Bhutan, 'land of happiness,' joins global fight against low birth rates with monthly cash payments

Bhutan, widely known as the "land of happiness," has decided to offer monthly cash payments to families with three or more children in a bid to boost its birth rate.

The Bhutanese government will pay $105 (about 163,000 won) per month to eligible families until their third child turns 3, Reuters reported Saturday. The benefit applies to third children born on or after June 4.

Families whose third child was born before June 4 but has not yet turned 3 are also eligible.

Cabinet Secretary Kesang Deki said the support would be extended to all third and subsequent children, regardless of how many there are.

The government said it adopted the measure after concluding that population decline, aging and emigration pose long-term risks not only to the labor force but also to the country's broader social and economic development.

Annual births in Bhutan fell 26 percent over the past decade, dropping from 11,001 in 2015 to 8,153 in 2024.

The number of young people emigrating to Australia and other countries, driven by economic frustration, has also been rising.

A small kingdom of fewer than 800,000 people bordering China and India, Bhutan is renowned for placing national well-being at the center of its governance. Its king declared in the 1970s that Gross National Happiness — not gross domestic product — was the true measure of a nation's progress.