Nepalese and people of Nepali/Nepalese origin

x76px
Top row: Buddha · King Tribhuvan · Araniko · Narayan Gopal · Rajesh Hamal Bottom row: Ram Bahadur Bomjon · Manisha Koirala · Khagendra Thapa Magar
Total population
27 million
Regions with significant populations
Nepal 29,519,114  India 4,100,000  Burma 400,000  Saudi Arabia 350,000  Malaysia 300,000  USA 110,616  Japan 100,000  Qatar 100,000  UAE 50,000  United Kingdom 50,000  China 20,348  Hong Kong 15,950  Bhutan 11,000  South Korea 10,000  Australia 7,000  Canada 3,780  Pakistan 1,000[1]
Languages
Nepali language, English
Religion
Predominantly Hinduism and significantly Buddhism

The population of Nepal is estimated at 29,391,883 people in July 2011, with a population growth rate of 1.596% and a median age of 21.6 years. Female median age is estimated at 22.5 years, and male median age at 20.7 years. Only 4.4% of the population are estimated to be more than 65 years old, comprising 681,252 females and 597,628 males, whereas 61.1% of the population is between 15 and 64 years old, and 34.6% is estimated at younger than 14 years. Birth rate is estimated at 22.17 births/1,000 population with an infant mortality rate at 44.54 deaths per 1,000 live births. Life expectancy at birth is estimated at 67.44 years for females and 64.94 years for males. Death rate is estimated at 681 deaths per 100,000 people. Net migration rate is estimated at 61 migrants per 100,000 people. According to the 2001 census, only 48.6% of the total population is literate, of which 62.7% are male and 34.9% are female.^[2]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2007)

The words "Nepali" and "Nepalis" are gaining widespread popularity in English usage as opposed to Nepalese, which is an Anglicized version.

Demographic history[link]

Nepali or Nepalese are descendants of migrants from parts of Kashmir ,earlier Greater Nepal, Tibet, India, and parts of Burma and Yunnan, along with native tribal populations.

Indo-Aryan and East Asian looking mixed people live in the hill region. The mountainous region is sparsely populated above 3,000 m (9,800 ft), but in central and western Nepal ethnic Tibetans inhabit even higher semi-arid valleys north of the Himalaya. Kathmandu Valley, in the middle hill region, constitutes a small fraction of the nation's area but is the most densely populated, with almost 5 percent of the nation's population. Nepali society is multilingual, multireligious and multiethnic.

Population growth[link]

Nepalese woman with baby.

Early, nearly universal marriage particularly among reform Hindus drives Nepal's annual population growth rate in excess of two percent, causing population to double about every 30 years. This severely strains the country's underdeveloped economy and finite natural resources. Deforestation is widespread as ever-more marginal land is cleared for agriculture, trees are cut down for firewood and leaves are harvested for fodder. Deforestation promotes erosion in the hills, in turn causing alluvial buildup down on the Gangetic Plain that interferes with flood control structures.

Population in the hills greatly exceeds agricultural productivity so chronic food deficits drive resettlement into the Inner Terai to the detriment of indigenous Tharu people and eastward into Sikkim and Bhutan, where traditional practices of delayed marriage and diversion of significant population into monasteries and nunneries otherwise checked population growth. Seeing the demographic writing on the wall after a population census in 1988, Bhutan expelled some 100,000 ethnic Nepalese who became Bhutanese refugees in camps in southeastern Nepal. Overpopulation also drives export of manpower to India, the Middle East, Europe, Australia and North America in search of employment, the so-called Nepalese Diaspora.

Refugees comprise 107,803 people from Bhutan and 20,153 Tibetan people.^[2]

Most refugees live in seven camps established by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Presence and activity of Tibetan refugees in Nepal also raise sporadic diplomatic conflicts with the People's Republic of China.

Vital statistics[link]

[edit] UN estimates^[3]

Ethnic groups[link]

Selected ethnic groups of Nepal;
Bhotia, Sherpa, Thakali, Gurung, Kiranti, Rai, Limbu, Newari, Pahari, Tamang

Nepal's 2001 census enumerated 102 castes and ethnic groups.^[4]

Both Indo-Aryan and Mixed Indo-Mongoloid comprise 80% who consist of Chetri, Bahun, Newar, etc. While the Mongoloids including Magar, Gurung and Rai comprise 17% according to EBS Documentary 'World Travel with a Theme' made in 2010.

The following table is based on endogamous ethnicity, not language. References are according to the 2001 census.