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Population and People

The estimated population of the country is 6,50,000 with the growth rate of 3.1% per year.  The country is still predominantly rural and about 85% of the people live in villages.

Three main ethnic groups constitute its population :

Sharchops : live in eastern part of country are recognized as the original inhabitants of Bhutan and are Indo Mongoloid origin.

Ngalops :  are descendants of Tibetan immigrants who arrived in Bhutan from 9^th century and settled in the west of country.

Lhotshampas : this Nepalese group, began settling in the south of Bhutan in the late 19^th century. The Lhotshampa represents different Nepali speaking ethnic groups primarily – Brahman, Chettri, Gurung, Rai and Limbu.

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