Gross National Happiness Index (GNH)

1. Psychological Wellbeing

2. Material Wellbeing/Standard of Living

3. Good Governance

4. Health

5. Education

6. Community Vitality

7. Cultural Diversity and Resilience

8. Balanced Time Use

9. Ecological Diversity

Each of these domains represents the Bhutanese population's well-being, and the term "wellness" here refers to the fulfillment of a "good life" in accordance with Gross National Happiness's values and principles. Because it is linked to a set of policy and program screening tools, the multidimensional Bhutan GNH Index has practical applications. The data used to create the GNH index come from regular surveys and are representative of district, gender, age, rural-urban residence, and other demographics. The results of representative sampling can be broken down at different sub-national levels, making it easier for organizations and individuals to use disaggregated data. In contrast to some concepts of happiness that are prevalent in contemporary Western literature, the GNH Index measures happiness in a variety of ways. It does not solely focus on subjective well-being and does not narrowly focus on happiness that revolves around one's own well-being.

The pursuit of happiness is a group effort, but it can also be deeply personal. In spite of their disparate circumstances, diverse options must be available for happy individuals. The goal of the GNH Index is to bring people and the nation closer to happiness, primarily by improving the conditions of those who are not yet happy. The GNH Index can be broken down to see who and where unhappiness comes from. The GNH Index gives the government and others two ways to increase GNH for policy action. It has the potential to either raise the proportion of people who are content or lower the insufficient conditions of those who are not yet content. The GNH Index is constructed in such a way that there is a greater incentive for the government and others to reduce the deficiencies of people who are not yet happy. This can be accomplished by reducing the numerous areas of weakness that the unhappy person faces. In rural Bhutan, unhappy individuals typically have lower levels of education, living standards, and time management. People who aren't happy yet aren't enough in non-material areas like community vitality, culture, and psychological well-being in urban Bhutan. For instance, community vitality suffers the most in Thimphu, the capital. The nine GNH domains of psychological well-being, time use, community vitality, cultural diversity, ecological resilience, living standard, health, education, and good governance are all examined by the GNH Index.

Alkire-Foster's aggregation method is a variant (2007, 2011).The index is made up of 33 indicators that are clustered or grouped together. A number of variables make up each clustered indicator. The 33 clustered indicators have 124 variables when unpacked, which are the GNH Index's fundamental components. Variables have varying weights, with highly subjective variables receiving lighter weights. Each variable is subjected to a sufficiency threshold. Because they are all regarded as having the same significance for happiness, each of the nine domains receives the same weight at the domain level. The levels of happiness have been measured using three thresholds. To be content, not everyone must meet each of the 124 criteria. There are many different ways that people can live happy lives. To be content, not all variables must be present. Because people are free to choose how they want their lives to be, not all variables are applicable to everyone.