URBAN POVERTY AND HAPPINESS: A CASE STUDY FROM THIMPHU, CAPITALCITY OF BHUTAN.

The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between happiness and poverty among dwellers in Thimphu, capital city of Bhutan. Though there is some drastic drop in overall poverty rate from 31% (2003) to 12% (BLSS 2012) the rate is still alarmingly high. Poverty in Bhutan is a rural phenomenon and much less attention has been paid to emerging urban poverty despite rapid urbanization taking place so rampantly over the years. Though the urban poverty rate which is 4.2% is insignificant in figure but the linkage between happiness and urban poverty was never known. This study analyzes the factors that determine the happiness of dwellers in Thimphu using mostly descriptive statistics, and ordered probit regression. Data used is the Gross National Happiness Survey (2010) secondary data, a survey carried out in 2010 with representative samples taken at district and regional levels. The survey was administered using the GNH questionnaire which gathered data on a comprehensive picture of the wellbeing of Bhutanese. The survey gathered overall data from 7142 respondents. Sample size of Thimphu district is 407.The main findings from the analysis are that different income levels have significant impact on happiness level. Those with high income are happy urban dwellers. Individuals with college education are happy compared to no education groups. For the demographic factors, divorced people are found less likely to be very happy compared with those who are single.本研究旨在探讨不丹首都廷布市居民幸福感与贫困之间的关联。尽管整体贫困率已从2003年的31%大幅降至2012年BLSS统计的12%，但该比率仍处于令人担忧的高位。不丹的贫困问题长期以来多集中于农村地区，尽管近年来城市化进程迅猛推进，但针对新兴城市贫困的关注却严重不足。尽管廷布市4.2%的城市贫困率从数值上看并不算高，但幸福感与城市贫困之间的关联此前从未被探明。本研究主要采用描述性统计与有序概率单位回归（ordered probit regression）两种方法，对廷布市居民幸福感的影响因素展开分析。本研究使用的数据集为2010年国民幸福总值调查（Gross National Happiness Survey, 2010）的二手数据，该调查于2010年开展，在地区与区域层面抽取了代表性样本。本次调查采用国民幸福总值（Gross National Happiness, GNH）问卷进行施测，收集了不丹民众福祉的全方位数据。该调查共回收7142份有效受访者数据，其中廷布地区的样本量为407份。分析得出的主要结论如下：不同收入层级对居民幸福感水平存在显著影响，高收入群体的幸福感显著更高；拥有大学学历的人群幸福感显著高于未接受任何教育的群体。在人口统计学因素方面，离异人群相较于单身人群，报告极高幸福感的可能性更低。