Kathmandu, April 6

An average Nepali individual consumed goods and services worth Rs 70,680 per annum as compared to per capita gross domestic product (GDP) worth Rs 79,370 in fiscal 2015-16. A large chunk of the consumption — 53.8 per cent — goes on food items and remaining 46.2 per cent on non-food items, as per the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).

Per capita income of a Nepali in fiscal 2015-16 stood at Rs 80,921.

Unveiling its Annual Household Survey of fiscal 2015-16, CBS today said that the total household expenditure increased by Rs 203 billion in 2015-16 to Rs 1.83 trillion as compared to Rs 1.62 trillion of 2014-15.

The survey was carried out in 2,250 households of rural areas and a similar number of households in urban areas. Average household expenditure per annum in the review period stood at Rs 322,730. An average household in urban areas spent Rs 431,337 and in rural areas the figure stood at Rs 248,893, according to CBS.

According to Rudra Suwal, deputy director general of CBS, per capita consumption increased by an average of eight per cent per annum over the last 20 years against per capita gross domestic product (GDP) growth of three per cent. Consumption is largely backed by the remittances inflow.

While calculating the consumption in real terms (excluding inflation) based on the price of 1995-96, per capita consumption rose from Rs 6,802 of 1995-96 to Rs 17,686 in 2015-16.

“While adjusting the inflation in the price of base year 1995-96 when CBS carried out National Living Standard Survey for the first time, the average consumption of a Nepali individual stood at Rs 70,680 in 2015-16,” said Suwal.

As per CBS, the top spending 20 per cent families spent seven times more than the least spending 20 per cent households.