Samtse District is one of the 20 dzongkhag

Dzongkhag

A dzongkhag is an administrative and judicial district of Bhutan. The twenty dzongkhags of Bhutan are further divided into 205 gewogs. Some larger dzongkhags have one or more of an intermediate judicial division, known as dungkhags , which themselves comprise two or more gewogs...

s (districts) comprising Bhutan

Bhutan

Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...

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Historically, Samstse was sparsely populated as the mountain-dwelling Bhutanese considered the low-lying district to be prone to tropical disease

Tropical disease

Tropical diseases are diseases that are prevalent in or unique to tropical and subtropical regions. The diseases are less prevalent in temperate climates, due in part to the occurrence of a cold season, which controls the insect population by forcing hibernation. Insects such as mosquitoes and...

. During the early 20th century the district experienced a large influx of Nepali

Nepali people

Nepali people can refer to:*People of Nepal*Ethnic Nepalis of Indian citizenry residing in Gorkhaland area of West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and other parts of India.* Indian Gorkhas*Lhotshampas of Bhutan.*Nepali diaspora the world over....

 who were invited to the area to assist in forest-clearing. Overall the district population has recently been increasing, and there have been housing shortages in Samtse as reported by Kuensel

Kuensel

Kuensel is the national newspaper of Bhutan. It was the only local newspaper available in Bhutan until 2006 when two more newspapers were launched. The government of Bhutan owns 51 percent of Kuensel while 49 percent is held by the public.-History:...

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Samste is home to the Lhop (Doya) people, a little-studied ethnic group of approximately 2,500 persons.