Bhutan

MDGs Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

Target 16: In cooperation with developing countries, develop and implement strategies for decent and productive work for youth

The youth unemployment rate has increased from 2.6% in 1998 to 9.9% in 2007. Moreover, youth have normally constituted around half of all those unemployed. The data from the National Labor Force Surveys (NLFS) clearly reveal that the unemployment situation in Bhutan affects youth disproportionately and that it is essentially a youth issue. Most of the unemployed are young school leavers. Efforts to develop and implement strategies are being initiated with a focus on skills development of youth through vocational education. Even with the comparably low levels of youth unemployment in relation to most countries, there is an extremely high policy priority and supportive environment to tackle the issue of providing gainful employment for youth. While there is insufficient data to measure the state of progress towards the MDG target through the indicator of youth unemployment, subjectively assessed, the country is extremely well placed and on track to achieve the overall target of developing and implementing strategies for decent and productive employment for youth.

Target 18: In cooperation with the private sector make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communication technology

Over the last decade, Bhutan’s ICT sector has witnessed impressive technological changes and rapid growth. The number of telephone lines in service has witnessed a 750% growth between 1990 and 2004. Tele-density as such has grown from less than one telephone line per 100 persons in 1990 to four in 2004. Cellular mobile services introduced in November 2003 has similarly witnessed an enormous growth in the number of users rising from less than 5,000 at the end of 2003 to 19,000 by the end of 2004, vastly exceeding projected growth targets.