Human Development & Quality of Life in Bhutan
Human Development
Bhutan enters the 2025 UNDP report with a 2023 HDI of 0.698 and rank 125, within the medium human development group. More revealing for this profile, GII adds a separate gender-inequality reading of 0.278 at rank 71. At the same time, the health component is anchored by life expectancy of 73.0 years.
What sits inside Bhutan's HDI
Bhutan's HDI can be read through four underlying inputs for 2023: 73.0 life expectancy, 13.2 expected schooling, 5.8 mean schooling and GNI per capita of $13,843 in 2021 PPP dollars. The components are inputs to HDI, not independent country league tables.
Inequality changes the headline
In this country profile, IHDI is the HDI after allowing for unequal distribution of achievement, for Bhutan, it remains an objective development measure rather than a subjective well-being indicator. When looking across the UNDP tables, keep missing fields explicitly missing instead of collapsing separate dimensions into one label.
Gender and planetary-pressure adjustments
Alongside the headline HDI, the published data for Bhutan include GDI 0.958, GII 0.278, PHDI 0.593. The indicators add context without becoming a single composite DigifyWorld rating.
Quality-of-life coverage is conditional
This profile does not show a verified comparable life-satisfaction value for Bhutan. A missing source value is shown as unavailable.
What Bhutan's numbers say together
Bhutan's additional indicators read as IHDI 0.478 with a 31.5% loss; PHDI 0.593 after a 15.0% adjustment; GDI 0.958. Each measure has a different definition, so they are not combined. When using this figure elsewhere, avoid turning the indicator into a general country score before comparing it with a quality-of-life observation.
Looking at the published indicators, the headline UNDP result for Bhutan is HDI 0.698, rank 125, for 2023. Broader quality-of-life indicators remain outside that index.
The IHDI is 0.478, and UNDP reports an overall loss of 31.5% relative to the headline index.
The GDI value is 0.958 in group 2; it should be read alongside, not merged into, HDI.
The PHDI is 0.593, with a 15.0% adjustment from the HDI value in UNDP's 2023 table.
Frequently asked questions
What is Bhutan's HDI?
The UNDP table records Bhutan at 0.698 on HDI in 2023, with global rank 125.
How does inequality affect Bhutan's HDI?
UNDP reports IHDI 0.478 for Bhutan, which is 31.5% below the headline HDI after inequality across the three dimensions is taken into account. For the evidence on this page, distinguish the composite from its components before comparing it with a quality-of-life observation.
Why is there no life satisfaction score on this page?
A quality-of-life indicator is included for Bhutan only when a dated comparable value is supported by the cited dataset. The absence of a published observation is preserved explicitly.
Is HDI the same as quality of life?
No. HDI is built from health, schooling and income indicators. Subjective well-being is kept outside the HDI calculation.
Sources & methodology
Sources for the development indicators and definitions shown above.
View sources used for this page
Primary source for 2023 HDI and its components, plus IHDI, GDI, GII and PHDI where reported.
Report edition underlying the 2023 human-development indices and ranking.
Data note: Reference years are shown with each indicator; unavailable observations remain unfilled.