Bhutanese people in national dress at the Wangdi Phodrang festival

Bhutanese people at the Wangdi Phodrang festival. ... Bhutanese people at the Wangdi Phodrang festival. ...

Bhutan's bimodal population estimates

Demographics of Bhutan, Data of FAO, year 2005 ; Number of inhabitants in thousands.

The Royal Government of Bhutan lists their country's population as 734,340 (2003). The CIA Factbook estimates the population at 2,232,291.[1][2] What accounts for this discrepancy? Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Possible meanings: Faro Airport (Portugal) Federation of Astrobiology Organizations Financial Aid Office Food and Agriculture Organization This page expands a three-character combination which might be any or all of: an abbreviation, an acronym, an initialism, a word in English, or a word in another language. ... Motto: One Nation, One People Anthem: Druk tsendhen Capital Thimphu Official languages Dzongkha Government Absolute monarchy  - King J. K. Namgyal Wangchuck  - Prime Minister Khandu Wangchuk Formation    - Wangchuk Dynasty December 17, 1907  Area  - Total 47,000 km² (131st) 18,147 sq mi   - Water (%) negligible Population  - 2006 estimate 672,425[1] (142nd... The World Factbook is an annual publication by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States with basic almanac-style information about the various countries of the world. ...

One explanation given inside Bhutan is that the higher CIA numbers ultimately trace back to an inflated population number the Bhutanese government supplied to the United Nations in the early 1970s in order to gain entry into that body (the UN reportedly had a cutoff population of one million at that time -- see micronation for justifications in support of such a minimum). According to this theory the CIA population experts have retained this original inflated number year after year while adjusting it each year for normal population growth. The foundation of the U.N. The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress and human rights issues. ... This article is about entities that are not officially recognised by world governments or major international organisations. ...

An alternative theory is that the western and central districts of the country wish to underestimate the populations of the southern and eastern districts in order to maintain their historical dominance over those districts. This is the claim made by some Bhutanese refugee groups. Certainly the government numbers do not include people in the refugee camps in Nepal and other persons forced out of Bhutan, which total approximately 125,000.

The Bhutanese numbers can be reconstructed from their 9th Five Year Plan documents[3], which lists the exact number of households in each gewog. If the Bhutanese refugee advocate groups are correct, a spot check of a southern gewog should show a massive under-reporting of population (although this would have to be done by a non-interested party to have credibility). A gewog (Dzongkha block) refers to a group of villages in Bhutan and thus forms an intermediate geographic administrative unit between village and dzongkhag. ...

Demographic data from the CIA World Factbook

Population pyramid

Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... This distribution is named for the pyramidal shape of its graph. ...

Population

2,279,723

Note: other estimates range as low as 810,000 (July 2006 est.)

Age structure

0-14 years: 38.9% (male 458,801/female 426,947)

15-64 years: 57.1% (male 671,057/female 631,078)

65 years and over: 4% (male 46,217/female 45,623) (2006 est.)

Median age

Total: 20.4 years

Male: 20.2 years

Female: 20.6 years (2006 est.)

Population growth rate

2.10% (2006 est.)

Birth rate

33.65 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Death rate

12.7 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Net migration rate

0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Sex ratio

At birth: 1.05 male(s)/female

Under 15 years: 1.07 male(s)/female

15-64 years: 1.06 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 1.01 male(s)/female

Total population: 1.07 male(s)/female (2006 est.)

Infant mortality rate

Total: 98.41 deaths/1,000 live births

Male: 96.14 deaths/1,000 live births

Female: 100.79 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

Total population: 54.78 years

Male: 55.02 years

Female: 54.53 years (2006 est.)

Total fertility rate

4.74 children born/woman (2006 est.)

HIV/AIDS

Adult prevalence rate: less than 0.1% (2001 est.)

People living with HIV/AIDS: less than 100 (1999 est.)

Deaths: NA

Nationality

Noun: Bhutanese (singular and plural)

Adjective: Bhutanese

Ethnic groups

Northern Bhutanese 90%, ethnic Nepalese 6%, indigenous or migrant tribes 4%

Religions

Lamaistic Buddhist 98%, Indian- and Nepalese-influenced Hinduism 1%, Muslims 1%

Languages

Dzongkha (official), Bhotes speak various Tibetan dialects, Nepalese speak various Nepalese dialects

Literacy

Definition: age 15 and over can read and write

Total population: 47%

Male: 60%

Female: 34% (2003 est.)

References

• This article contains material from the CIA World Factbook (2006 edition) which, as a US government publication, is in the public domain. and the 2003 U.S. Department of State website.