A tiny kingdom in the foothills of the Himalayas will give people money to have more children
Authorities in the tiny Himalayan foothills kingdom of Bhutan are worried about population decline and have announced financial incentives for families having more children, Reuters reports.
Nestled between China and India in the eastern Himalayas, Bhutan is a country of less than 800,000 people. Internationally, the country is known for its so-called Gross National Happiness index, which takes into account factors such as recreation and emotional well-being, which are not usually taken into account in the calculation of traditional economic indicators.
The government in Thimphu has now announced that it will provide monthly incentives of 10,000 ngultrums (about $105) for every third child and those born after that.
The incentive will be granted for all children born after June 4, 2026, until they reach the age of three. Children born before this date will also be eligible, if they have not yet reached the age of three.
Kesang Deki, the royal cabinet secretary, said the incentive would be given to families for any number of children after the second child. “I can have three, four, five, six or seven children,” she told Reuters on Friday.
Births in the kingdom have fallen by more than a quarter in the past decade
Official data shows that Bhutan's annual total number of births fell from 11,001 in 2015 to 8,153 in 2024, a decline of about 26 percent, and the total fertility rate — the number of children per woman — fell over the same period to close to the replacement level of 2.1.
A government statement said the declining and aging population, together with external migration, “have long-term implications for Bhutan's workforce, communities and socio-economic development”.
Reuters notes that young Bhutanese are increasingly seeking opportunities abroad, particularly in Australia, amid growing economic discontent in the landlocked Buddhist kingdom.
The new policy reflects the government's “commitment to the well-being of mothers, children and families, as well as to the long-term sustainability of the people of Bhutan,” the official statement added.
Sikkim, a state in India bordering Bhutan, also announced in 2023 incentives such as one-year maternity leave for women, one-month paternity leave for men and financial support for those trying to get pregnant through IVF.
