Gross National Happiness In A Developing Nation

Go to a local bookstore's self-help section and you'll see a flood of titles on how to be happy.

But one small country at the eastern end of the Himalyas has centered its entire public policy around that very goal — happiness.

Bhutan has become known for focusing more on gross national happiness than gross national product. But even in what some have called "the last Shangri-La," consumerism is seeping in.

The country's expecting more tourists as it opens up to new flights from India. Policymakers are debating whether to join the World Trade Organization. TV is being introduced. Drug abuse, domestic violence and vandalism are popping up for the first time ever.

Madeline Drexler, editor of Harvard Public Health magazine. Senior fellow at Brandeis University's Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism. Author of "A Splendid Isolation: Lessons on Happiness from the Kingdom of Bhutan."

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