Bhutan

Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia situated in the Eastern Himalayas between China in the north and India in the south.

Bhutan (/buːˈtɑːn/ ^ⓘ boo-TAHN; Dzongkha: འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, romanized: Druk Yul [ʈuk̚˩.yː˩]), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan (Dzongkha: འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་ཁབ་, romanized: Druk Gyal Khap),^[14] is a landlocked country in South Asia situated in the Eastern Himalayas between China in the north and India in the south. With a population of over 727,145^[15] and a territory of 38,394 square kilometres (14,824 sq mi), Bhutan ranks 133rd in land area and 160th in population. Bhutan is a constitutional monarchy with a king (Druk Gyalpo) as the head of state and a prime minister as the head of government. Vajrayana Buddhism is the state religion and the Je Khenpo is the head of the state religion.

Population
Area
Formation
Kingdom of Bhutan འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་ཁབ (Dzongkha) Druk Gyal Khap
Flag Emblem
Anthem: འབྲུག་ཙན་དན་ Druk Tsenden "The Thunder Dragon Kingdom" Duration: 1 minute and 45 seconds.1:45
Capital and largest city	Thimphu 27°28.0′N 89°38.5′E
Official languages	Dzongkha
Religion  (2020)[1][2]	84.3% Buddhism (official) 11.3% Hinduism 3.2% Bon 1.2% others
Demonym(s)	Bhutanese
Government	Unitary parliamentary semi-constitutional monarchy
• Druk Gyalpo	Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck
• Prime Minister	Tshering Tobgay
Legislature	Parliament
• Upper house	National Council
• Lower house	National Assembly
• Unification of Bhutan	1616–1634
• Period of Desi administration	1650–1905
• Start of the Wangchuck dynasty	17 December 1907
• Indo-Bhutan Treaty	8 August 1949
• UN membership	21 September 1971
• Constitutional monarchy	18 July 2008
• Total	38,394 km2 (14,824 sq mi)[3][4] (133rd)
• Water (%)	1.1
• 2021 estimate	777,486[5][6] (165th)
• 2022 census	727,145[7]
• Density	19.3/km2 (50.0/sq mi) (162nd)
GDP (PPP)	2023 estimate
• Total	$10.969 billion[8] (166th)
• Per capita	$14,296[8] (95th)
GDP (nominal)	2023 estimate
• Total	$2.686 billion[8] (178th)
• Per capita	$3,500[8] (124th)
Gini (2022)	28.5[9] low
HDI (2022)	0.681[10] medium (125th)
Currency	Ngultrum (BTN) Indian rupee (₹) (INR)
Time zone	UTC+06 (BTT)
Date format	YYYY-MM-DD
Driving side	left[11]
Calling code	+975
ISO 3166 code	BT
Internet TLD	.bt
The population of Bhutan had been estimated based on the reported figure of about 1 million in the 1970s when the country had joined the United Nations and precise statistics were lacking.[12] Thus, using the annual increase rate of 2–3%, the most population estimates were around 2 million in 2000. A national census was carried out in 2005 and it turned out that the population was 672,425. Consequently, United Nations Population Division reduced its estimation of the country's population in the 2006 revision[13] for the whole period from 1950 to 2000.

This article contains Tibetan script. Without proper rendering support, you may see very small fonts, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Tibetan characters.

The subalpine Himalayan mountains in the north rise from the country's lush subtropical plains in the south.^[16] In the Bhutanese Himalayas, there are peaks higher than 7,000 metres (23,000 ft) above sea level. Gangkhar Puensum is Bhutan's highest peak and is the highest unclimbed mountain in the world. The wildlife of Bhutan is notable for its diversity,^[17] including the Himalayan takin and golden langur. The capital and largest city is Thimphu, holding close to 15% of the population.