and told Bhutan to do as it pleased and informed Bhutan of the actions of the Nepalese people. In the end, it led to the expulsion of more Nepali people, and in the aftermath of this trend, other Bhutanese who were advocating for democratization also faced the problem of being flocked to Nepal.

In any case, the tradition of the King of Bhutan, who implemented policies based on the happiness index and achieved democracy, continues to his son, Jigme Caesar Namgiel Wangchuk , who studied abroad, and King Jigme Caesar Namgiel Wangchuk is also making his own choices. He is an elite man with a master's degree in political science from Oxford University in England, the first king of Bhutan's constitutional monarchy , and a handsome man . Thanks to this, he was once chosen as one of the five most attractive spouses among single leaders around the world, but is currently married , as described later . He even walks with a backpack to visit people living in remote areas to find out how they live.

This was covered in detail on Knowledge Channel e. Go to see .


On May 20, 2011, King Jigme Caesar Namgiel Wangchuk announced his marriage to Jetsun Pema, a commoner born in 1990 who is 10 years younger than him . Jetseon Pema is also a student studying abroad at Regent's University in England, and the wedding was held in a simple manner on October 13, 2011.

Bhutan's political system was an absolute monarchy where the king of the Wangchuk dynasty ruled and decided everything from the time the country was founded , and the role of the parliament was to simply give some advice or advice to the king, research data, and implement it.

However, the 4th King of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuk , and his successor, the 5th King Jigme Caesar Namgiel Wangchuk , were concerned that their happy politics would eventually be in vain if a tyrant appeared in the future, and so they lost their power as kings. He gave up and decided to change Bhutan, which had been an absolutist monarchy, into a constitutional monarchy .[16] They first made their opinions known to the public and also notified the National Assembly of this agenda. Accordingly, many Bhutanese people at the time were opposed to democracy, asking the king, who was good at politics, to continue politics.[17] Strange things also happen in world history.

In any case, despite considerable public opinion and opposition from the National Assembly, King Jigme Singye Wangchuk actively called for democracy to the people, and King Jigme Caesar Namgiel Wangchuk, a Confucian scholar who succeeded him as king, also actively advocated democracy to the people. By asserting its necessity, it attempted to gain public consent and dismiss the opposition of the National Assembly. And, following the strong insistence of the king whom the people believed in and followed, Bhutan, with a population of 770,000, began to implement a constitutional monarchy democracy on July 18, 2008.[18]

However, because it still remains a kingdom, there are still some voices calling for the establishment of the Republic of Bhutan and complete democratization, and the Bhutanese Communist Party, centered on the Nepali-speaking population, and the Bhutanese Maenghogun, a party army, declared a people's war in 2008, opposing the Bhutanese government's position. They are even engaging in rebellion activities. However, there has been little activity since the 2010s, perhaps due to lack of great response.

Bhutan drafted a constitution and established local governments.[19] The Senate and the House of Representatives were established, and the institutions necessary for democracy, such as the legislature and the judiciary, were gradually prepared.

In this process, a total of 47 members of the House of Representatives will be elected. In the 2008 House of Representatives election, the Peace and Prosperity Party, led by King Jigme Caesar Namgiel Wangchuk 's relative (uncle), won a landslide victory, but in the 2013 House of Representatives election, the opposition Party was elected. The People's Democratic Party reversed the race by winning 32 out of 47 seats. Afterwards, in the 2018 election, the opposition Bhutan Union Party won again, winning 30 seats, and Bhutan's Prime Minister became Lotai Tshering , leader of the Bhutan Union Party . The opposition party is the royalist DPT. And in the 2023-2024 elections, the People's Democratic Party won 30 seats and became the ruling party again. The opposition party is the centrist Bhutan Tendrel Party (BTP).

Meanwhile, the Senate elects a total of 20 members, and 5 members are appointed by the government. Unusually, 25 members of the Senate do not belong to any party. Bhutan's Senate is said to write and review other Bhutanese laws, except for money and budget matters. Senate elections in 2007 From December 31st 2008 Once throughout January 29th[20] , 2013 Another was held on April 24th .

When democracy comes in, royal power naturally weakens, and Bhutan was no exception. Through the constitution, several laws related to the king's reign were created, some of which are listed below.

These regulations were a decisive factor in weakening the royal authority, but because the king had originally intended to weaken the royal authority, this law was passed without any problems. Many citizens were impressed by the king's pioneering reforms, frugal lifestyle, visit to every corner of the country to listen to the opinions of the people, and marriage with a commoner, and even now, the popularity and authority of the royal family in Bhutan is very high. In particular, when the king's wedding was held, the people voluntarily held festivals and welcomed it across the country even though the king did not order it.

However, some point out that although it has become a constitutional monarchy, the king's authority does not disappear overnight, and the majority of lawmakers are royalists , so the king's power is still maintained. In fact, it is said that travelers, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, tend to give excessive praise to Buddhism and the royal family. # Also, as mentioned above, in Bhutan, where Tibetans and Buddhism are the mainstream, ethnic minorities and religions are discriminated against knowingly or unknowingly, and in extreme cases, even within the democratization forces, it seems that guerrilla warfare is often practiced.

On December 10, 2020, Bhutan abolished the Sodomi Act to legalize homosexuality ( sexual minorities ). #

In 2025, freedom in the world recorded 32 points for political rights and 36 points for civil freedom, a total of 68 points, an increase of 5 points compared to the previous year, and for the first time in history, it was upgraded from 'partial freedom' to 'freedom'.

A first vote is held to select first and second place among several parties, and a second vote is held to decide how to distribute seats to those two parties. Seats are awarded in proportion to the number of votes received in the second round of voting. It is an unusual system that institutionally enforces a two-party system, and it appears to be aimed at catching two birds with one stone: stabilizing the political situation by preventing the proliferation of small political parties and keeping the opposition party in check on the government (ruling party).[22]

Under this system, in September 2018, the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) ranked third in vote percentage in the first round of voting, instantly falling from a large ruling party with more than ⅔ of the total to an outside party with 0 seats . However, the People's Democratic Party (PDP) won first place in the 2024 Bhutan general election primary, raising the possibility of returning to the National Assembly. For reference, the ruling party, the Bhutan United Party (DNT), ranked only 4th.

Located on several mountain ranges originating from the Himalayas, the southern part has a low altitude, while the further north you go, the more mountains there are and the higher the altitude. With the Himalayan Mountains at the northern end, the south has a subtropical to tropical climate , the central region between 2,000m and 3,000m has a temperate climate , and the north has an alpine or cold climate . The capital, Thimphu, is a city located at approximately 2,300 meters and belongs to a temperate climate.[23] The highest peak is Gangkar Funsum . The height is 7,570m. For this reason, when you introduce a Korean mountain as a mountain to a Bhutanese, their response is, “That’s what they call a hill in Bhutan.”

Except for a very small part in the south, the entire country is covered with mountains, and in fact, 98.8% of the country is mountainous, making it the most mountainous country in the world.

In Bhutan, perhaps because of the firm principle of preserving nature and handing it down to future generations, the constitution also stipulates that the ratio of forests should not fall below 60% . And Bhutanese citizens must obtain permission from the Ministry of Forestry of Bhutan when cutting down trees, and heavy punishments are imposed if this is violated. Through these examples, we can see how Bhutanese people value and love nature.

Thanks to such dense forests, Bhutan is the only negative carbon emission country in the world, along with Suriname, where about 95% of the country's land area is forested.

On March 28, 2025 , an earthquake of 7.7 in Myanmar was felt.

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In Bhutan, there are 20 Dzongkhag, which are regional administrative districts, and Dzongkhag, which is also a basic administrative district, consists of Gewog, which can be called a basic administrative district, and Dungkhag, a special administrative district. In Korea, it seems that (although it is a bit large), counting Eup and Myeon in Gun(郡) as basic organizations, and replacing Special Administrative District with Gu(區).

In the 2000s, it was once known as a country with the happiest people in the world and became the subject of interest. This is a result of a survey of 100 citizens conducted by the European New Economy Foundation (NEF), so its reliability is very low. Another survey, the Global Happiness Index (HPI), also showed a very high happiness index, ranking it at the top until the 2000s and ranking 19th in 2009, but it plummeted from the late 2010s and fell to the middle or lower ranks. In 2019, it ranked 127th in the world , recording a lower happiness level than Korea, which ranked 54th at a similar time . # When calculating the happiness index, (1) life expectancy, (2) life satisfaction, and (3) ecosystem index are added together. As industrialization began rapidly in the mid-2010s, the ecosystem index fell three times due to environmental pollution.

Another interpretation is that Bhutan, which maintained a fairly stable society internally thanks to its completely isolated society until the 20th century, became an open society in the 21st century, and as the number of factors related to accessing external information increased, paradoxically, the level of happiness decreased due to comparisons. There is also an opinion that the level of happiness itself is subjective to the individual in the first place, so quantifying it in itself is nonsense. #[24]

On the one hand, it is true that the Bhutanese government created the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH) under the leadership of the King in the 20th century, but this does not result in a happy society due to growth supremacy centered on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Korea. In the self-reflection theory that it was created, it was presented as an alternative model, attracting the attention of those who wanted to change it in a better direction.[25] Some point out that it is overrated.

It is also famous for being isolated now because of the characteristics of a small country located in the alpine zone.[26] The first road to Bhutan was built in 1961 , the launch of the radio broadcast in 1973 , and the first foreigner to visit foreigners in 1974, in 1974, in 1974 ,[27] The opening of the airline was in 1981 , the first film production was in 1989 , the introduction of television and the Internet was 1999 , and the mobile phone service began in 2003 .

Bhutan's mortality rate is quite high despite a stable society. Of course, the Bhutan government has been decreasing for more than a decade, but it is still high. As of 2020, infant mortality rates under 1 year old are 27.6 per 1,000, and 28 infants under 5 years of age are higher than North Korea suffering from chronic food shortages.[28] In particular, 30%of Bhutan's people died before they turned 65, and the life expectancy was only 69.8 years old.[29] There are only 1.8 beds per 1,000 medical infrastructure. Even though the central government, which has a strong control of the central government, is trying to provide almost free welfare, it means that the lifespan is very short, which means that the welfare is poor, and the welfare benefits are not evenly established in the city as well as the rural areas, and the foundation has not been properly established.

Currently, the biggest problem within Bhutan is the growing gap between rich and poor and social inequality. Rapid economic growth inevitably deepens the gap between rich and poor/urban-rural. As most business is centered around the capital city of Thimphu , monthly rents in Thimphu have already risen to a level higher than the average worker's salary in Bhutan, and luxury homes cost hundreds of millions of won. In particular, in Thimphu, there are wealthy people who drive foreign cars, enjoy socializing in clubs, and lead luxurious lives, while in rural areas, poor families who cannot send all their children to school and worry about food are common, even though the government provides free education. This is because several people have to work to barely make a living for a family. Even the children who are barely sent to school struggle to study in under-equipped schools, suffering from a lack of school supplies. Moreover, even after completing compulsory education and graduating from college, it is not easy to find a job and youth unemployment is high. As a result, although the happiness index in cities is maintained to some extent, the happiness index in rural areas where the benefits of economic development are poor are falling significantly.

In addition, even though income has increased, it is not a country that lives well yet, so there is not much national budget, and the size of the economy is not large, so the economy itself is not large. For example, it is unknown when it is the standard, but only 180 doctors in Bhutan. In addition, even these doctors are concentrated in Timfu , the capital, and if they go down to the province, one drug owner must care for 10,000 residents. At the same time, the military doctor is in charge of patients. However , there is virtually no answer except for the poor medical technology, the poor medical equipment, and the patient with incurable diseases or serious disabilities .[30] In particular, Bhutan proves the lack of medical infrastructure, and the average life expectancy is still in their 60s. In short, only the welfare policy pursued by the state is great, but the problem is that the capital and the foundation are seriously lacking. Because of this, those who are in charge of Bhutan's administration do not easily say that Bhutan is happy. # Excessive luxury does not guarantee happiness, but the happiness that can be raised without money and goods is also limited if the mental power of the clergy is not strong.

In fact, the regional gap is large, and as of 2021, the capital Thimphu region has the highest human development index at 0.832.[31] Unlike what was recorded[32] The lowest lyrics area is 0.542[33] Only recorded. The difference is 0.29 .[34] The country with more severe regional differences than Bhutan is China.[35] , Mauritania , Ethiopia[36] , Nigeria and Burkina Faso . #

Meanwhile, there are still problems that must be overcome for democracy to function properly. It is said that the level of education needs to be higher, and that it is difficult for people scattered here and there to vote at the same time due to the large territory relative to the population and the barren and rugged terrain. The Bhutanese government tried to deliver ballots by helicopter in some areas, but failed. Of course, it was a good thing I at least tried. Electronic voting also still lacks related infrastructure. In addition, some say that despite democratization, public perception has not changed drastically since the king took the lead, and that discrimination, censorship, and oppression are severe. The democracy index is also at 79th place as of 2024, a level that cannot be considered good.[37] # , # , # Of course, some things, such as the legalization of homosexuality mentioned above, are gradually improving.

Incidents of theft and destruction of UNESCO cultural heritage or Buddhist relics also seem to occur frequently. There is also speculation that it is highly likely that it was the work of locals due to the nature of the country's limited reception of tourists.

Bhutan ranked 22nd in the world's suicide rate in 2012. # Bhutan is still developing, the gap between the rich and the poor is lower than that of other developing countries, and the poor people are rare, the weather is not particularly depressed.[38] Considering that it is a country that cares very much about happiness in the country, the suicide rate is high. Rather, the suicide rate is lower for South American countries that are much more confused socially and economically. Despite policy efforts, the number of suicide is increasing slightly, and the government is increasingly worrying because many of the suicides are young.

Still, the corruption perception index is high compared to developed countries, and as of 2022, it is ranked 25th in the world , one rank lower than the United States and six ranks higher than Korea . Despite the significant increase in national income, social integrity is well maintained.

As of the 2020s, Bhutan also has social problems that are quite similar to those of South Korea , and is said to be suffering from youth unemployment , the gap between rich and poor, and drug addiction problems brought in through illegal routes . In particular, drug use is increasing among those in their teens and twenties, and punishments are being strengthened while the royal family is running a drug eradication campaign and drug addict rehabilitation program, but it does not seem to be easy. As Bhutan has developed, the number of highly educated people has increased, but the problem is that Bhutan's current economic scale is limited, making it difficult to employ all of them. Therefore, there are many cases where young people who graduate from college but do not have a job, or who are tired of school and social life, commit suicide or use drugs out of despair. The bigger problem is that this drug use problem is spreading to minors. # It is said that due to these problems, many young people are leaving abroad to work in India and other countries.

The phenomenon of invisible social issues such as peaceful images and high suicide rates and cultural censorship compared to security is a very common sense in bureaucratic and stable society. As long as human beings gather in any society, both are violent, and if they do not radiate them through crimes or deviations, the problem will be in a passive way. East Asia and Europe, which are relatively safe and bureaucratic, have similar social problems.[39]

Bhutan is a country historically located at a strategic point between India and China, and has been subject to constant territorial incursions by China since the 1950s. At the time, the UN and the international community ignored Bhutan's request for protection due to the aftermath of World War II and the fatigue of successive wars such as the Korean War. India was neutral at the time and Britain had liberated all of its colonies, so it was no longer interested in China's trends. As the UN has no physical influence, Bhutan itself has the world's weakest military, and it lacks the economic power to expand it, China began to put pressure on Bhutan without hesitation, and more than 120 villages have been virtually taken over and used as military bases or Chinese settlements have been established for a long time. Since Chinese police officers are also involved in administrative work, it is considered Chinese territory. Not only that, but the conflict is deepening as the Bhutanese royal family has recently claimed territorial rights over territory considered sacred.

First of all, from 2013 to 2017 , crime in Bhutan seems to have increased significantly. As mentioned above, juvenile delinquency and drug use accounted for a large portion of the increase in crime rates.

Still, the U.S. State Department's Office of Travel Advisors ' 2019 According to the report , as of 2019, Bhutan's security level is level 1. In other words, it is at the same level as South Korea and Japan , which means that public security is very stable. 95% of crimes are concentrated in the capital Thimphu, and the incidence of violent crimes such as murder , robbery , and rape is very low.

Although the number of imprisoned criminals is small compared to the population , there were 1,119 prisoners in Bhutan in 2014 , of which 93.2% were Bhutanese . # The most common crimes are violence , theft , and robbery, and violent crimes such as sexual assault and murder are relatively rare. More than half of the crimes occur in Thimphu, where the population is concentrated. The crime of current concern in Bhutan is the widespread problem of illegal drug abuse among youth.

Of course, it is no exaggeration to say that there is no crime compared to nearby India or Nepal , and the government's active efforts have decreased 13.6% in 2014 → 2015 .

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Bhutan has direct diplomatic relations with 61 UN member states and the European Union . The most recent country to establish diplomatic relations is Brunei , which established diplomatic relations on July 13, 2026.

Strangely, it is found that there are few countries with which it has diplomatic relations, and even more surprisingly, it does not have diplomatic relations with all five permanent members of the UN Security Council. This is due to its past isolationist foreign policy, as well as its historical background of being a de facto protectorate of India until it joined the UN in 1971 .

Of course, even if there are no direct diplomatic relations, there are cases of unofficial exchanges through honorary consulates in the US, UK, Germany, etc., and even European countries that do not have direct diplomatic relations with Bhutan, if they are EU member countries, maintain indirect relations and exchanges through the EU. Since diplomacy is carried out through India, countries with diplomatic rights to India maintain diplomatic relations almost indirectly, but Bhutanese rarely travel abroad, and even if a small number of tourists visit Bhutan, there are no major problems thanks to the high level of security, so it is said that overseas embassies work very leisurely.

Bhutan has a written constitution that states that new buildings must be built using traditional methods. Not only the exterior, but everything from materials to interior and structure must be built according to tradition. Therefore, even buildings that seem very old may actually have been built only a few years ago. In addition, there is a limit on the number of floors in buildings, so they cannot exceed 6 floors in height.

In Bhutan, it is no exaggeration to say that the bell ( temple in Korea ) serves as a central point connecting the country and the people, and that the country's affairs are centered on the bell.

Freedom of religion is guaranteed by national law, but since the majority of people believe in Tibetan Buddhism, there is actually an atmosphere that resembles a state religion. Therefore, there seems to be a perception that minority religions such as Islam and Hinduism are discriminated against.

Bhutan is also the world's only smoking country. However, there are some deviations anywhere, and there are some people who come to Korea or Japan to study well and smoke well. If you ask if you go back to your home country, you can get a cigarette through the cancer market . It is also said that hemp is growing in the roadside and fields of Bhutan .[40] However, harvesting is illegal, so if you do it wrong, it is a prison.



Bhutanese traditional clothes Gho (men's) and Kira (women's)

Since Bhutan loves history and traditional culture, the majority of people wear traditional costumes. In the past, if you did not wear traditional clothes, the police tried to protect the traditional culture to such an extent that you would be caught and fined. Nowadays, more and more people are wearing modern clothes in the age of clothing freedom, but students and government officials are obliged to wear them when they go to school or go to work.

As such , Bhutan can taste a rare scene in the world where men wear skirts and black stockings . The reason for the atmosphere of wearing stockings or skirts is not that you can see traditional culture and unique cases, but it is EBS of Naver Encyclopedia If you look at the story of the world-themed travel, it can be seen that it is to protect the traditional costume that has a conservative tendency because the regulation on men's dress is very intensified.

At one time, intermarriage among Bhutanese was prohibited by law. A few years ago, there were cases of Indians coming to work and marrying Bhutanese, so the government, concerned about assimilation with India, banned it. However, starting in 2015, international marriage was permitted again and a guide on international marriage was prepared. However, you must pass an interview to register your marriage, but interviews are quite difficult, so in 2016, only about one-third of applicants passed the interview held once a year. The level of difficulty is bound to be high because it asks a variety of questions about Bhutan's culture, history, and laws. However, if you pass the interview and have your marriage registered, you will be granted a permanent residency permit to live in Bhutan, so making it this difficult is unavoidable. In addition, social views that still do not favor marriage with foreigners also play a role.

You've probably heard that Bhutan loves chilies, but in fact, it is said that almost every meal contains chilies.[41] The representative dish "Emadashi" is dried meat.[42] It is a side dish mixed with cheese, peppers, etc. Bhutanese eat it as a staple food. Some people even eat this side dish for three meals a day. For tourists who are not good at spicy food, the throat and tongue may tingle and hurt.

There is a petition worship, so you can draw a penis on the wall of the building or make a statue. There is a religious symbol. article Relevant article

Like the country in the Indian culture, Bhutan seems to like it very much. At the time of 2016, there are about eight movie theaters nationwide, and about 20 Bhutan movies a year, but only Bhutan's films are played in the movie theater, making it easy to catch theaters. According to the testimony of Karma, a director who produced 'Cross Road', the director produced 'Cross Road' by shooting, editing, and acoustics without an investor, and producing 'Cross Road' by the production team of about 42 million won. It is called. #

Along with Tibet, counting age is used in everyday life. Year of birth is rarely used instead of age. A similar country is North Korea, which uses year age in everyday life .

Although Dzongkha was designated as the official language , various indigenous languages ​​have existed since long ago, and as can be seen in the map above, languages ​​imported from Tibet , India , and Nepal are also used depending on the region. Currently, there are as many as 53 languages ​​used in Bhutan, and schools teach children in a mixture of Dzongkha and English.

It can be broadly divided into the Sino-Tibetan language of the northern region and the Indic language (Nepali) of the southern region. Nepali is only used in the southern border region where the mountainous region of the core of Bhutan ends and the plains begin, but the population of this region is so huge that it cannot be ignored. As mentioned in the historical section, Bhutan was concerned that the Nepali population would grow too much and become the majority in the country, so they designated many of them as illegal immigrants and suppressed them.

Until the 1980s, Nepali language classes were also taught in schools in the southern region. However, after the first census in 1988, oppression of the Nepali population and racial conflicts began, and relations with Nepal became estranged, so Nepali language education was discontinued.

Although many languages ​​are mixed like this, 25% of the population can speak Dzongkha, and currently, all teenagers are educated in English except for Korean language, Korean history, and ethics classes, and even the elderly in the countryside can speak English, so it is a good relationship between people. There are no major problems with communication.

There are many young people born in the 1990s and 2000s who do not use Dzongkha because they find it difficult and only use English.

At one time world football Although it was known as a neighborhood north and is still well known as the world's weakest body, it has recently won the AFC Awards at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Asian 2nd qualifiers and the 2019 AFC Asian Cup final qualifiers.

For a detailed description of the national football team, see Bhutan National Football Team .

This small country also had Bhutan's first professional league, the A-Division, which started in 1986 (the second division is the B-Division), and Transport United, which seems to have a pretty name, participated in the Asian Winners' Cup qualifiers in the late 90s and lost 0:13 to Uzbekistan 's powerhouse Pakhtakor.

In addition, after the launch of the Bhutan Premier League from the 2012-13 season, 10 teams are currently competing, and the winning team will be given the right to advance to the AFC Challenge League , while the lower 2 teams will be relegated to the Bhutan Premier League qualifiers.



The most popular sport in Bhutan is archery . The bamboo bow , made from special bamboo grown in Bhutan, boasts a range and penetration power that is almost equivalent to that of the square bows of northern countries . Bhutan's bamboo archery is the only bamboo archery that has a history of ranking high in world archery competitions. The kings of Bhutan are basically required to be good at shooting bamboo archery. Several archery competitions are held in Bhutan every year, and the country has such a deep connection with archery that even young children play with bamboo archery. Some studies even ranked archery as the most popular sport in Bhutan.

In addition to archery, he also mainly throws darts . It is not the small dart we know, but throws a dart the size of a top from a target about 30m away.

In basketball , a Korean coach is said to have entered Bhutan under the international exchange project of the Korea Sports Council and is in charge of the national team. Reference article However, there is an error in this article. It is said that basketball is the first time in the history of Bhutan to win a foreign tournament in a ball game, but there is one win against Pakistan in the 2003 Southwest Asia Cup .

It is also a country that has never won a medal at the Asian Games .

75% of Bhutanese believe in Tibetan Buddhism , and Bhutan is a strictly Buddhist country. However , 22% of people believe in Hinduism , and there is also a folk religion, which about 2% of people believe in. The remaining 1% of people believe in external religions such as Christianity . In other words, about 7,700 people believe in an external religion rather than Bhutan's indigenous religion, Hinduism , or folk religion.

Regarding the new coronavirus, in January 2021, India distributed free AstraZeneca vaccines consigned to Bhutan . It is to the point that it is selected as an inoculator and is going to vaccinate the whole nation.

The national law guarantees freedom of religion , but in fact, Bhutan's state religion is Tibetan Buddhism, and people with other religions are easy to discriminate. This is because the identity of Buddhism and Bhutan is closely connected. The Bhutan government has implemented a very powerful rejection policy against Hindu, a Nepal -based Bhutan, for the reason that it can threaten its own identity, which caused 100,000 Nepalese to fled from Bhutan and became refugees . There are 100,000 horses, and they have driven out 100,000 people from the country with a population of 850,000.[43] They settled down in other countries with the help of the UN for 20 years in the refugee village without refusing to enter Nepal because they refused to enter the country because they were Bhutan nationality .

In addition, as shown in the Christian phobia document, it is designated as a country that oppresses Christianity. With the enactment of the Bhutanese Constitution in 2008, religious freedom was granted to Bhutanese citizens, but true religious freedom is still missing in existing customs and oral culture, and Bhutan as a whole is exerting social pressure on Christian believers. Additionally, there are occasional cases of rejection of Christianity, such as a Christian Bhutanese who was punished for showing a Christian-related film.

On the other hand, the spread of Christianity in Bhutan is also leading to positive changes. In the past, in Bhutan, when a person dies, they do something similar to 49 days of rites for 49 days, but this is too burdensome for the poor, so people have come to consider Christianity as an alternative to simple funeral ceremonies. In response, Bhutanese Buddhism quickly lowered the cost of funerals, and even made them free with government support, and began to dispatch monks to large hospitals like Christians to take care of sickness and death of patients.

Joseph Kinley Shering, a member of the Bhutanese royal family, was the first Catholic He was ordained a priest in 1995.[44] He worked as a missionary in India from 2000 to 2018 , and is currently serving as a pastor in Bhutan. # , related articles .

Currently , it is customary not to officially build a church or erect a cross in Bhutan (there is no legal restriction), but it is possible for an individual to use the entire building as a space to praise Jesus . Therefore, they are unofficially running a Catholic center, and Father Kinley Schering says he aims to get permission to build a church in Bhutan with a long-term outlook of 10 years.

 more detailsBhutan/Tourism documentcastPlease note.

Kim In -kwon , starring Kim In -kwon , deals with the disturbance of a young man who suffered from employment shortages, acting as a foreign worker . According to Kim Jung -tae's part of the play , it is depicted that every go to the main character, there is a foreign worker from a country that impersonates the protagonist. "There are only three Bhutan people in Korea: Bhutan Ambassador, Ambassador, and (impersonating Bhutan nationality). " For reference, Kim Jung -tae plays a Bhutan gas (…) drip. Later, a real worker from Bhutan also appears.