POPULATION AND AGE STRUCTURE OF NEPAL
Population: 30,327,877 (July 2020 estimated); compared with other countries in the world: 46. In 2002, Nepal had an estimated population of 25.3 million. [Source: CIA World Factbook, 2002, 2020 =]
Age structure (distribution of the population according to age):
0-14 years: 28.36 percent (male 4,526,786/female 4,073,642)
15-24 years: 20.93 percent (male 3,276,431/female 3,070,843)
25-54 years: 38.38 percent (male 5,251,553/female 6,387,365)
55-64 years: 6.64 percent (male 954,836/female 1,059,360)
65 years and over: 5.69 percent (male 852,969/female 874,092) (2020 estimated) =
Age Distribution and Sex Ratios in 2002 0-14 years: 40 percent with 1.07 male(s) per female (sex ratio); 15-64 years: 56.4 percent with 1.05 male(s) per female; 65 years and over: 3.6 percent with 0.97 male(s) per female; Total population sex ratio: 1.05 male(s) to 1 female. Nearly 30 percent of the country’s population are adolescents or teenagers. Much of the available data about sexuality and relationships are, therefore, from adolescents. [Source: CIA World Factbook, 2002]
Population 14 and under: 30 percent (compared to 40 percent in Kenya, 19 percent in the United States and 13 percent in Japan). [Source: World Bank data.worldbank.org ]
Population 65 and above: 6 percent (compared to 3 percent in Kenya, 15 percent in the United States and 27 percent in Japan). [Source: World Bank data.worldbank.org ]
Median age: total: 25.3 years; male: 23.9 years; female: 26.9 years (2020 estimated); compared with other countries in the world: 161
South Asia — Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka — is home to about 25 percent of the world’s population. The population of Nepal in 2005 was estimated by the United Nations (UN) to be around 25.4 million. At that time approximately 4 percent of the population was over 65 years of age and 39 percent of the population was 14 and under. [Source: “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations”, Thomson Gale, 2007]
In addition to the established Nepalese population, there are approximately 12,000 Nepalese-speaking Bhutanese refugees in Nepal. In the late 1990s, there were over 100,000 of them, 90 percent of whom were living in seven camps run by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). As of 2016, there were two camps. [Source: Wikipedia, “Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies”, The Gale Group Inc., 2002]
Population Structure and Settlement Patterns in Nepal
At the time of the 1981 census, the total population of Nepal was 15,022,839, the average family was made up of 5.8 persons, and life expectancy at birth was close to fifty years. As of July 1990, the population was estimated at 19,145,800 persons. The annual population growth rate increased from less than 2 percent during the 1950s to more than 2.6 percent in 1990, suggesting that despite a trend toward increasing acceptance of family planning, the program did not have much influence on reducing the population growth rate. The Central Bureau of Statistics forecast that the total population would increase to 23.6 million by 2001. [Source: Andrea Matles Savada, Library of Congress, 1991 *]
The 1981 census reveals a significant variation in regional growth rates. Although the Terai Region's annual growth rate of 4.2 percent was much higher than the national average, the Hill and Mountain regions, respectively, posted growth rates of 1.7 and 1.4 percent. In terms of regional distribution, 43.6 percent (6,556,828 persons) of the country's population resided in the Terai, whereas the shares of the Hill and Mountain regions totaled 7,163,115 (47.7 percent) and 1,302,896 (8.7 percent), respectively. *
About 70 percent of the total population was of working age, or between the ages of fifteen and fifty-nine years. More than 65 percent of this segment of the population was considered economically active in 1981. In terms of employment structure, more than 91 percent of the economically active population was engaged in agriculture and allied activities, and the rest in the secondary (industrial) and tertiary (service) sectors, including government employment. In 1981 males and females who were widowed or separated constituted only a tiny fragment of the population — 0.4 percent for each sex. *
Population Density of Nepal
Population density: 196 people square kilometer (compared to 2 per square kilometer in Mongolia, 35 per square kilometer in the United States, and 511 in South Korea). 75.6 square mile (compared to 5 per square mile in Mongolia, 93 per square mile in the United States, and 2,890 in Bangladesh) [Source: World Population Review]
Population distribution in Nepal is uneven: most of the population is divided nearly equally between a concentration in the southern-most plains of the Terai region and the central hilly region; overall density is quite low. Relatively few people live in high elevations of the Himalayas. [Source: CIA World Factbook, 2020]
The population density was 172 per square kilometers (446 per square mile) in the early, 2000s, with about 45 percent of the population concentrated in the hilly central region, and 47 percent in the fertile Terai plain, and only 8 percent in the mountains. [Source: “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations”, Thomson Gale, 2007]
Nepal had an estimated 2005 population of 25.4 million. The projection for 2025 was 36.1 million. The 2005 average population density was estimated at about 186 persons per square kilometer (482 per square mile). Kathmandu, the capital, had a 2005 population of 741,000. [Source: Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations, Thomson Gale, 2007]
One of the major consequences of rapid population growth was the progressive deterioration of the ratio of people to land. This land shortage greatly affected Nepal's predominantly agrarian society, where land was the most important source of livelihood and social status, and it was most evident in terms of population density. In 1981 the population density was 102 persons per square kilometer of total land. Although the ratio appears to suggest a fairly low density, the figures are misleading. When density is measured in terms of persons per hectare of cultivatable land (that is agricultural density), the true nature of the human-land ratio emerges. The agricultural density in 1981 was 6.1 persons per hectare (or almost 0.2 hectare per person), which represents a very high density, especially given that the country's production technology remains in a backward state. Nepal's ability to reclaim more land in order to accommodate a rapidly growing population already had reached a maximum threshold. [Source: Andrea Matles Savada, Library of Congress, 1991 *]
Population Growth in Nepal
Population growth rate: 0.98 percent (2020 estimated): compared with other countries in the world: 107. This figure is much lower than it was. It was 2.7 percent in the early 1990s and 2.3 percent in 2000. The population growth rate is the average annual percent change in the population, resulting from a surplus (or deficit) of births over deaths and the balance of migrants entering and leaving a country. Birth rate: 18.1 births per 1,000 people (2020 estimated); compared with other countries in the world: 89. Death rate: : 5.7 deaths per 1,000 people (2020 estimated); compared with other countries in the world: 177. Net migration rate: -3.1 migrant(s) per 1,000 people (2020 estimated); compared with other countries in the world: 178 This figure includes the figure for the difference between the number of persons entering and leaving a country during the year per 1,000 persons (based on midyear population). In 2002, the population growth rate was 2.29 percent; the birth rate was 32.94 births per 1,000 people. [Source: CIA World Factbook, 2002, 2020]
Overpopulation are largely to blame for Nepal’s environmental problems and poverty. In the 1990s, it was thought that Nepal was on the verge of a Malthusian breakdown. It had gone from Shangri-la with 9 million people in the 1950s to a depleted country of 21 million in 1994, with a per capita annual GNP of only $170. Over 90 percent of the population were deemed to be poor farmers. Cholera and malaria were endemic. Half the population of Nepal was under 21 and few had prospects of getting a job. [Source: "The Villagers" by Richard Critchfirld, Anchor Books, 1995]
From 1911 to 2001, the country’s total population grew from an estimated 5.6 million to 23.2 million inhabitants. However, Nepal’s census figures at that time did not include the approximately 102,892 refugees from Bhutan (United Nations estimate for 2003), most of whom are from Nepalese ethnic groups. The population growth rate averaged 2 percent annually from 1911 to 2001 but has often been higher than 2 percent since the 1960s. From 1911 to 2001, population density grew from 38.3 to 157.3 persons per square kilometer. In 2001 population density ranged from fewer than 5 persons per square kilometer in some Himalayan areas to 2,738.9 persons per square kilometer in Kathmandu. Population size, density, and growth rates tend to be highest in districts bordering India and in districts around Kathmandu. In 2001, 84.1 percent of the population lived in rural areas and 14.2 percent in urban areas. [Source: Library of Congress, November 2005]
Control of epidemic diseases beginning in the 1930s and a high fertility rate produced population growth that increased from less than two percent in the 1950s to 2.7 percent in the 1990s. At that rate, the population would double in 27 years, putting even more pressure on a country with a lack of arable land. The situation led to an increase in migration from the middle hills and mountain regions of Nepal to the cities and to lower-altitude Terai in the south, which had only been viable for settlement since the 1960s due to the eradication of malaria. As of the 1990s about 53 percent of Nepal’s population lived in the middle hill region of the country. [Source: Alfred Pach III, “Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 3: South Asia,” edited by Paul Hockings, 1992]
Nepal’s population grew from 19.1 million 1990 to 24.7 million in 2000. At that time the government expected the population to reach almost 29 million by 2010 but actually didn’t reach that figure until 2020. Some demographers in the early 2000s projected Nepal’s population to reach 36 million in 2025. By the early 2000s, the death rate had declined significantly to 10.41 per 1,000 people due to improvements in sanitation and health care but the birth rate was still high at 33.83 per 1,000. However, great strides had been made in reducing the fertility rate. The average number of births per Nepali woman dropped from six in the 1970s to two in 2014, slowing population growth. Contraceptive use increased from 24.6 in 1994 to 52.2 percent in 2015.
Fertility and Mortality in Nepal
Total fertility rate: 1.96 children born per woman (2020 estimated); compared with other countries in the world: 117 and to 1.5 in Germany and 6.9 in Niger.. This figure is the average number of children that would be born per woman if all women lived to the end of their childbearing years and bore children according to a given fertility rate at each age. A rate of 2.1 children per woman is considered the rate necessary to keep the population from growing. Mother's mean age at first birth: 20.8 years (2016 estimated). In 2002, total fertility rate was 4.48 children born per woman. [Source: CIA World Factbook, 2002, 2020]
In 2005, life expectancy at birth was 60.1 years for males, 60.7 years for females, or 60.4 overall. According to census figures for 1961 to 2001, the crude birthrate fell from 47 to 30.5 births per 1,000 persons, the crude death rate fell from 22 to 10.8 deaths per 1,000 persons, the total fertility rate fell from 5.7 to 3.8 children born per woman, and the infant mortality rate fell from approximately 190 to 64.4 deaths under one year of age per 1,000 live births. [Source: Library of Congress, November 2005]]
According to the estimates made by the Central Bureau of Statistics in 1985, the crude birthrate was 44 per 1,000, and the crude death rate was almost 14 per 1,000. The total fertility rate, defined as the average number of children a woman might bear, was 6.3 children, with a variation between rural and urban fertility rates. The rural total fertility rate was 6.4, compared with 5.8 for urban areas. Both the crude birthrate and the total fertility rate have remained high and fairly constant for the past several decades, whereas the crude death rate has been declining consistently, thereby contributing to rapid population growth. [Source: Andrea Matles Savada, Library of Congress, 1991 *]
The most significant category of deaths was the infant mortality rate. Varying techniques for calculating infant mortality, however, have led to discrepant estimations. They ranged from more than 147 deaths per 1,000 in 1985 to between 101 and 128 per 1,000 in 1989. Infant mortality rates also varied widely among the three geographic regions, which may have been partly because of differing rates of migration and the expectancy that higher mortality rates are found in migrant families. Nonetheless, infant mortality was almost twice as high in rural areas as urban areas, a clear indication of the lack of health services in rural areas, and was high compared to many other Asian countries.*
Dependency Ratio and Sex Ratios in Nepal
Nepal has one of the world’s highest “dependency ratios. In 2005, 39.4 percent of the population was 14 years of age or under, 54.1 percent was 15 to 59 years of age, and 6.5 percent was 60 years of age or older. Thus, for every 100 persons of working age, there were 84.7 dependents. In 2000, 41 percent of the population was 14 and under, 56 percent are between 15 and 64, and only 3 percent are above 65. [Source: Library of Congress, 2005]
Dependency ratios are a measure of the age structure of a population. They relate the number of individuals that are likely to be economically "dependent" on the support of others. Dependency ratios contrast the ratio of youths (ages 0-14) and the elderly (ages 65+) to the number of those in the working-age group (ages 15-64). Changes in the dependency ratio provide an indication of potential social support requirements resulting from changes in population age structures.
youth dependency ratio: 44.1
elderly dependency ratio: 8.9
potential support ratio: 11.2 (2020 estimated)
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.06 male(s) per female
0-14 years: 1.11 male(s) to female
15-24 years: 1.07 male(s) to female
25-54 years: 0.82 male(s) to female
55-64 years: 0.9 male(s) to female
65 years and over: 0.98 male(s) to female
total population: 0.96 male(s) to female (2020 estimated)
Age Distribution and Sex Ratios in 2002 0-14 years: 40 percent with 1.07 male(s) per female (sex ratio); 15-64 years: 56.4 percent with 1.05 male(s) per female; 65 years and over: 3.6 percent with 0.97 male(s) per female; Total population sex ratio: 1.05 male(s) to 1 female. Nearly 30 percent of the country’s population are adolescents or teenagers. Much of the available data about sexuality and relationships are, therefore, from adolescents. [Source: CIA World Factbook, 2002]
According to the 2001 census, 50.1 percent of the population was male and 49.9 percent female, a proportion that has existed for decades. Other sources estimated there were 98 males for every 100 females at around that time. For a while Nepal was one of the few countries in the world where men lived longer than women. Life expectancy in the 1990s was 58.3 years for males and 57.3 years for females. Now it is 71.1 years for males and 72.6 years for females.
The dependency ratio is defined as the ratio of the population in the birth to fourteen age-group, and those sixty years and older to the population in the productive age-group, that is, fifteen to fifty-nine years of age. In 1981 this ratio stood at eighty to nine. The temporal increase in the number of those in the young population group has depressed the median age of the population from 21.1 years in the mid-1950s to 19.9 years in 1981. The sex ratio in 1981, defined as the number of males to 100 females, was 105 males to every 100 females. [Source: Andrea Matles Savada, Library of Congress, 1991 *]
Birth Control in Nepal
Family planning in Nepal began in the late 1950s. Increased government spending on family planning offices and door-to-door campaigns have contributed greatly towards the adoption of family planning and drops in the fertility rate and population growth. In 1969, only 7,774 people used some form of contraception. That number rose to 419,950 by 1999. Perhaps the biggest obstacle has been providing access to family planning services in remote rural areas of Nepal. Cultural and socioeconomic preference for large families has also had to be overcome. [Source: “Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies”, The Gale Group Inc., 2002]
Elizabeth wrote in the Encyclopedia of Sexuality: The government of Nepal has a Ministry of Health, which oversees its national health policies. The 1997-2017 long-term National Health Policy, includes mention of access to reproductive health, as well as the benefits to having “small families” by accessing family planning information and services. The government also developed guidelines for national maternal health (the National Maternity Care Guidelines and the National Safe Motherhood Plan of Action). These guidelines provide a blueprint for how women should receive care during their pregnancies and postpartum, and how babies should receive care once they are born. The programs, as other health programs in Nepal, have been focusing much more on increasing training for healthcare professionals. There are still a low number of women who seek antenatal care and services, and home deliveries for infants, without a trained professional present, remain the norm. [Source: Elizabeth Schroeder, M.S.W, Encyclopedia of Sexuality, 2002]
The National Reproductive Health Strategy of Nepal (adopted in 1997) was designed to make integrated reproductive health services available to all people in Nepal by focusing on the following: Family planning; Safe motherhood, including newborn care; Child health; Prevention and management of complications of abortion; RTI (reproductive tract infections)/STD/HIV/AIDS; Prevention and management of infertility; Adolescent reproductive health; and Problems of elderly women, particularly cancer treatment at the tertiary level/private sector.
Contraception in Nepal
Contraceptive use (any method, women ages 15-49): 53 percent (compared to 12 percent in Sudan and 84 percent in the United Kingdom) [Source: World Bank ]
Contraception is widely available in Nepal and access to has increased dramatically since the 1970s, when approximately 3 percent of couples were estimated to use contraception. In 2002 the figures was approximately 33 percent. At the same, the country’s family planning policies tend to favor the use of the IUD and injectible hormonal methods according to the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy. Access to contraception depends greatly on where a woman or couple lives. Any reproductive health service that can be accessed in Nepal is most likely to happen in the urban areas, and the rural areas closest to the cities. As one moves farther and farther away, up through the hills and into the mountains, the quality and access to healthcare diminishes dramatically. Problems exist with staffing reproductive or any other health facility in remote areas, as well as with non-appearances of the staff who have been hired. As a result, inhabitants of the more-remote areas receive even less care than those in the urban areas. [Source: Elizabeth Schroeder, M.S.W, Encyclopedia of Sexuality, 2002]
Top method of contraception: female sterilization. pill [Source: Birth Control Around the World onlinedoctor.superdrug.com ]
Types of birth control used (2015); female sterilization: 18.3 percent; male sterilization: 4.8 percent; pill: 4.8 percent; injectible: 13.2 percent; Implant: 1.3 percent; IUD: 1.7 percent; male condom: 3.8 percent; early withdrawal: 3.9 percent; rhythm method: 0.4 percent; traditional: 0.2 percent total: 52.2 percent [Source: Trends in Contraceptive Use Worldwide 2015 — the United Nations un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications ]
Types of birth control used (1994): female sterilization: 11.5 percent; male sterilization: 7.2 percent; pill: 1.0 percent; injectible: 2.2 percent; implant: 0.3 percent IUD: 0.2 percent; male condom: 0.6 percent; total: 24.6 percent. [Source: Trends in Contraceptive Use Worldwide 2015 — the United Nations un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications ]
Injection or injectible contraceptives such as Depo-Provera, Sayana Press or Noristerat release the hormone progestogen into the bloodstream to prevent pregnancy. Depo-Provera lasts for 13 weeks. [Source: Birth Control Around the World onlinedoctor.superdrug.com ]
Abortion in Nepal
Nepal’s strict laws on abortion are considered discriminatory towards women. At one time a fourth of all women in prisons were there because they had had abortions. Many of them had abortion because they were raped. Sometimes by their relatives. Others were induced to take abortion-inducing medication by their boyfriends Elizabeth wrote in the Encyclopedia of Sexuality: Nepal’s abortion laws were historically among the most restrictive and punitive in the world. Providers are neither trained nor skilled in performing abortions because of these laws. The result has been up to 12 women dying every day — or nearly 4,500 every year — because of unsafe abortions. [Source: Elizabeth Schroeder, M.S.W, Encyclopedia of Sexuality, 2002]
Nearly 5,000 women appear at Maternity Hospital in Kathmandu each year with an incomplete abortion, necessitating the completion of the procedure. Statistics on abortion-related deaths, as most statistics about Nepal, range depending on the source. According to JHPIEGO, 15 percent to 30 percent of all pregnancy-related deaths were attributed to abortions that were unsafe, incomplete, or spontaneous. Other sources of data do not mention spontaneous abortions specifically, but state that nearly half of all pregnancy-related deaths were caused by unsafe abortions. Even in situations where a woman obtains an illegal abortion, she runs the risk of being jailed afterward — possibly reported by the very family member or friend who brought her to the provider in the first place. In fact, the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy estimates that one out of five women in Nepal who are in jail are there for obtaining an abortion. Girls and women living near the border to India have historically crossed the border in order to obtain a legal abortion there.
In September 2002, King Gyanendra approved a law legalizing abortion up to 12 weeks on demand, and up to 18 weeks if the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest. Abortions will be allowed at any time if the woman’s life or health is in danger, or if the woman learns that she is going to give birth to a disabled child. (The types of disabilities were not specified. This may raise a whole other range of concerns relating to people with disabilities in Nepal.) Although this law is a significant victory for women’s rights, two challenges remain. First, women already in jail for having obtained an abortion remain there, and the government has not mentioned anything about whether they plan to release them. Second, access to abortion services remains a challenge.
Subina Shrestha wrote in the New York Times: “In 2002, I met 15-year-old Sita Tamang in a prison in Kathmandu. Her boyfriend, who had promised marriage, made her pregnant. Afterward, he gave her a pill to make her “feel stronger.” The pill aborted her pregnancy. Ms. Tamang was still delirious with pain and shock when the police arrested her and charged her with infanticide. A court gave her a life sentence. In the late 1990s, 80 Nepali women were in prison for having undergone an abortion. It took Nepali activists three decades of advocacy to change the abortion laws. In March 2002, Nepal legalized abortion. Over the next two years, the women imprisoned for abortion were granted amnesty and released. [Source: Subina Shrestha, New York Times, February 9, 2017]
“Nepal had a very high maternal mortality rate. For every 100,000 live births, 539 women died in 1996. Unsafe abortion was seen to be one of the reasons. Most women had little or no access to any health care during pregnancy or delivery. A poor country torn by a decade of insurgency, Nepal relied on outside help to provide health care, and the United States was the largest donor.
Abortion in Nepal and American Politics
In 2001, the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush initiated global “gag rule” that restricted international organization receiving United States funds from discussing abortion, forcing Nepalese reproductive health professionals to choose between direly needed U.S. funds and providing information and services to women seeking abortion. Since then abortion policy in Nepal had been determined somewhat by who was president in the United States.
Subina Shrestha wrote in the New York Times: On Bush’s “very first day in the White House, he imposed the “global gag rule,” which stopped United States government funding to overseas organizations that provide abortions or counseling on abortions. As soon as abortion became legal in Nepal, the Family Planning Association of Nepal, the largest organization providing contraceptives, lost part of its American funding. It was doing pioneering work in expanding awareness of reproductive health and contraceptive use in Nepal. FPAN refused to renounce counseling or referrals on abortion. It was forced to lay off 60 health workers and give up its mobile health clinics on reproductive health in rural areas, and its capacity to provide contraceptives was substantially impaired. [Source: Subina Shrestha, New York Times, February 9, 2017. Shrestha, a journalist and filmmaker from Nepal and a Nieman fellow at Harvard]
“The group didn’t use American funds for abortion or abortion counseling, but it worked with government hospitals and clinics that provided the procedure. At some clinics that received United States funding, “we had to build walls” to comply with the gag rule, recalled Shyam Thapa, a social scientist who advised the United States Agency for International Development. The walls separated the American-funded family planning section from the section providing abortion counseling.
“To work in a clinic with American funding, doctors had to sign documents affirming that they would not provide abortion services anywhere. Nepal had a terrible scarcity of doctors. A decade and a half later, there are still just seven doctors, nurses and midwives for every 10,000 people. Most doctors remain in urban areas, while most people — and most maternal deaths — are in the countryside. Mr. Bush’s gag rule forced hospitals and clinics to post two doctors to do one person’s job: a doctor to talk about contraception, a different doctor to help with abortion.
“Bureaucratic games like this affect the lives of women like Indra Maya Khadka, in the remote Khotang district. Some years back, when Ms. Khadka had trouble with her pregnancy in the final trimester, the nearest hospital, in the town of Diktel, was a day’s walk from her village and the hospital didn’t even have a doctor. Ms. Khadka had to wait four days to be airlifted by a helicopter to a Kathmandu hospital. She lost her child. Today there are three doctors in Diktel’s hospital serving the district’s 200,000 residents. Kathmandu, where most of the hospitals are, is a 10-hour drive away.
“President Barack Obama’s administration lifted the global gag rule, allowing much needed support for reproductive health services. Equally, the larger forces of globalization and international migration helped. Hundreds of thousands of Nepali men moved to the Middle East for work. Their hard-earned remittances improved living standards for their families across the villages and towns of Nepal, which helped improve access to health care. Initiatives such as sending trained female volunteers across the country to increase awareness also helped to bring maternal mortality down to 258 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2015.
“Nepal’s doctors are committed to bringing maternal mortality down further, but President Trump’s reintroduction of the global gag rule casts a shadow over their efforts. “We’ve been hearing rumors that there will be no money for family planning advocacy,” said Dr. Naresh Pratap K.C., who runs the Health Ministry’s family health division. “The impact of this will be huge.”
“In 2015, the Family Planning Association of Nepal received a U.S.A.I.D. grant of more than $5 million spread over four years. The grant helped the Family Planning Association of Nepal train more than 80 health workers in three districts. They were to go from house to house to educate people on family planning, set up health camps and screen for sexually transmitted infections and uterine cancer. If the Trump administration withholds funding, the program won’t take off. American aid has made a very valuable contribution to women’s health, but these policy reversals undermine it. Nepali women’s welfare is vulnerable to the whims of each new administration. U.S.A.I.D. is consulting with the State Department and other agencies on the new policy. A recent statement from the agency reads, “For additional information, we refer you to the White House.”
Migration To and From Nepal
An estimated 2.5-5 million Nepalese live and work in India. Most are from western Nepal or the Terai. In the 1980s, hundreds of thousands of Nepalese worked in India, and over 100,000 Indians worked in Nepal, particularly in the garment industry and on the building of highways. As of 1991, a large number of Indians from Bihar and other neighboring areas still crossed the border into Nepal. Most of those recent migrants were found in towns and cities, where they were engaged in semiskilled labor and mercantile activities.
Nearly 20,000 Tibetans arrived in Nepal between the Chinese annexation of Tibet in 1959 and 1989. Nepali-speaking Bhutanese refugees began arriving into Nepal in large numbers in the early 1990s. In 2004, there were 104,915 refugees from Bhutan and 20,704 from Tibet. The total number of migrants in 2000 was 619,000 including refugees. In 2004, an estimated 1.2 million Nepalese worked abroad in nearly 40 foreign countries, sending about $1 billion in remittances to Nepal. [Source: “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations”, Thomson Gale, 2007]
The vast majority of external circular migrants, most of whom went to India, returned to Nepal upon their retirement and discharge from service. Increasing numbers of these external migrants settled in the Indian states of West Bengal and Assam, and they have been filtering into Bhutan since the late nineteenth century. [Source: Andrea Matles Savada, Library of Congress, 1991 *]
Migration in Nepal
In the early 1990s, there was a massive and persistent outflow of people from the hills, the areas that once served as a refuge for migrants. In addition, the volume of migration has been increasing over time. There have been two major types of migration. Permanent or lifetime migration occurred primarily within the national boundary, particularly from the highlands to the Terai Region; it was motivated by the search for land. [Source: Andrea Matles Savada, Library of Congress, 1991 *]
Until the mid-1950s, the volume of permanent migration within the country was very small. Since then, however, there has been increased permanent internal migration, mainly because of population pressures, paucity of land resources in the hills, and the implementation of land resettlement programs in the Terai Region. This form of migration was identified in the 1981 census as lifetime internal migration.
The total volume of lifetime internal migration in 1981 was close to 1,272,300 persons, a figure that represented 8.5 percent of the total population. The vast majority of lifetime internal migrants originated in the Hill and Mountain regions and moved to the Terai Region in search of land in a movement that can be called frontier migration. These findings confirmed that the north-south (highland-lowland) flows of migration have made a substantial contribution — both directly and indirectly — to the rapid population growth of the Terai Region. *
In 1991, 46.7 percent of Nepal’s population lived in the Terai region, 45.5 percent resided in the central hilly region, and 7.8 percent lived in the northernmost mountain region. By the early 2000s, large-scale internal migrationwas overcrowding in the fertile Terai region. One of the major variables responsible for this trend was the Hill residents' quest for land. About half of the male Hill migrants to the Terai mentioned "agriculture" as their reason for migrating. The "not stated and others" category also constituted a high percentage, probably because most family members who moved with their parents or household heads had no specific reason for their migration. [Source: *”Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies”, The Gale Group Inc., 2002]
A high score for trade and commerce among the mountain migrants might reflect the fact that they historically were deeply engaged in interregional as well as cross-border trade with Tibet as their principal economic activity. Because their traditional trade and commercial relations with Tibet had been largely cut off because of political changes after 1950, they might have moved to the Terai, where such opportunities were expanding, particularly in urban areas. *
The pattern for female migrants was generally consistent with the pattern for male migrants. The exception was female migrants for whom marriage as a reason for geographical mobility ranked quite high. This pattern generally reflected the commonly observed reality that female mobility in Nepal was largely tied to family mobility (that is, husbands or parents). Although individual (unmarried) female migration seemed to be gradually on the rise, it still was quite limited.
Circular Migration
Circular migration included seasonal migrants, who moved to wage-labor sites, such as urban centers and construction areas, during the agricultural slack season (November to February). These circular or absentee migrants included long-term (but not permanent) migrants, who moved in search of long-term salaried employment, such as army, government, chaukidar (doorman or guard) services, or factory jobs. Once these migrants succeeded in landing a relatively permanent job, they normally visited their families and villages once every two to three years; if they did not secure such a job, they might return in a few months. Unlike permanent migration, circular migration was both internal (within the country) as well as external (outside the country). Although internal circular migrants ultimately might become permanent migrants, t
Circular migrants, both internal and external, were classified as absentee population in the 1981 census. The major difference between the two groups was that the internal absentee population generally consisted of short-term or seasonal migrants. Such migrants left the hills in search of temporary jobs in nearby towns or at construction sites and generally returned to their villages after the winter season to resume farming. On the other hand, the external absentee population was largely composed of long-term migrants. In the cases of both types, most migrants were adult males although some husbands periodically took their wives with them after they were well established in their jobs. [Source: Andrea Matles Savada, Library of Congress, 1991 *]
The volume of circular migration, or absentee population, has been rising. In the mid-1950s, such migration totaled almost 217,000 persons, most coming from the hills. More than 90 percent, or more than 198,000 people, were external migrants; the vast majority went to India. In 1981 the absentee population totaled almost 591,000 people. Of these, 188,000 people, or 32 percent, were internal migrants, and approximately 403,000 people, or 68 percent, were external migrants. Even though the percentage of external migrants in the total absentee population had declined from 90 percent in the mid-1950s to 68 percent in 1981, their absolute number had increased by 205,000 people. Whereas the increasing number of absentee population from the hills was an unmistakable indicator of the region's deteriorating economic and environmental conditions, the decreasing percentage of external migration in the total volume was largely the result of the emergence of the Terai as an alternative, internal destination. *
The vast majority of migrants came from the Hill and Mountain regions. Together, they made up 141,200 (85 percent) of the total of internal migrants and about 365,000 (91 percent) of total external migrants. Unlike in the Hill and Mountain regions, the majority of the Terai's 82,650 absentees were found within the country. *
An analysis of reasons for absence from home revealed quite a contrast between lifetime internal migration and circular migration. Service, which included a variety of jobs, surfaced as the most dominant reason for being absent from home in both internal and external cases of circular migration. On the average, 64 percent of external migrants mentioned service as their reason for migration, the highest rate being posted by the Hill migrants; 28 percent gave no reasons, or other reasons. *
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Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Lonely Planet Guides, Library of Congress, Nepal Tourism Board (ntb.gov.np), Nepal Government National Portal (nepal.gov.np), The Guardian, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Wikipedia and various books, websites and other publications.
Last updated February 2022