Powered by IFAD

Rural poverty in Bhutan

The isolated, mountainous Kingdom of Bhutan began to open up to the outside world in the 1960s. It has adopted a policy of cautious modernization, moving away from a generally self-sufficient barter economy based on agriculture. Many subsistence farmers living outside the cash economy. Despite limited resources and strong population pressure, the agricultural sector, including livestock and forestry, is the main source of a livelihood for about nine out of ten people.

The distribution of land and other assets is relatively equitable, and few sectors of the population are very rich or very poor. Yet poverty affects more than 30 per cent of the people, and 96 per cent of Bhutan’s poor people live in rural areas. In this rugged country of high mountains and narrow valleys, there is a basic lack of accessible, good-quality land and other resources. Opportunities for producing food and generating cash income are limited. There is little potential for expanding irrigation facilities, and much existing irrigation needs rehabilitation. External inputs and services are inadequate, while farm technology is at a low level.

Who are Bhutan’s poor rural people?

Bhutan’s poorest people include subsistence farmers, small traders and day labourers and their households. Some people work at more than one job in an attempt to earn enough to rise above the poverty level. A minority of poor people are unemployed or are too young or too old to work.

Women have equal legal status and are not subject to gender discrimination, but they are less mobile than men, and less active in social and economic life outside of their own villages.

Where are they?

Although there are poor people living in remote villages scattered throughout the country, poverty is deepest in the country’s eastern zones. About 75 per cent of the poorest households are in the Pemagatshel, Zhemgang, Mongar, Trashigang and Sampdrup-Jongkhar districts. There is some transfer of poverty when poor people migrate to urban areas. 

Why are they poor?

Poverty in Bhutan has diverse causes, but most are linked to the nature of the land. Because villages are isolated and the terrain is extremely rugged, people lack access to social and health services and to education and markets. In many poor communities people have to walk from a few hours to a few days to reach the nearest road head. Students in some villages have to walk two or three hours each way to reach the nearest primary school.

The population is growing rapidly, but resources and opportunities are limited. Poor people do not own or do not have access to productive assets such as land. Because of high illiteracy rates and lack of training, rural people do not have the productive skills and knowledge of technology they need to improve their living standards. They have few opportunities for off-farm employment and for otherwise generating income. Farmers have little or no access to credit and other financial services.

 Among other factors that aggravate rural poverty in Bhutan are natural calamities such as floods and landslides, breakdowns in society that disrupt family and social support systems, increasing costs of goods and services, and illnesses such as malaria and tuberculosis.

Source: IFAD