The Research Question

Bhutan is undergoing rapid urbanisation. As more people move into towns and cities, their daily habits — how long they sleep, how many hours they work, how much time they spend on screens — are shifting in ways that may significantly affect their health and wellbeing. But how different are these habits between urban and rural populations? And what do those differences mean for sleep quality and energy levels?

This project set out to answer exactly that.

Who Conducted It

This study was conducted by Sonam Peldon, an intern at Gedu College of Business Studies and data practitioner at Data Scientists Pvt. Ltd. The research combines survey data collection with statistical analysis to uncover meaningful patterns across Bhutan's urban and rural populations.

How Data Was Collected

A structured survey was distributed to 366 respondents — 238 from urban areas and 120 from rural areas across Bhutan. Participants were asked about their sleep duration and quality, work hours, screen time habits, energy levels, and interest in sleep support tools. The data was then cleaned, analysed, and visualised to draw the insights presented in this study.

Why It Matters

Sleep and lifestyle health are often treated as personal issues — but when patterns emerge across entire populations, they become public health questions. Understanding how urban and rural Bhutanese residents differ in their habits is the first step toward designing tools, policies, and programmes that can genuinely improve wellbeing at scale.

So, is there a market?

Absolutely — and the numbers make a strong case.

When respondents were asked whether they would use a sleep or wellness app if one were available, 58.42% said yes outright. Another 36.6% said maybe — meaning they're not opposed, just not fully decided yet. Only 4.96% said no.

Put together, that's over 95% of 366 respondents who are either open to or actively interested in a wellness app. For a market where digital health tools are still finding their footing, that's a remarkable signal.

How to read the "maybe" group

The 36.6% who said "maybe" are arguably the most interesting segment. They're not skeptics — they're undecided. That usually comes down to three things: not knowing enough about what the tool does, uncertainty about cost, or simply never having thought about sleep as something worth tracking.

That's not resistance. That's an awareness and education gap — and those are very solvable.

What tool do people actually want?

Out of all the options presented, respondents pointed most clearly toward one thing: a sleep tracking app.

That's a telling choice. A sleep tracking app lives on a phone most people already own — no extra device to buy, no subscription to commit to, no steep learning curve. It's the lowest-barrier, highest-convenience option available. Respondents aren't asking for something complicated or expensive. They're asking for something simple that fits into the life they already have.

The honest picture

There are real challenges worth acknowledging. Smartphone and internet access is still uneven across Bhutan, particularly in rural areas. Awareness of sleep health as something worth actively managing is still developing. And affordability will matter — any tool priced out of reach simply won't get used.

But none of these are dealbreakers. They're design constraints — they tell developers and policymakers how to build and distribute these tools, not whether to.

Bottom line

The data speaks clearly. With 58.42% ready to say yes and another 36.6% saying maybe, Bhutan's wellness market is early-stage but unmistakably real. People know what they want — something simple, on their phone, that helps them sleep better. The demand is there. It just needs the right product to meet it.