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Bhutan

South Asia

Photos of Bhutan

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The Tiger’s Nest Monastery (Taktshang Goemba), Bhutan’s most famous monastery, is built on the side of a cliff 2,950 m (9,678 ft) above the Paro Valley. According to a legend, the Guru Rinpoche (the second Buddha) founded the monastery after flying from Tibet to Bhutan on the back of a tigress to subdue a demon, Singye Samdrup, who was troubling the valley’s resident. The first monastery was built in 1692, but due to fires and age, the structure was rebuilt numerous times, most recently in 2005 to repair damage from a fire in 1998.
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Contents

Introduction

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Definitions and Notes
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Geography

Area

comparison ranking: total 136

Area - comparative

Area comparison map:
<p>slightly larger than Maryland; about one-half the size of Indiana</p>

People and Society

Age structure

2024 population pyramid:
This is the population pyramid for Bhutan. A population pyramid illustrates the age and sex structure of a country's population and may provide insights about political and social stability, as well as economic development. The population is distributed along the horizontal axis, with males shown on the left and females on the right. The male and female populations are broken down into 5-year age groups represented as horizontal bars along the vertical axis, with the youngest age groups at the bottom and the oldest at the top. The shape of the population pyramid gradually evolves over time based on fertility, mortality, and international migration trends. <br/><br/>For additional information, please see the entry for Population pyramid on the Definitions and Notes page.

Median age

comparison ranking: total 134

Population growth rate

comparison ranking: 98

Birth rate

comparison ranking: 106

Death rate

comparison ranking: 158

Net migration rate

comparison ranking: 92

Maternal mortality ratio

comparison ranking: 97

Infant mortality rate

comparison ranking: total 63

Total fertility rate

comparison ranking: 147

Tobacco use

comparison ranking: total 80

Environment

Government

Economy

Real GDP growth rate

comparison ranking: 48

Real GDP per capita

comparison ranking: 125

Labor force

comparison ranking: 161

Unemployment rate

comparison ranking: 35

Public debt

comparison ranking: 14

Taxes and other revenues

comparison ranking: 112

Current account balance

comparison ranking: 118

Exports

comparison ranking: 184

Imports

comparison ranking: 183

Debt - external

comparison ranking: 87

Energy

Communications

Transportation

Airports

comparison ranking: 180

Heliports

comparison ranking: 84

Military and Security

Transnational Issues

Contents