Suicide in Shangri-La: shocking trend takes the shine off Bhutan

A sudden jump in the number of suicides and divorces is threatening Bhutan's reputation as a Himalayan Shangri-La, where the pursuit of happiness is the prime national goal.

Kuensel, the landlocked nation's main newspaper, reported that last week alone two girls and a man killed themselves.

Official statistics reveal there were 15 suicides in January and seven in February. Official figures are not available from March onwards but sources fear that at least 16 more people have killed themselves in the past four months. By their estimate, about 38 people committed suicide between January and June and the annual toll is likely to surpass 70.

So far, 2001 was the worst year, when 58 people killed themselves. The lowest number was in 2006 - 34. Bhutan's population is about 700,000.

Kuensel, virtually a government mouthpiece, headlined its report: 'Suicides - A Slap in the Face of Society', reflecting official concern over the ghastly trend.

Divorce is also on the rise, according to local media, with 3,768 cases pending. Only land disputes exceed marital discord cases across Bhutan today. Courts in the capital, Thimphu, alone were handling nearly 700 divorce cases, reports said.

'The growing incidence of suicide and divorce is baffling because Bhutan is the only country in the world where gross national happiness is the yardstick of progress and prosperity rather than gross domestic product or gross national product which other nations use to take stock of their performance,' said Ashish Nandy, a leading sociologist at New Delhi's Centre for the Study of Developing Societies.