Nepal's urban population reaches 66.2 percent

The national census 2021 data has shown that the urban population reached 66.2 percent in Nepal.

Releasing the municipality and rural municipality-level data, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Sunday stated that the urban population in Nepal is slightly more than 19.29 million while the rural population is 9.86 million plus.

According to the national census 2011, the urban population in the country was just 17.1 percent.

As per the geographical belt, the urban population in the mountainous region is 35.6 percent while the rural population is 64.4 percent.

Likewise, 63.3 percent of people in the hilly region reside in municipalities while 36.7 percent of people live in the rural municipality in the hills.

There is 71.8 percent of people as city dwellers in the Tarai region while 28.2 percent of people are dwellers in rural areas.

The average population growth rate during the census period is 0.92 percent per year against 1.35 percent in the previous census.

While the average annual population growth in municipalities is 1.36 percent, the average annual population growth in rural municipalities is 0.11 percent per year in this census.

The density of the population as per the 2021 census is 198 per square kilometer which was 180 per square kilometer in 2011. The density of the population in the municipality is 373 per square kilometer while it is 105 per square kilometer in rural municipalities in 2021.

Among the 6,666,937 households residing in Nepal, 4,479,662 families live in municipalities while the remaining live in rural municipalities, the 2021 census puts.

In Nepal, the average member number per family is 4.37 in total. In terms of the municipality, the average family member number is 4.31 per family and 4.51 per family in rural municipalities.

Geographically, the average family member number per family in mountainous municipalities is 4.23, 3.90 in hilly municipalities, and 4.63 in Terai municipalities.

Similarly, the average family member per family in rural municipalities in mountainous regions is 4.38, 4.14 in hilly regions, and 4.99 in Terai.

Among the 6,666,937 families recorded during the 2021 census, the head of the family was male in 68.5 percent of families while 31.5 percent were female as the head.

Municipality-wise, males were the head of the family in 67.2 percent of families in municipalities while females were the head in 32.8 percent.

Likewise, males were the head of the family in 71.1 percent of families in rural municipalities while 28.9 percent of families had females as their heads.

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