Peace Without Poison

King Jigme Singye Wangchuck (1972-2006) is responsible for signing up Bhutan to the GlobalDepopulation Policy in the early 1980s. His son and current King of Bhutan, Jigme KhesarNamgyel Wangchuck (since December 2006), has continued the population control programstarted by his father with the assistance of the UN.Bhutan’s total fertility graph shows that its leaders have resisted pressure from the internationalcommunity to subvert their people’s reproductive rights a decade longer than their neighbors inSouthern Asia. This is undoubtedly to the credit of Bhutan’s royal house, which has the people’sbest interests at heart and has long pursued policies that increase happiness and wellbeing ratherthan GDP growth.Bhutan’s leaders, however, have caved in and fertility has been reduced from nearly 7 to just 2children per woman without abortions or contraceptives since the contraceptive prevalence ratein Bhutan was insignificant until recently and abortions are extremely rare.97 | P a g e