Cultural Globalisation in a small Kingdom

The Bhutanese society is changing little by little;

Young people dominate Bhutan. Of its roughly 700,000 people, 49 percent are under 21, according to the census, and what they will do to support themselves when they are fully grown is an emerging concern.

The unemployment rate among Bhutanese up to age 24 hovers at 5.5 percent, nearly twice the national average, which has also sharply risen in recent years. How to address unemployment has become a subject of regular hand-wringing in newspapers articles and the Legislature.

It is hardly surprising, considering how quickly Bhutanese are gaining education. The literacy rate has soared from 20 percent in 1992 to close to 60 percent today, making it that much more important to offer Bhutan’s youth something other than farming rice on terraced hills.

Many Bhutanese, including Mr. Wangchuk, the tattoo artist, have attended college abroad. Bhutan has very few colleges.

More surprising, perhaps, than the sentiments Mr. Ura expressed is the ambivalence of Nyema Zam, an Indian-educated 26-year-old who runs the satellite television unit for state-owned Bhutan Broadcasting Service. She took pains to note the benefits of opening up to foreign media.

“Television,” she said, “has been the medium through which our people get to find out about other cultures,” including learning about Valentine’s Day, which she considered good education for her compatriots. “We Bhutanese are very — what do you say — unromantic,” she said…

Clearly, the strange riches of the world outside have reached only a small portion of Bhutan’s people. Only 33,000 television sets are in the entire country, and more than half are estimated to have satellite connections that offer up to 30 channels, Ms. Zam said. As for the Internet, the universe is even smaller

Nationwide, the number of Internet users is estimated at 25,000, according to Druknet, the state-owned Internet service provider. Initial efforts to block adult content have been scrapped. They were simply ineffective, said Druknet’s general manager, Ganga R. Sharma.

-Bhutan Lets the World In (but Leaves Fashion TV Out)