Bhutan’s birth rate collapse threatens long-term economic sustainability

The oft-repeated phrase that “children are the future” has taken on new urgency in Bhutan, particularly in the context of the sustained fall in birth rates, which is emerging as one of the most consequential economic challenges facing the country today.

GMCA invites bids to redesign Gelephu Old Town

Through chemotherapy, lockdowns, and stigma

At just 32, Tseltrim Zangmo thought she was just tired; she ended up fighting Stage 3 breast cancer. Her message to the...

Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom bridge in the sky

The bond between the two Kingdoms of Bhutan and Thailand has always been rooted in shared reverence and wisdom. This gai...

Bhutan’s rising suicides deepen economic and demographic strain

One life is lost every 84 hours. Bhutan’s rising suicide rate is no longer just a public health crisis. It is also a di...

Fuel subsidy unsustainable as annual cost could reach Nu 14.4B

With a price tag of Nu 14.4 billion annually, can Bhutan really afford to keep subsidizing your fuel?

CCAA warns public against alleged “TikTok Shop” scam

Scammed on TikTok? Two Bhutanese consumers just lost Nu 78,000 to a 'TikTok Shop' scheme. Here is how the trap was set o...

Over 200 intruders enter Lunana cordyceps sites

Over 200 intruders have swarmed the cordyceps sites of Lunana, sparked by a permit loophole that left local residents wa...

Multidisciplinary Super-Speciality Hospital project moving ahead as planned: Health Minister

The Multidisciplinary Super-Speciality Hospital (MDSSH) will be constructed as a flagship project under the 13th Five-Ye...

Airborne geophysical survey maps 40% of country’s land for minerals

Bhutan’s first-ever Airborne Geophysical Survey is on track for completion by June this year, with the most technically...

Inflation could have hit 10% without fuel subsidy: Finance Minister

Startups call for support beyond seed funding

The country’s startup ecosystem has helped many young entrepreneurs launch their businesses, but founders say support beyond seed funding remains limited, making it difficult for existing startups to scale and sustain operations.

National debt to rise by 26%, reaching Nu 380 billion in June

The country’s national debt is expected to rise by nearly 26 percent this June compared to June last year.

A memoir of hustle and heartache

From monastery to street: A Bhutanese case for rap

Café by the waterfall

About six kilometres before Trongsa town, just past the Bjee Zam Bridge, a traditional one-storey house appears on the left of the highway. It is not easy to miss. This modest structure...

Where tradition meets treatment

In Bhutan, healing is not a choice between past and present but a collaboration between the two. Across the country, patients move between modern clinics and traditional medicine units with ease, guided as much by...

Between Homes

When I first arrived in Australia last year, I thought I was prepared. I had spoken to people, watched videos, and tried to imagine what life would be like. Bu...

The true wealth of Dzambhala

The name Dzambhala — from the Sanskrit Jambhala — is traditionally associated with wealth and prosperity, reflecting his role as a symbol of abundance and generosity. There are five principal forms of the...

No amount of money can replace you

The early years — roughly birth to five — are critical for emotional development. While a child raised with consistency and warmth by devoted grandparents can fare well, separation from parents at this age generally causes...

You’re not what you think you are

You are not alone in your confusion — and much of it arises from the word itself. Emptiness can sound like nothingness, which is precisely what it does not mean. A more precise term might be: empty of inherent existence.

Sundays at Le Méridien

The monthly Sunday brunch at Le Méridien has become a special experience that goes beyond dining, offering guests a relaxed four-hour setting to reconnect with family and friends.

The trap of spiritual materialism

ཕུན་ཚོགས་གླིང་གི་ཁྲོམ་སྡེ་ནང་ སྡོད་ཁྱིམ་མ་ལང་མི་དེ་ སྲིད་བྱུས་དང་ ཁྱིམ་བཟོ་ག་གི་འཐུས་ཤོར་ཨིན་ན།

༉ ཕུན་ཚོགས་གླིང་གི་ ལུང་ཕྱོགས་ནང་ སྡོད་ཁྱིམ་ལངམ་སྦེ་མེད་པའི་ དཀའ་ངལ་ལུ་བརྟེན་ འབྲུག་པའི་མི་ཁུངས་མང་ཤོས་ཅིག་ ས་མཚམས་ཕྱི་ཁར་ ཇའེ་སྒང་ལུ་སྡོད་དགོཔ་བྱུང་དོ་ཡོདཔ་ད་ འདི་བཟུམ་གྱི་ དཀའ་ངལ་དེ་ ལོ་ལེ་ཤ་ཅིག་གི་རིང་ལུ་ ཐོན་བཞིན་དུ་ཡོདཔ་ལས་ ད་ལྟོའི་བར་ན་ཡང་ ཐབས་ལམ་ཚུ་ འདི་དང་འདི་ཟེརཝ་ཅིག་ ག་ནི་ཡང་ མ་འགྲིགས་པར་ ལུས་ཏེ་འདུག།

When will we feed ourselves?

Bhutanese forced to live across the border: housing crisis or policy failure?

Fuel crisis demands more than subsidies

Recent developments in the Middle East crisis suggest that a return to normalcy is still far away. Even if the war ends and the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one-quarter of the world’s oil flows to markets, reopens, the discuss...

Demographic crisis demands bold reforms

Bhutan is facing a “national crisis” as birth rates plunge by 62.9 percent. If current trends continue, the country could see as few as 2,000 births by 2028.

A bumper harvest shouldn’t brew a bumper crisis

This summer, the mountain slopes above Lunana are expected to offer a bumper yield of cordyceps, or Yartsa Goenbub. But...

Unshackling the state

The environmental toll of wars

The deafening sounds of missiles and gunfire in the Middle East have briefly faded under a ceasefire, offering a much-needed respite that eases global anxieties over spiraling economic and geopolitical crises....

A costly fiasco

Living hand to mouth