The UN resident coordinator, Claire Van der Vaeren, said poverty in Bhutan has a rural face. She added, around 98 percent of the poor are living in the rural areas, according to the latest estimates.
She was speaking at Changjiji square in Thimphu on the International Day for Eradication of Poverty.
However, she said with the rural-urban migration urban poverty rate is most likely to grow in the coming years.
“Today, let us think about what we can do to help make a difference now in the lives of the most vulnerable people of Bhutan. The UN family has been and remains committed to help Bhutan meet the needs of vulnerable men and women, boys and girls and end poverty.”
The Education Minister, Thakur Singh Powdyel, said in Bhutan, the government has pursued GNH as a sustainable model of development. He added that equity and justice as the guiding philosophy, is intended to reduce inequities.
“We have made significant efforts directed at reducing the incidence of poverty from 23 percent to 15 percent within the 10th Five Year Plan period. Rural prosperity and urban well-being is to be the overarching theme of the 11th Plan, especially in the light of that, poverty in Bhutan is seen to be mainly a rural phenomenon…”
Students from different schools in the Thimphu, took part in the International Day for Eradication of Poverty.
