Regions and Countries

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p. 8 of 13 BACK | NEXT Map Executive Summary I. Overall Performance During Eighth Plan Period A. Growth, Employment, Savings, and Investment B. Fiscal Developments C. Monetary Developments and Prices D. Balance of Payments and External Debt E. Human and Social Development II. Improving Quality of Life for All: The Ninth Plan Appendix

Country Economic Review - Bhutan : I. Overall Performance During Eighth Plan Period

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E. Human and Social Development

26. One of the most impressive achievements of the Government over the past 15-20 years has been the improvements witnessed in social indicators, albeit from very poor levels of the 1980s and earlier. The long-standing commitment of the Government to improve the human condition is an important feature of Bhutan's development process. However, it is not possible to assess social development specifically during the Eighth Plan period because the periodicity of data collection and publication in this social area is not annual. Nevertheless, improvements over longer periods are plainly evident, and these include those during the Eighth Plan.

27. In the case of health indicators, for example, life expectancy rose from 35 years in 1961 to 46 years in 1977, and to about 66 years in 1998. Similarly, between the mid-1980s and 2000, the infant mortality rate was reduced from 142 to 61 per 1,000 live births and the maternal mortality rate from 7.7 to 2.6 per 1,000 live births, while the under-5 mortality rate fell from 162 to 84 per 1,000 live births. In addition, the crude birth rate was reduced marginally (by 5 percentage points) over the same period, and the crude death rate rather more significantly by 17 percentage points. The population growth rate has fallen to about 2.5 percent per year at present from over 3 percent in earlier years. Moreover, major advances in immunization covering 90 percent of children have virtually eliminated neonatal tetanus, polio, and diphtheria. Malaria and leprosy are now under control, although the former remains a problem in the southern part of the country, while the program to iodize salt has significantly reduced iodine deficiency. The most common causes of morbidity today are acute respiratory infections (mostly associated with the use of wood for cooking and heating in traditional homes having poor ventilation), followed by diarrheal diseases (formerly the most common), skin infections, and tuberculosis.

28. These positive developments have been brought about by providing increased access to health facilities (hospitals, basic health units, dispensaries, and outreach clinics); boosting the number of doctors, nurses, and auxiliary health personnel; and improving access to potable water and sanitation. By 1999, over 90 percent of the population had access to free basic health care (up from 65 percent in 1987); 78 percent of the rural population had access to safe water supplies (a proportion that had increased from 31 percent in 1987 and that is expected to reach 95-100 percent in the next five years); and 88 percent of the rural population had access to sanitary latrines. Moreover, piped sanitation systems have either been completed or are under construction in Thimphu, Phuentsholing, and four other towns.

29. Considerable progress has also been made in the field of education over the past 20 or more years. Considering that fewer than 450 children in total attended secular primary schools in the late 1950s, and that the country then had no secondary schools, educational achievements have been impressive. The education system in 2000 consisted of 261 primary and community schools, 59 junior high schools, and 61 high schools, tertiary and vocational training facilities (including one degree college). Moreover, the number of teachers has trebled, and the number of educational establishments has doubled since 1977 alone.

30. The Government provides free education. The primary school enrollment ratio had reached 72 percent by 2000 - up from 12 percent in 1980 and from 25 percent as recently as 1990 - which suggests that a 95 percent ratio could be reached in 2002, and universal primary enrollment soon after that. Girls now comprise some 46 percent of primary school children. This represents a gross enrollment ratio for girls of over 60 percent, and they tend to have lower dropout rates than primary school boys.

31. Aside from such quantitative improvements, both the quality and the internal efficiency of primary education have improved. A curriculum known as the New Approach to Primary Education, introduced in the mid-1980s and extended to all primary schools in 1993, seeks to provide a curriculum based on Bhutanese values and circumstances and to develop skills that are useful to those who leave school at the end of their primary education. The survival rate at primary school increased from 35 percent in 1987 to 69 percent in 2000. As a result of these improvements and the introduction of nonformal education, the adult literacy rate rose from 17 percent in 1977 to 23 percent in 1980, 38 percent in 1990, and about 54 percent in 1996, although the adult rate is only 28 percent for women, and particularly low - even down to 10 percent - in some of the more remote rural areas. Despite the many improvements, therefore, basic literacy standards remain poor among adults in many areas but have increased rapidly among children.

32. Secondary education has also expanded rapidly, although a persistent shortage of trained, competent teachers at these higher levels remains a major constraint to faster growth. Even so, the Government has built new secondary schools; recruited expatriate teachers; and, importantly, expanded boarding facilities (now covering over 14,000 students) as an inducement to rural students generally and to girls¹ in particular. The gender balance is about 54:46 in favor of boys in primary schools, the same in junior high schools, 57:43 in high schools, 52:48 in private schools, and 67:33 at the tertiary and vocational levels.

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