18% of students studying overseas and each household has 2.7 phones

The Bhutan Living Standard Survey and the Poverty Analysis Rate 2022 carried out by National Statistics Bureau (NSB) found with the total population estimated at 650,118, 39 percent are residing in urban areas whereas 61 percent are in rural areas, and the overall sex ratio is 95 males per 100 females.

Bhutan, considered one of the happiest countries in the world, boasts about its policy friendly nature for women and women empowerment, however, the report findings states that there is a marked differences in literacy rate between males and females.

The literacy rate for people aged five and above is 70.2 percent, with urban regions having an 82.1 percent rate and rural areas having 62.9 percent. All ages combined, 63.6 percent of women and 77.1 percent of men are literate. The younger age groups have higher literacy rates, whereas those 65 and beyond have the lowest rates. The statistics finds that men are more literate and educated than women despite higher sex ratio of females.

The levels of education that men and women have attained are also noticeably different. Approximately 40 percent of girls and barely 30 percent of males have never attended school. In a similar manner, approximately 9 percent of men and roughly 6 percent of women respectively have bachelor’s degrees or higher.

With regards to overall literacy rate, 97.7 percent of youth (15–24 years) are literate, while only about 65 percent of adults (15 years and above) are literate.

Approximately 94 percent of kids attend public schools, although as students move up the educational ladder, fewer students attend public schools.

At the higher secondary level, 84 percent of students attend public schools, compared to 96 percent at the primary level. The completion rate for primary education is 79.6 percent, and the completion rate for secondary education is thought to be 98.7 percent. Rural areas have greater rates of primary school completion and urban areas have higher rates for secondary school completion.

Accordingly, the report also states that with higher educational attainment, more students are choosing to study overseas. At the bachelor’s degree level or higher, about 18 percent of students are currently studying overseas.

In terms of health, the report states that elderly people 60 years of age and older were more susceptible to illness or injury than younger people; more than twice as many (49.9 percent) of these older people fell ill or were hurt than the younger (20.6 percent) age groups aged 0–14.

The report also finds that injuries and illnesses occur more frequently in urban areas and generally, women are typically more prone to illness or injury than men.

With regards to ICT, mobile phones are very popular with the Bhutanese. Around 98 percent of homes use mobile phones, while about 25 percent of all households have computers or laptops. A household typically has 2.7 mobile phones. In comparison to rural areas, which have 15.2 percent of homes with computers or laptops, metropolitan areas have 38.7 percent more of them.

With regards to access to the Internet, 99.60 percent of households in the nation have access to the Internet. Less than 3.0 percent of those have alternative connections, such as broadband, leased lines, and data cards/Wi-Fi dongles, whereas 96.0 percent of those have mobile internet connections.