What works in Bhutan

Bhutan for Life has secured 1.1 million hectares of protected Himalayan forest storing 240 million tCO2e through a USD 118 million transition fund, with the tiger population rising at least 20% by 2024, while Bhutan remains carbon-negative. The National Digital Identity programme reached approximately 230,000 active users and 234,568 foundational credentials—about 30% of the population—within 18 months of its October 2023 launch, integrated with 40+ government and private services, though public uptake has been slower than initially hoped. Gender-responsive budgeting saw gender-tagged budget allocations rise from Nu 225 million (2014–15) to Nu 531 million (2019–20), yet women's National Assembly representation collapsed from ~17% (2023) to ~4% after January 2024. An AI-adaptive maths platform pilot showed an 11-point numeracy gain and 4.6-point arithmetic fluency improvement among 952 Grade 5 pupils over 10 weeks, prompting a nationwide rollout, though long-term outcome data remains unpublished.