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Bhutan Population
Size, Structure, and Settlement Patterns
Unavailable
Figure 15. Bhutan: Population Distribution by Age and Sex, 1988
Source: Based on information from Bhutan, Planning Commission, Central Statistical
Office, Statistical Yearbook of Bhutan, 1989, Thimphu, May 1990, 2.
When Bhutan's first national census was conducted in
1969, the
population officially stood at 930,614 persons. Before
1969
population estimates had ranged between 300,000 and
800,000 people.
The 1969 census has been criticized as inaccurate. By the
time the
1980 census was held, the population reportedly had
increased to
approximately 1,165,000 persons (see
table 23, Appendix).
The
results of the 1988 census had not been released as of
1991, but
preliminary government projections in 1988 set the total
population
at 1,375,400 persons, whereas UN estimates stood at
1,451,000
people in 1988. Other foreign projections put the
population at
1,598,216 persons in July 1991. It is likely, however,
that
Bhutan's real population was less than 1 million and
probably as
little as 600,000 in 1990. Moreover, the government itself
began to
use the figure of "about 600,000 citizens" in late 1990.
The annual growth rate in 1990 was 2 percent. Although
the wide
variation in population size makes all projections flawed,
experts
believe that the population growth rate is valid. The
birth rate
was 37 per 1,000, and the death rate was 17 per 1,000. In
1988 UN
experts had estimated Bhutan would have a population of
1.9 million
by 2000 and 3 million by 2025. The average annual
population growth
rate was estimated at 1.9 percent during the period from
1965 to
1970 and 1.8 percent during the period 1980 to 1985. Rates
of
change were projected to increase to 2.1 percent by 1990
and 2.3
percent by 2000 and to decrease to 1.41 percent by 2025.
Total
fertility rates (the average number of children born
during a
woman's reproductive years) have declined since the 1950s,
however.
The rate stood at 6.0 in 1955 and 5.5 in 1985 and was
expected to
decline to 3.7 by 2005 and 2.5 by 2025. The infant
mortality rate
was the highest in South Asia in 1990: 137 deaths per
1,000 live
births. Despite the declining population growth most of
Bhutan's
people were young. By the late 1980s, 45 percent of the
population
was under fifteen years of age. However, the greater
number of
female infant deaths resulted in one of the world's lowest
malefemale ratios (97.2 females to 100 males; see
fig. 15).
Life expectancy at birth had increased significantly
since the
1950s, when it stood at only 36.3 years. By the early
1980s, life
expectancy had reached 45.9 years. In 1989 the UN
projected that
life expectancy at birth in Bhutan would reach 55.5 years
by 2005
and 61.8 years by 2025, still low compared with other
South Asian
countries and with the other least developed nations of
the world.
Overall population density was thirty-one persons per
square
kilometer in the late 1980s, but because of the rugged
terrain
distribution was more dense in settled areas. The regions
in the
southern Duars valleys and eastern Bhutan around the
fertile
Tashigang Valley were the most populous areas. As was
common among
the least developed nations, there was a trend, albeit
small,
toward urbanization. Whereas in 1970 only 3 percent of the
population lived in urban settings, the percentage had
increased to
5 percent in 1985. UN specialists projected the urban
population
would reach 8 percent by 2000. With the exception of
Tuvalu, Bhutan
had the lowest urban population of any country among the
forty-one
least developed nations of the world.
Thimphu, the capital, the largest urban area, had a
population
of 27,000 persons in 1990. Most employed residents of
Thimphu, some
2,860 in 1990, were government employees. Another 2,200
persons
worked in private businesses and cottage industries. The
city
advanced toward modernization in 1987 with the
installation of
meters to regulate water consumption, the naming of its
streets,
and the erection of street signs. The only other urban
area with a
population of more than 10,000 residents was Phuntsholing
in
Chhukha District.
Data as of September 1991
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