Kathmandu. According to the National Census 2078, the highest number of deaths in Nepal is in Koshi Province. The National Statistics Office informed about the death rate in Nepal through a press conference on Monday.
Of the seven provinces of Nepal, Koshi Province has the highest number of deaths and Karnali Province has the lowest. Out of the total non-institutionalized families (66 lakh 60 thousand 841), the death rate in Koshi Province is 3.1 percent, while in Karnali it is 2.2 percent.
Comparing the district-level data, the highest number is 3.8 percent in Kapilvastu and the lowest is 1.8 percent in Rukum-West, according to the Statistics Office. Out of the total non-institutionalized families (66 lakh 60 thousand 841), only 2.9 percent of the families have had a member die.
According to the National Census 2078, out of a total of 192,178 families, a total of 198,463 people died within the 12-month period immediately preceding the census day. Of these, 114,996 (58 percent) were males and 83,517 (42 percent) were females.
Of the families in which a member died, 97 percent had only one member die, while the remaining 3 percent had two members die, according to the Statistics Office. A small number of families have seen up to six members die during that period.
Nepal’s mortality rate
The mortality rate is continuously declining. Which represents the number of people who died per thousand population based on the middle class population. BS. In 2068 BS, it was 7. 3 per thousand population, but in 2078 BS it has decreased to 6.8. In 2058 BS, the mortality rate was 10.2.
Sex ratio of death in Nepal
The sex ratio of death in Nepal is 137.6. That is, for every 1,000 women who die, 1,376 men die. This ratio is 146.3 in Karnali Province and 144.3 in Sudurpaschim Province.
These are the two highest sex ratios of death at the provincial level. Looking at the structure of deaths in the population pyramid by age group, the number of male deaths has exceeded the number of female deaths in all other age groups except for the group of 95 years and above. Provincially, the mortality rate of the elderly population is high in Gandaki and Bagmati.
The state of aging in Nepal
About 80 percent of the population of Nepal is expected to live to be 60 years old. It is estimated that 85 percent of women and 75 percent of men will live to be 60 years old. The proportion of people living to be 60 years old is 84.7 percent for families in the highest wealth quintile, while it is only 77.7 percent for the poorest families. This proportion is 72.8 years for hill Dalits and 76.7 years for Terai Dalits, which are among the groups with the lowest proportion among castes.
According to Binod Sharan Acharya, Director of the Population Division of the National Statistics Office, the average life expectancy of people in the world has increased significantly from 64.2 years in 1990 to 72.6 years in 2019. He said that this is projected to increase further and reach 77.1 years in 2050.
Despite the above-average progress during this period, inequalities still persist. Such inequalities are more visible in less developed countries. By 2050, it is estimated that one in every six people worldwide will be elderly, that is, 65 years and above.
This situation is expected to accelerate the growth of the elderly population in North Africa, Western Asia and Latin America, and the number of people living to be 100 years old is expected to triple. Along with the declining birth and death rates, Nepal’s population is also rapidly entering a transition period.
The population of the age group of sixty years and above has increased from 8.1 percent in 2068 BS to 10.2 percent in 2078 BS. Which is expected to transform Nepal into an aging society by BS 2111. This will naturally create special challenges in housing, health care, social security and economic livelihood.
The population of elderly people in Nepal has increased almost threefold since 2048 BS. The population pyramid shows a transition from a youth-dominated state to an old age. This is mainly due to the decline in the birth rate and the increase in overseas migration. The population of children is decreasing. Similarly, the population of the working age group is also decreasing, which has further increased the proportion of the dependent population.
The distribution of the elderly population at the geographical area and provincial level has also shown some differences in the B. S. 2068 and 2078 BS censuses. The elderly population in the hilly areas seems to have increased significantly between these two census periods.
In 2068 BS, the elderly population was 25.7 percent in the hills, but 10 years later, in 2078 BS, it has reached 43.6 percent. This trend seems to be followed closely by the Himalayan and Terai regions. However, the hills and Himalayan regions have shown a faster growth rate of the elderly population compared to the Terai.
Languages spoken in Nepal
To depict the linguistic structure of the country, three questions were asked in the 2078 BS Census. These include mother tongue, second language, and ancestral language. The results of the census identified 124 mother tongues, 117 second languages, and 124 ancestral languages. The languages spoken in Nepal fall mainly into four major language families: Indo-European (Indo-European), Sino-Tibetan, Austro-Asiatic, and Dravidian.
In addition, a separate language, Kusunda, and a sign language belonging to the Indo-Pakistani Sign Language family are also found to be prevalent in Nepal. Languages of the Sino-Tibetan and Indo-European (Indo-European) language families are mainly spoken in Nepal.
Which accounts for 99.7 percent of the total population. Nepali is the largest language among the languages spoken as a mother tongue. According to Director Acharya, its population ratio is less than half of the total population at 44.9 percent. The share of languages from other language families is not comparatively large.
There are a total of 21 languages in Nepal with at least 100,000 speakers. These languages account for 95 percent of the total population. In contrast, the number of languages at the bottom of the list based on the number of speakers is 103, which accounts for about 5 percent of the total population. Therefore, despite the diversity in the number of mother tongues, their population share appears to be unevenly distributed.
According to Acharya, the most affluent population is more than three times more likely to speak Nepali. Compared to the illiterate population, all groups of people with a certain level of education are more likely to speak Nepali as their mother tongue.
Census data shows that the likelihood of speaking Nepali as a mother tongue also increases as the level of education increases, said Binod Sharan Acharya, Director of the Population Branch under the National Statistics Office.
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