Urban population has increased by about five percent because of migration in the last decade in Nepal, a report from the National Statistics Office states. 

Released on Tuesday, the report titled the ‘Degree of Urbanization in Nepal’ has revealed that the urban population increased to 27.07 in 2021 from 22.31 in 2011, peri-urban population increased to 39.75 percent from 39.19 percent whereas rural population decreased from 38.5 to 33.19 percent. 

“While the rural population still constitutes one-third of the national population, the trend of migration from rural to peri-urban and urban areas offers an insight into pressure on the urban areas to accommodate an increasing population and for the rural areas to retain their existing population,” said Hem Raj Regmi, spokesperson for the office.

Nepal has 753 local units or municipalities—293 urban municipalities (metropolitan and sub-metropolitan areas) and 460 rural municipalities.

The report offers interesting glimpses of population distribution in the mountains, the hills and the southern plains (the Tarai). 

The mountain region is sparsely populated with a majority (88 percent) residing in areas of rural characteristics and the remaining 12 percent residing in areas of urban characteristics marked by high population density, per the report.

The report, offering a breakdown of the total population in the hills, states that 55 percent are living in settlements of rural characteristics, 36 percent in urban characteristics (skewed due to high population density in Pokhara and Kathmandu) whereas only nine percent are living in peri-urban areas. 

Peri-urban areas are mainly in the inner Tarai and the Tarai. In inner Tarai, 43 percent of the population resides in peri-urban areas, 30 percent in urban areas and 27 percent in rural areas. In the Tarai region, 69 percent of the population lives in peri-urban areas, 22 percent in urban areas and only nine percent in areas having rural characteristics.

The report points at a rapid urbanization with agglomeration of population in peri-urban and urban areas. 

The comparative analysis between 2011 and 2021 shows an increase in urban population from 62.93 percent to 66.02. Between hierarchies of urban administrative units, urban municipalities have seen a significant increase in population (2.58 percent), followed by sub-metropolitan cities (0.82 percent). While the population has increased in metropolitan cities and rural municipalities, their share in the total population has fallen by 0.3 percent and 3.09 percent, respectively.

Based on the degree of urbanization methodology endorsed by the United National Statistical Commission to standardize the definition of urban and rural areas globally, the report has analyzed 2011 and 2021 census data to derive inferences by classifying settlements at the ward level into urban, peri-urban and rural areas.

The ecological region classification shows that rural population is concentrated in the Hill (66 percent) and Mountain regions, peri-urban population in the Tarai region (85 percent) whereas urban population is concentrated in the Hill region (53 percent)—skewed due to high population density in Pokhara and Kathmandu valley—followed by the Tarai region (39 percent)

In rural municipalities, 58 percent of the population is in the rural cluster, whereas 36.1 percent is mostly in peri-urban areas (664 wards), states the report. In urban municipalities, only 28.4 percent of population is in urban areas (591 wards), while a majority (46 percent) is in peri-urban areas (1,285 wards) and 25.4 percent is still in the rural cluster (within 1,244 wards).

In sub-metropolitan cities, 39 percent of the population lives in peri-urban areas and 53 percent in areas categorized as ‘urban’. In metropolitan cities, 17 percent is in peri-urban areas, 2.3 percent in areas of rural characteristics and a whopping 80.7 percent in urban areas.

Though they are home to only 33 percent of the national population, rural municipalities have a higher number of wards (3,685) compared to urban and peri-urban areas.

At the provincial level, the distribution of urban population (66.8 percent) is relatively skewed with the highest in Madhes Province (19.9 percent), followed by Bagmati Province (14.6 percent) and the Karnali Province (1.2 percent) The data show imbalance in distribution of urban population with highest concentration in the Tarai in Madhes and Lumbini.

Based on provincial distribution of districts in relation to the degree of urbanization, 93.51 percent of Bagmati Province’s population resides in urban areas. Districts without urban population include Sankhuwasabha and Terathum of Koshi Province, Manang and Mustang of Gandaki Province, Rukum East of Lumbini Province and Dolpa and Humla of Karnali Province.

Per the report, the number of urban municipalities increased from 58 in 2013/2014 to 293 in 2017/2018, with a corresponding increase in urban municipal population to 66 percent from 17 percent.

Unveiling the report, Chief Secretary Baikuntha Aryal stressed the need for relevant offices of three-tier governments to make policies and programs based on data and evidence.

Infographics 

Population in Ecological Regions in 2011 and 2021 (in percent)

Source: National Statistics Office