In the 1970s, the leaders of Bhutan — a tiny Himalayan country of only 750,000 people — decided that "Gross National Happiness" was a more valuable measure than Gross Domestic Product.
Since then the country's leaders have been measuring its success based on the happiness of its residents.
In early November 2015, Bill Weir, host of CNN's "The Wonder List with Bill Weir", traveled to Bhutan for 13 days to discover what this concept really meant.
The country and its way of living have also caught the attention of Prince William and Kate Middleton, who will be traveling to Bhutan to meet with the king and queen later this month.
We recently spoke with Weir to learn more about some of the country's most fascinating aspects, from the uniform its residents don to the technology that is slowly starting to trickle in. The Bhutan episode of "The Wonder List" airs Sunday.
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Bhutan is one of the leading countries in the world when it comes to clean energy. Hidden underneath its mountains are massive tunnels and hydro-power turbines that utilize monsoon rains and melting snow from the Himalayas to power the nation.
Source: CNN
The most common religion practiced here is Buddhism, and prayer flags can be seen throughout the country. "Their mindset is that every part of nature is holy in some way, so if they find a spot where the wind blows through a grove of trees in a lovely way, that's like a cathedral to them," Weir told Business Insider.
In the 1970s, Bhutan rejected the GDP as the only way to measure success, deciding to go with what they call Gross National Happiness instead. Jigme Singye Wangchuck, or "K4" as he is sometimes known, is the monarch who introduced the concept. Pictured here are workers preparing portraits of K4 and his son, current King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, for K4's 60th birthday.
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