Nepal has been conducting the national census every 10 years since 1911. (representative)
Kathmandu:
Nepal’s population has witnessed a growth of just 0.93 percent, the lowest in the past eight decades, reportedly as a result of outward migration of Nepalese for jobs and studies, media reports said on Wednesday.
The preliminary results of the 2021 National Census, which were made public by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), also indicated that population growth in Nepal is below the average growth rate of the world’s population, The Kathmandu Post newspaper reported.
“The population of Nepal has reached 29,192,480. The main reason for the slowest population growth seems to be the outward migration of Nepalese for jobs and studies,” Hem Raj Regmi, the agency’s deputy director-general, said in the report.
Revealing preliminary data from the national census held in November, the National Bureau of Statistics said Nepal’s average annual population grew by 0.93 percent.
Population growth is at its lowest in 80 years, the agency said.
“The average population growth rate in the last census, in 2011, was 1.35 percent. Nepal’s population was 26,494,504 at the 2011 census,” Regmi said.
According to the data, there were 2,169,478 Nepalese living abroad. Of them, 81.28 percent are male.
Regmi said the population growth rate in Nepal is lower than the average growth rate of the world population.
According to World Bank data, the global average annual growth rate is 1.01 percent.
He said the agency plans to unveil the final census report within the next six to seven months.
The population of women numbered 14,901,169, while that of men was 14,291,311, the data shows.
Nepal has been conducting the national census every 10 years since 1911.
CBS Director General Nebin Lal Shrestha said they also conducted the census of Lipulek, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura and was awaiting the detailed information, my Republica portal reported.
The Nepalese cabinet approved a new political map in May last year showing Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura in India under its territory amid a border dispute with India.
India reacted sharply, calling it a “unilateral act” and warning Kathmandu that such an “artificial extension” of territorial claims would not be acceptable to the country.
India had also published a new map in November 2019 showing the areas as territories.
