POLITICIANS from Bhutan

Top 9

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Bhutanese Politicians of all time. This list of famous Bhutanese Politicians is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Ugyen Wangchuck (1862 - 1926)

With an HPI of 57.80, Ugyen Wangchuck is the most famous Bhutanese Politician.  His biography has been translated into 36 different languages on wikipedia.

Gongsar Ugyen Wangchuck (Dzongkha: ཨོ་རྒྱན་དབང་ཕྱུག, Wylie: o rgyan dbang phyug; 11 June 1862 – 26 August 1926) was the first Druk Gyalpo (King) of Bhutan from 1907 to 1926. In his lifetime, he made efforts to unite the fledgling country and gain the trust of the people.

2. Jigme Dorji Wangchuck (1929 - 1972)

With an HPI of 57.78, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck is the 2nd most famous Bhutanese Politician.  His biography has been translated into 38 different languages.

Jigme Dorji Wangchuck (Dzongkha: འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་པོ་ འཇིགས་མེད་རྡོ་རྗེ་དབང་ཕྱུག་མཆོག་, Wylie: jigs med rdo rje dbang phyug; 2 May 1928 – 21 July 1972) was the 3rd Druk Gyalpo of Bhutan. He began to open Bhutan to the outside world, began modernization, and took the first step towards democratization.

3. Jigme Singye Wangchuck (1955 - )

With an HPI of 57.49, Jigme Singye Wangchuck is the 3rd most famous Bhutanese Politician.  His biography has been translated into 54 different languages.

Jigme Singye Wangchuck (Dzongkha: འཇིགས་མེད་སེང་གེ་དབང་ཕྱུག་, Wylie: jigs med seng ge dbang phyug; born 11 November 1955) is a member of the House of Wangchuck who was the king of Bhutan (Druk Gyalpo) from 1972 until his abdication in 2006. During his reign, he advocated the use of a Gross National Happiness index to measure the well-being of citizens rather than Gross domestic product.

4. Jigme Wangchuck (1905 - 1952)

With an HPI of 57.14, Jigme Wangchuck is the 4th most famous Bhutanese Politician.  His biography has been translated into 30 different languages.

Jigme Wangchuck (Dzongkha: འཇིགས་མེད་དབང་ཕྱུག, Wylie: ’jigs med dbang phyug; 1905 – 30 March 1952) was the 2nd Druk Gyalpo or king of Bhutan from 26 August 1926, until his death. He pursued legal and infrastructural reform during his reign. Bhutan continued to maintain almost complete isolation from the outside world during this period; its only foreign relations were with the British Raj in India, which they were referred as a protected state, similar to Sikkim. He was succeeded by his son, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck.

5. Jigme Thinley (1952 - )

With an HPI of 45.10, Jigme Thinley is the 5th most famous Bhutanese Politician.  His biography has been translated into 34 different languages.

Lyonpo Jigme Yoser Thinley (Dzongkha: འཇིགས་མེད་འོད་ཟེར་འཕྲིན་ལས་; Wylie: 'Jigs-med 'Od-zer 'Phrin-las) (born 9 September 1952) is a Bhutanese politician who was Prime Minister of Bhutan from 20 July 1998 to 9 July 1999, 30 August 2003 to 18 August 2004 and 9 April 2008 to 28 April 2013.

6. Lotay Tshering (1969 - )

With an HPI of 43.52, Lotay Tshering is the 6th most famous Bhutanese Politician.  His biography has been translated into 36 different languages.

Lotay Tshering (Dzongkha: བློ་གྲོས་ཚེ་རིང་; born 10 May 1969) is a Bhutanese politician and surgeon who was the prime minister of Bhutan, in office from 7 November 2018 to 1 November 2023. He has also been the president of Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa since 14 May 2018.

7. Tshering Tobgay (1965 - )

With an HPI of 40.33, Tshering Tobgay is the 7th most famous Bhutanese Politician.  His biography has been translated into 36 different languages.

Tshering Tobgay (Dzongkha: ཚེ་རིང་སྟོབས་རྒྱས།; born 19 September 1965) is a Bhutanese politician, environmentalist, and cultural advocate who is the Prime Minister of Bhutan since 28 January 2024 and also served in office from July 2013 to August 2018. Tobgay is the leader of the People's Democratic Party, and was also the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly from March 2008 to April 2013.

8. Sangay Ngedup (1953 - )

With an HPI of 39.99, Sangay Ngedup is the 8th most famous Bhutanese Politician.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Lyonpo Sangay Ngedup (born 1 July 1953) was Prime Minister of Bhutan from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2005 to 2006.

9. Khandu Wangchuk (1950 - )

With an HPI of 35.80, Khandu Wangchuk is the 9th most famous Bhutanese Politician.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuk (born 24 November 1950 in Paro) is a political figure in Bhutan. He graduated from St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi. He was Chairman of the council (Prime Minister) from 2001 until 2002. On 7 September 2006, he became Prime Minister again; he was then replaced by Kinzang Dorji on 2 August 2007, after Wangchuk resigned to participate in the 2008 election as a member of the Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) political party. He also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2003 to 2007. Following the DPT's victory in the March 2008 election, Wangchuk became Minister of Economic Affairs on April 11, 2008.