THIMPHU, Bhutan (Kashmir English): Bhutan is worried about its declining population and has offered cash incentives to families to give birth to more children.
Nestled between China and India in the eastern Himalayas, the tiny Himalayan kingdom, a country of fewer than 800,000 people, is offering families monthly incentives of 10,000 ngultrums (about $105) for every third and subsequent children born on or after June 4 until the child reaches three.
According to a government statement, it will also cover eligible third and more children who were born before but have not yet attained three years of age as of the above date.
Cabinet Secretary Kesang Deki said families having any number of children after the second child would be given the incentive. “They can have three, four, five, six or seven children,” she told an international news agency.
The country’s total annual births have fallen from 11,001 in 2015 to 8,153 in 2024, a decline of about 26%.
The total fertility rate, children per woman, has also declined to almost the replacement level of 2.1 in the period, official data shows.
According to the government, a declining and ageing population, together with outward migration, has long-term implications for the country’s workforce, communities, and socio-economic development.
Bhutan youth
Young people are increasingly seeking opportunities abroad, mainly in Australia, amid growing economic uncertainty in the landlocked Buddhist kingdom.
The neighbouring Indian state of Sikkim also announced in 2023 incentives such as year-long maternity leave for women, month-long paternity leave for men, and financial support for those seeking pregnancy through in-vitro fertilisation.
