Demographics of Nepal

Demographic history

The population of Nepal is estimated to be 26,494,504 people based on the 2011 Nepal census, with a population growth rate of 1.35% and a median age of 21.6 years. Female median age is estimated to be 22.5 years, and male median age to be 20.7 years. Only 4.4% of the population is estimated to be more than 65 years old, comprising 681,252 females and 597,628 males. 61% of the population is between 15 and 64 years old, and 34.6% is younger than 14 years. Birth rate is estimated to be 22.17 births/1,000 population with an infant mortality rate of 44.54 deaths per 1000 live births. Life expectancy at birth is estimated to be 67.44 years for females and 64.94 years for males. The mortality rate is estimated to be 681 deaths per 100,000 people. Net migration rate is estimated to be 61 migrants per 100,000 people. According to the 2011 census, 65.9% of the total population is literate.

Population growth

The population of Nepal has been steadily rising recent decades. The current population is roughly 30 million which contributes to an increase of about 3 million people every 5 years.

UN estimates

Source:

Births and deaths

Structure of the population

Structure of the population (22.06.2011) (Census) :

Nepal Demographic and Health Survey

Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):

The following demographic statistics are from the 2011 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS).

Median birth intervals (Median number of months since preceding birth)

Total: 36.2 Rural: 35.9 Urban: 40.3 (2011)

Median age at first birth

Median age: 20.1 (2011)

Fertility rate - past trend and present

Total fertility rate: 4.6 children born/woman (1996) Total fertility rate: 4.1 children born/woman (2001) Total fertility rate: 3.1 children born/woman (2006) Total fertiltiy rate: 2.6 children born/woman Rural fertility rate: 2.8 children born/woman Urban fertility rate: 1.6 children born/woman (2011)

Ideal family size - Mean ideal number of children

Overall (female/male): 2.1 / 2.3 Currently married (female/male): 2.2 / 2.3 Urban (female/male): 1.9 / 2.0 Rural (female/male): 2.2 / 2.3 (2011)

Ideal family size by gender and age group

Below is a table of the ideal family size by gender and age for 2011.

CIA World Factbook

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Nationality

Noun: Nepali, Nepalese, Gorkhali (singular and plural) Adjective: Nepali, Nepalese,Gorkhali

Religions

Hindu 81.34%, Buddhist 9.04%, Muslim 4.38%, Kirant 3.04%, other 2.2% (2011 census).

Literacy

Definition: age 15 and over can read and write Total population: 48.6% Male: 62.7% Female: 34.9% (2001 census)

Population

29,033,914 (July 2016 est.)

Age structure

0-14 years: 30.93% (male 4,646,048/female 4,333,105) 15-24 years: 21.86% (male 3,176,158/female 3,169,721) 25-54 years: 35.99% (male 4,707,264/female 5,740,985) 55-64 years: 6.22% (male 877,288/female 927,202) 65 years and over: 5.02% (male 723,523/female 732,620) (2016 est.)

Median age

total: 23.6 years male: 22.4 years female: 24.8 years (2016 est.)

Population growth rate

1.24% (2016 est.)

Birth rate

19.9 births/1,000 population (2016 est.)

Death rate

5.7 deaths/1,000 population (2016 est.)

Net migration rate

-1.9 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2016 est.)

Total fertility rate

2.18 children born/woman (2016 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 18.6% of total population (2015) rate of urbanization: 3.18% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.)

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.04 male(s)/female 0-14 years: 1.07 male(s)/female 15-24 years: 1 male(s)/female 25-54 years: 0.82 male(s)/female 55-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.86 male(s)/female total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2016 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 70.7 years male: 70.1 years female: 71.3 years (2016 est.)

Languages

Nepal's diverse linguistic heritage evolved from three major language groups: Indo-Aryan, Tibeto-Burman languages, and various indigenous language isolates. According to the 2001 national census, 92 different living languages are spoken in Nepal (a 93rd category was "unidentified"). The major languages of Nepal as of 2011 census. (percent spoken as mother tongue language) includes

Nepali (derived from Khas bhasa) is considered to be a member of Indo-European language and is written in Devanagari script. Nepali was the language of the house of Gorkhas in the late 18th century and became the official, national language that serves as the lingua franca among Nepalese of different ethnolinguistic groups. Maithili—along with regional dialects Awadhi and Bhojpuri—are Indian languages and are spoken in the southern Terai Region. Many Nepali in government and business uses English as an official language. English is the language of technical, medical and scientific community as well as the elite bankers, traders and entrepreneurs. There has been a surge in the number and percentage of people who understand English. Majority of the urban and a significant number of the rural schools are English-medium schools. Higher education in technical, medical, scientific and engineering fields are entirely in English. Nepal Bhasa, the mother-tongue of the Newars, is widely used and spoken in and around Kathmandu Valley and in major Newar trade towns across Nepal.

Other languages, particularly in the Inner Terai, hill and mountain regions are remnants of the country's pre-unification history of dozens of political entities isolated by mountains and gorges. These languages typically are limited to an area spanning about one day's walk. Beyond that distance dialects and languages lose mutual intelligibility.

Religion

As of the 2011 census, 81.3% of the Nepalese population was Hindu, 9.0% Buddhist, 4.4% Muslim, 3.0% Kirant/Yumaist, 1.42% Christian, and 0.9% followed other religions or no religion.

Religion is important in Nepal; the Kathmandu Valley alone has more than 2,700 religious shrines. The dissolved constitution of Nepal described the country as a "Hindu kingdom", although it did not establish Hinduism as the state religion. Nepal's constitution continues long-standing legal provisions prohibiting discrimination against other religions (but also proselytization). The king was deified as the earthly manifestation of the Hindu god Vishnu. Then on 19 May 2006, the government facing a constitutional crisis, the House of Representatives which had been just reformed, having been previously dissolved, declared Nepal a "secular state".

The 2001 census identified 80.6% of the population as Hindu and 10.7% as Buddhist (although many people labeled Hindu or Buddhist often practice a syncretic blend of Hinduism, Buddhism, or animist traditions), 4.2% of the population was Muslim, 3.6% of the population followed the indigenous Kirant Mundhum religion and Christianity was practiced by 0.45% of the population.

Buddhist and Hindu shrines and festivals are respected and celebrated by most Nepalese. Certain animist practices of old indigenous religions survive.

Ethnic and regional equity

Pahari Hill Hindus of the Khas Gorkha tribe (Bahun and Chhetri castes) and the Newar ethnicity dominated the civil service, the judiciary and upper ranks of the army throughout the Shah regime (1768–2008). Nepali was the national language and Sanskrit became a required school subject. Children who spoke Nepali natively and who were exposed to Sanskrit had much better chances of passing the national examinations at the end of high school, which meant they had better employment prospects and could continue into higher education. Children who natively spoke local languages of the Madhesh and Hills, or Tibetan dialects prevailing in the high mountains were at a considerable disadvantage. This history of exclusion coupled with poor prospects for improvement created grievances that encouraged many in ethnic communities such as Madhesi and Tharu in the Tharuhat and Madhesh and Kham Magar in the mid-western hills to support the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and various other armed Maoist opposition groups such as the JTMM during and after the Nepalese Civil War. The negotiated end to this war forced King Gyanendra to abdicate in 2008. Issues of ethnic and regional equity have tended to dominate the agenda of the new republican government and continue to be divisive.

Nepalese in the U.K.

According to latest figure from Office for National Statistics estimates that 51,000 Nepal-born people are currently resident in the UK .

Nepalese in Hong Kong

Nepali people in Hong Kong are mainly the children of ex-Gurkhas born in Hong Kong during their parents' service with the British Army's Brigade of Gurkhas, which was based in Hong Kong from the 1970s until the handover. Large groups can be found in Shek Kong, Yuen Long District, of the main bases of the British army. Many ex-Gurkhas remained in Hong Kong after the end of their service under the sponsorship of their Hong Kong-born children, who held right of abode.

Nepalese of middle age or older generations in Hong Kong are predominantly found in security, while those of younger generations are predominantly found in the business industry.

Nepalese overseas

Nepalese migrants abroad have suffered tremendous hardships, including some 7,500 deaths in the Middle East and Malaysia alone since the year 2000, some 3,500 in Saudi Arabia.

Foreign population in Nepal

As per census of 2001 there are 116,571 foreign born citizens in Nepal out of which 90% are Indian origin followed by Bhutan, Pakistan and China. This number does not include the refugees from Bhutan and Tibet.