Kathmandu, Jan. 26
There are 29,192,480 people in Nepal, said the Central
Bureau of Statistics (CBS) while announcing the preliminary results of the
Census 2021 that conducted in November last year.
The numbers are higher by 2.69 million compared to the last
census conducted in 2011. The size of population was 26.49 million then. This
is the increase of 10.18 per cent in a decade.
According to the CBS report published on Wednesday, the
birth rate in the country has also gone down to 0.93 per cent against 1.35 per
cent a decade ago. Population growth rate is highest – 3.32 per cent – in
Bhaktapur.
The ratio of male population against female is increased
this time. There were 94.16 males for 100 females in 2011 and now it is 95.91
males. "There are 14,291,311 males and 14,901,169 females – 48.96 per cent
and 51.04 per cent respectively. A decade ago, the percentage was 48.5 per cent
males and 51.5 per cent females," said the CBS.
Number of families up by a quarter
Likewise, there are 6,761,059 families in the country, they
live in 5,643,945 houses. It means about 12 families live in 10 houses. The
increase in the number of families in the last 10 years is 24.57 per cent,
about 1.33 million new households are found by the census. This increment is
partly backed by the family split in the district affected by the 2015 earthquake
in order to obtain the housing reconstruction grant of Rs. 300,000 provided by
the government.
The census found that there are 4.32 members in a family on
an average. The size of the family is decreased compared to the census in 2011
when there were 4.88 people in a family. There are 4.55 members in a family in
the rural areas and 4.25 members in the cities.
The size of family in the mountains, hills and Terai is
4.27, 3.95 and 4.65 members.
Madhes has 6.12 million people
Madhes province has the largest size of population among the
seven provinces.
About 6,126,288 people live in Madhes while there are
1,694,889 people in Karnali Province.
In terms of districts, Kathmandu has the largest population
– 2.17 million. Morang, Rupandehi, Jhapa and Sunsari are among the districts
that have highest number of people living. But Manang has only 5,674 people.
Other districts having smaller size of population are Mustang, Dolpa, Rasuwa
and Humla. Fully 32 districts in hill and mountain region have negative
population growth rate. This number is larger than five districts compared to
the census in 2011.
About 63 per cent people in the country live in urban areas
and 37 per cent in rural areas against 17 per cent 83 per cent respectively a
decade ago.
198 people per square km
Population density in the country has reached 198 people per
square kilometre. It was 180 people per square km in 2011. Population density
in Terai is 461 people per square km and in mountains 34 people per square km.
The highest density, district wise, is in Kathmandu with
5,108 people living in a square km while only three people live in a square km
in Manang. Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Dhanusha and Mahottari are the districts with
top population density. Likewise, Manang, Mustang, Dolpa and Humla have the
lowest density – less than 10 people per square km.
Similarly, Kathmandu, Pokhara, Bharatpur, Lalitpur and
Birgunj are the municipalities with highest population while Thuli Bheri,
Tripura Sundari, Madi, Laligurans and Jiri have the smallest population in
municipalities.
Kathmandu's population is 865,906 while Thuli Bheri's
10,186. According to the CBS, 14 municipalities have less than 20,000 population
while 39 have more than 100,000 people.
Among the rural municipalities, Baijanath has 90,315 people
and Narpabhumi has 442 people. Fifteen rural municipalities have more than
50,000 people.
The CBS also said that although census activities couldn't be
conducted in Lipulek, Limpiyadhura and Kalapani region, the size of estimated
population in these areas is between 500-600.
Delayed census
The COVID-19 pandemic has delayed the survey and results of
the census 2021.
The CBS was
planning to conduct household listing in May last year and questionnaire fill
up in June. But the second wave of coronavirus pandemic and lockdown disturbed
the schedule and CBS announced a new time-table for the task.
All activities of the Census 2021 were suspended by the
government on 2 May 2021. The survey was conducted in November last year.
First census in Nepal was conducted in 1911 during the Rana
regime.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 27 January 2022.
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