Manuel Vermeer

Gross national happiness – what is that? First mentioned as a term by the 4th King of Bhutan in 1979, it has since become a real alternative to the gross national product commonly used worldwide. But what is happiness? How can it be measured? And is it even meaningful? Does happiness have to be learned, as Aristotle believed, or can it perhaps simply be found in Shangri-La? Are the Bhutanese really the happiest people in the world? And if so, how do they manage it and what do they do differently from us?

Manuel Vermeer reports on his trip to Bhutan and the question of what happiness is. And whether he found it in Bhutan.

Prof. Dr. Manuel Vermeer is a sinologist and has published books on China and India. He lives in Wiesloch near Heidelberg and supports European companies in Asia as a management consultant. He has taught at the East Asia Institute of the University of Applied Sciences Ludwigshafen, at the University of St. Gallen and at Somaiya University in Mumbai.