Population Politics

Bhutan, wrote the American scholar Leo E. Rose back in 1977, is about as "data-free" as it is possible for a polity of over 300 years old to be. This paucity of reliable data extends most significantly to population, and is said to hamper study of Bhutanese society, as well as the political claims made by the Drukpa and Lhostampa leaders.

S.K. Pradhan, General Secretary of the BPP, however, is of the view that accurate population data exists but is kept secret by the Government. "For example, because the 1981 census showed a Nepali majority, they suppressed the data and decided to hold a re-census in 1988 using new criteria."