The kingdom of Bhutan, situated in the Himalayan Mountains, bordered by India, Tibet, and China, is a nation of approximately 672,425 people (Anielski 137). In the year 2005, the nation had a gross national product (GDP) per capita of about $US 3,921 and was ranked 117 th in the world. By conventional economic measures, Bhutan is a relatively poor, developing country with a resource based economy that relies on forestry, animal husbandry, subsistence agriculture, and now increasingly, hydroelectricity, cash crops and tourism. However, the nation is far beyond developed countries as its physical environment is beautiful. It is also closer to being sustainable than nearly any other country in the world. Bhutan fits the idea of Shangri-La in many respects. It only allowed foreigners into the country from the 1970s, and continues to restrict the entry of tourists. A hereditary monarchy has ruled the country since the start of the twentieth century. The Bhutanese are mainly Buddhists and the nation has a life expectancy of 63 years for men and 64 years for women. Late in the 1990s, television and the Internet were allowed, and King Jigme Singye Wangchuk installed parliamentary democracy in 2008. Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Bhutan has adopted an official policy, passed by parliament, of Gross National Happiness (GNH) where by the pursuit of happiness takes precedence over economic prosperity and GDP. Apparently, this isolated Tibetan Buddhist nation, led by King Jigme Singye Wangchuk, is the only country in the world that has made attempts to measure a well-being by GNH instead of Gross National Product or GNP (Anielski 139). Bhutan leaders introduced the idea of GNH in order to strengthen the Buddhist spiritual system of belief. GNH measures and manages what matters most in people’s lives such as the quality of life, happiness of people, and good stewardship of the earth. In addition, GNH is intended to encourage debates on how different teachings and ethical beliefs of the Bhutanese people can be factored into the nation’s economy. In essence, GNH focuses policy debate on well-being and the pursuit of happiness rather than the mere acquisition of material things, consumption or production. At its heart, GNH is based on the Buddhist philosophy. In Buddhism, happiness is not determined by what we have and own but rather by the qualities of being. A study by Morrall indicated that Bhutan scores very well in the Happy Index in the Happy Planet Index, which is not surprising given that it has led the way in terms of furnishing a culture of happiness (Morrall 19). Bhutan assesses success through its GNH index instead of the economically driven measurements of GNP and GDP. The four specific pillars of GNH as defined by King Jigme Thinley, upon which GNH rests, are good governance, cultural preservation, environmental conservation, and economic development. Each of these pillars has qualities that have never been and can never be quantified, but can be analyzed objectively. According to Bansil, the Bhutan 2020 vision document defines GNH’s role as a single unifying concept to identify future directions of policy (28). The King’s argument is that there are many concepts of development o