Bhutan: Price level index (GDP)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2025, Bhutan's price level index (GDP) fell 0.87 on 2024 (from 23.8 to 22.93).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was +0.00595 and a typical year strayed about 1.6 from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.5 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 3.95 in 2010 and the biggest yearly fall was 6.12 in 1991. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2016 to 2025 the straight-line trend is downward, about 0.71 a year. A straight line explains 89% of the movement over 10 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

A straight-line projection, tested first

Extending that straight line gives about 20.96 for 2028. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2023 to 2025 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 0.42, against 1.19 for assuming no change. Treat it as a continuation of the recent pattern, not a forecast of events: it cannot see a recession, a policy change or a revision to the data.

See how a linear trend forecast works and the guide on forecasting without fooling yourself.

How it compares

In 2025, Bhutan had the 180th highest value of the 185 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to Bhutan in the 2025 ranking

• Myanmar — 176th of 185: 24.77
• Pakistan — 177th of 185: 24.28
• India — 178th of 185: 23
• Sierra Leone — 180th of 185: 22.77
• Lao PDR — 181st of 185: 22.39
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — 182nd of 185: 19.92

What this measures

The price level index (PLI) is the ratio of a purchasing power parity (PPP) conversion factor to the corresponding market exchange rate between two countries, expressed relative to a base country that is set equal to 100. For this series the base country is the United States. It provides a measure of the differences in price level between the country and the United States by indicating the number of units of the common currency (US dollars) needed to buy the same volume of the aggregation level in each country. At the level of GDP, the price level ratio provides a measure of the differences in the general price levels of countries.

Limitations: Global PPP estimates underlying this indicator are produced by the ICP Global Office and regional implementing agencies, based on data supplied by the national implementing agencies in the participating economies, and in accordance with the methodology recommended by the ICP Technical Advisory Group and approved by the ICP Governing Board. As such, these results are not produced by participating economies as part of their national official statistics. Price level index are not recommended to use as a precise measure to establish strict rankings of countries.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a no aggregation provided for this indicator in wdi..

All 36 values

Price level index (GDP) in nearby economies

• Bangladesh — 25.58 (2025)
• India — 23 (2025)
• Maldives — 51.18 (2025)
• Nepal — 24.87 (2025)
• Sri Lanka — 29.31 (2025)

More economic policy & debt data for Bhutan

• Grants, excluding technical cooperation (BoP, current US$) — US$40.14 million (2023)
• Net bilateral aid flows from DAC donors, Total (current US$) — US$77.45 million (2023)
• Net official development assistance and official aid received (current US$) — US$156.84 million (2023)
• Net official development assistance and official aid received (constant 2023 US$) — US$156.84 million (2023)
• Net official development assistance received (current US$) — US$156.84 million (2023)
• Net official development assistance received (constant 2023 US$) — US$156.84 million (2023)
• Net ODA received per capita (current US$) — US$199.44 (2023)
• Net bilateral aid flows from DAC donors, Japan (current US$)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Bhutan's price level index (GDP)?

22.93 in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1990?

It is down 29.15% from 32.36 in 1990 (0.98% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 35.13 in 2011 and the lowest 22.1 in 1993.

How does Bhutan rank?

180th highest of 185 economies with data for 2025.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator PA.NUS.GDP.PLI, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: World Development Indicators, World Bank (WB), uri: https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators, publisher: World Development Indicators Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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