Demographics of Bhutan


This is a demography of the population of Bhutan including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
The Royal Government of Bhutan listed the country's population as 752,700 in 2003.
The Bhutanese numbers can be reconstructed from their 9th Five Year Plan documents, which lists the exact number of households in each gewog. If the Bhutanese refugee advocate groups are correct, a spot check of a southern gewog should show a massive under-reporting of population.
The CIA World Fact book number has since been adjusted with a note of former inconsistencies, and attributes the difference to the government not including the "first modern census of Bhutan, conducted in 2005". In the 1970s Bhutan was one of the most isolated countries in the world and nobody knew how many people lived there since no census had ever been taken.

Demographic statistics

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Population

Population by Sex and Age Group

Age groupMaleFemaleTotal%
Total381 582351 421733 004100
0-442 72541 99984 72411,56
5-938 39637 72576 12110,38
10-1432 16931 59363 7628,70
15-1935 43234 40369 8359,53
20-2436 52634 74571 2719,72
25-2935 43332 06567 4989,21
30-3433 27928 49161 7708,43
35-3928 76624 06052 8277,21
40-4423 77419 54543 3195,91
45-4919 39116 21335 6044,86
50-5415 24513 20928 4553,88
55-5912 25710 80623 0633,15
60-649 6028 64518 2472,49
65-697 2686 74114 0091,91
70-745 1694 95610 1241,38
75-793 3383 3136 6510,91
80+2 8122 9125 7240,78
Age groupMaleFemaleTotalPercent
0-14113 290111 317224 60730,64
15-64249 705222 182471 88764,38
65+18 58717 92236 5094,98

Age groupMaleFemaleTotal%
Total380 453346 692727 145100
0–429 17628 29857 4747.90
5–932 03530 95662 9918.66
10–1434 65634 29668 9529.48
15–1934 67933 60768 2869.39
20–2441 07534 34075 41510.37
25–2942 80236 47879 28010.90
30–3435 05930 12165 1808.96
35–3929 68925 86055 5497.64
40–4422 27419 22141 4955.71
45–4918 86516 66835 5334.89
50–5415 45613 86129 3174.03
55–5912 37911 51923 8983.29
60–6410 49810 21320 7112.85
65-697 5857 06914 6542.02
70-745 8765 59211 4681.58
75-793 9653 9067 8711.08
80-842 6512 7465 3970.74
85-891 2621 3382 6000.36
90-943384397770.11
95-991201432630.04
100+132134<0.01
Age groupMaleFemaleTotalPercent
0–1495 86793 550189 41726.05
15–64262 776231 888494 66468.03
65+21 81021 25443 0645.92

Age groupMaleFemaleTotal%
Total390 877358 054748 931100
0–429 20828 55757 7657.71
5–930 49529 23559 7307.98
10–1433 15932 38865 5478.75
15–1934 34334 20068 5439.15
20–2436 65533 42870 0839.36
25–2942 54735 45678 00310.42
30–3439 91334 31174 2249.91
35–3932 29428 04760 3418.06
40–4426 25922 90449 1636.56
45–4920 17117 59737 7685.04
50–5417 11515 28932 4044.33
55–5913 70912 41926 1283.49
60–6411 13210 66721 7992.91
65-698 8498 58317 4322.33
70-746 1715 79211 9631.60
75-794 3994 3468 7451.17
80-842 5872 7345 3210.71
85+1 8712 1013 9720.53
Age groupMaleFemaleTotalPercent
0–1492 86290 180183 04224.44
15–64274 138244 318518 45669.23
65+23 87723 55647 4336.33

Median age
Urbanization

Vital statistics

UN estimates

Below is a table of Bhutan vital statistics since 1950 published by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Registered births and deaths

PopulationLive birthsDeathsNatural increaseCrude birth rateCrude death rateRate of natural increaseTFR
2005635,00012,5384,4988,04019.77.112.62.4
2016726,5969,7183,5416,17713.44.98.5
2017727,1459,8413,3676,47413.54.68.91.7
2018734,37410,7113,3647,34714.64.610.0
2019741,6729,6673,2206,44713.04.38.7
2020748,9319,7693,1096,66013.04.28.8
2021756,12910,2483,1927,63813.64.29.4
2022763,2499,7113,6056,10613.34.78.6
2023770,2768,9883,5795,40911.74.67.1

Life expectancy at birth

Life expectancy at birth is 70.2 years, which is an increase from 66.3 years in 2005. Women live longer than men.
In 2018, Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay announced that the average life expectancy at birth has surpassed 70.

Religions

Bhutan is a Buddhist country by constitution and Buddhism plays a vital role in the country.
The official religion in Bhutan is Buddhism, which is practiced by 74.7% of the population. Hinduism is followed by 22.6% of the Population.
The freedom of religion is guaranteed by the King.
In the past, approximately 75% of the population of 770,000 followed either the Drukpa Lineage of the Kagyu school, the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism or another school of Buddhism. Almost 22% of citizens practiced Hinduism.