Nine happy places

Bhutan No other country has more explicitly yoked its ethos to happiness than this tiny Himalayan kingdom. The United States may have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but Bhutan has Gross National Happiness. The policy, first enunciated by King Wangchuk in the 1970s, aims to supplant, or at least supplement, the conventional measure of national progress, gross domestic product. To this end, the Bhutanese have forsaken millions of dollars in revenue from timber sales and mass tourism. They are developing happiness indexes in the hope of putting a hard number to this soft policy. So, are the Bhutanese happy? Yes, but that’s not the point. Happiness, they’ll gladly tell you, is a journey, not a destination. DISCUSS What destinations make you happy? GLOBE Analyzing happiness is a growth industry DISCUSS What would be on your bucket list?
Bhutan

No other country has more explicitly yoked its ethos to happiness than this tiny Himalayan kingdom. The United States may have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but Bhutan has Gross National Happiness. The policy, first enunciated by King Wangchuk in the 1970s, aims to supplant, or at least supplement, the conventional measure of national progress, gross domestic product. To this end, the Bhutanese have forsaken millions of dollars in revenue from timber sales and mass tourism. They are developing happiness indexes in the hope of putting a hard number to this soft policy. So, are the Bhutanese happy? Yes, but that’s not the point. Happiness, they’ll gladly tell you, is a journey, not a destination.

(Craig Simons/Cox Newspapers, Text by Eric Weiner/Globe Correspondent)