The govt must work out a plan to retain the hill population there with more development works

MARCH 26

The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) on Friday published its final data of the 12th national census conducted in November 2021, putting the country's population at 29,164,578. There are 14,253,551 males, or 48.98 per cent, and 14,911,027, or 51.02 per cent, females. The CBS has stated that the population has increased at 0.92 per cent in the last 10 years.

Bagmati Province has the highest population of 6,120,000, or 20.97 per cent, followed by Madhesh Province with a population of 6,110,000. Manang has the lowest population. Geographically, the Tarai region has the highest population with 15,634,006 people, or 53.61 per cent, while the hill region has a population of 11,757, 624, or 40.31 per cent. The mountain region has a population of 1,772,948, or 6.80 per cent. The CBS has put the country's literacy rate at 76.2 per cent, which is an increase of 10.8 per cent compared to the last census conducted in 2011. The literacy rate of males is 83.6 per cent while the female literacy rate stands at 69.4 per cent. As per the final data, 66.17 per cent of the total population lives in the urban centres while 33.83 per cent lives in the rural municipalities. The CBS also showed that 2.19 million people were residing outside the country, most of them employed as migrant workers or studying abroad.

While launching the country's demographic record, PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal said the data would be helpful in devising development plans as per the distribution of the population. The census data reveals that the population growth rate is shrinking in the hills and mountains compared to the population growth in the Tarai region, where population growth has

put more pressure on farmland. The census data has also revealed a disturbing fact about the growing number of economically inactive population. As per the data, 34 per cent of the total population is economically inactive, most of whom are students, who could also earn a living if they had an opportunity to work part time together with their studies.

Another worrying scenario is the growing population shift towards the Tarai region, which holds just 17 per cent of the country's total area. This region is also the food basket of the country. If this trend continues unabated, it will have a negative impact on agriculture, and the hill and mountain regions will become barren for want of workforce. Based on the population census, the government should work out a long-term plan to retain the hill population there. It can be done by providing more work opportunities in the hills and mountains with added infrastructure, such as roads, education and health facilities. Businessmen and industrialists can be encouraged to set up agro-based businesses and industries in the hills and mountains to keep the hill population intact.

However, sad to say, no government has come up with a plan of action based on the demographic change taking place over the decades. Should the people get more work opportunities in the hills and mountains, people would not choose to shift to the hot Tarai region. An imbalanced demographic pattern will also create political instability in the longrun as a heavily-populated region will demand more constituencies for their representation.

A version of this article appears in the print on March 27, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.