Subdivisions of Bhutan

Subdivisions Of Bhutan

Coordinates: 27°25′01″N 90°26′06″E / 27.417°N 90.435°E / 27.417; 90.435

Kingdom of Bhutan འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་ཁབ་
Flag Emblem
Anthem: Druk Tsendhen

Capital
and largest city
Thimphu
27°28.0′N 89°38.5′E / 27.4667°N 89.6417°E / 27.4667; 89.6417
Official languages Dzongkha
Demonym Bhutanese
Government Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy
- King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck
- Prime Minister Jigme Thinley
- Prime Minister-designate Tshering Tobgay
Legislature Parliament
- Upper house National Council
- Lower house National Assembly
Formation Early 17th century
- Wangchuk Dynasty 17 December 1907
- Constitutional monarchy 2007
Area
- Total 38,394 km (135th)
14,824 sq mi
- Water (%) 1.1
Population
- 2012 estimate 742,737 (165th)
- 2005a census 634,982
- Density 18.0/km (154th)
46.6/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2011 estimate
- Total $4.287 billion
- Per capita $6,112
GDP (nominal) 2011 estimate
- Total $1.488 billion
- Per capita $2,121
HDI (2013) 0.538
medium · 140th
Currency Bhutanese ngultrumb (BTN)
Time zone BTT (UTC+6)
- Summer (DST) not observed (UTC+6)
Drives on the left
Calling code +975
ISO 3166 code BT
Internet TLD .bt
a. 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. Thus, using the annual increase rate of 2–3%, the most population estimates were around 2 million in the year 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 estimatation of the country's population in the 2006 revision for the whole period from 1950 to 2050.
b. The Indian rupee is also legal tender.

Bhutan (Dzongkha: འབྲུག་ཡུལ་; Wylie transliteration: ʼbrug-yul "Druk Yul"), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia located at the eastern end of the Himalayas. It is bordered to the north by China and to the south, east and west by India. Further west, it is separated from Nepal by the Indian state of Sikkim, while further south it is separated from Bangladesh by the Indian states of Assam and West Bengal. Bhutan's capital and largest city is Thimphu.

Bhutan existed as a patchwork of minor warring fiefdoms until the early 17th century, when the lama and military leader Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, fleeing religious persecution in Tibet, unified the area and cultivated a distinct Bhutanese identity. Later, in the early 20th century, Bhutan came into contact with the British Empire and retained strong bilateral relations with India upon its independence. In 2006, based on a global survey, Business Week rated Bhutan the happiest country in Asia and the eighth-happiest in the world.

Bhutan's landscape ranges from subtropical plains in the south to the sub-alpine Himalayan heights in the north, where some peaks exceed 7,000 metres (23,000 ft). Its total area was reported as approximately 46,500 km2 (18,000 sq mi) in 1997 and 38,394 square kilometres (14,824 sq mi) in 2002. Bhutan's state religion is Vajrayana Buddhism and the population, now (as of 2012/2013) estimated to be nearly three-quarters of a million, is predominantly Buddhist. Hinduism is the second-largest religion.

In 2008, Bhutan made the transition from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy and held its first general election. As well as being a member of the United Nations, Bhutan is a member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and hosted SAARC's sixteenth summit in April 2010.

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