Poverty in Nepal
Over 30 per cent of Nepalese live on less than US$14 per person, per month, according to the
national living standards survey conducted in 2010-2011. While the overall poverty rate for Nepal is
25 per cent, this figure increases to 45 per cent in the Mid-Western region and 46 per cent in the Far-
Western region. In these remote hill and mountain zones, the terrain is rugged, rainfall is low and the
poor-quality soil is difficult to farm. Agricultural holdings per household are the smallest in the
country.
About 80 per cent of Nepal's people live in rural areas and depend on subsistence farming for
their livelihoods. Household food insecurity and poor nutrition are major concerns in these areas,
where about half of children under five years of age are undernourished. Most rural households have
little or no access to primary health care, education, safe drinking water, sanitation or other basic
services.Poor rural people in Nepal generally have large families, very small landholdings or none at
all, and high rates of illiteracy. They are also concentrated in specific ethnic, caste and marginalized
groups, particularly those of the lowest caste (dalits), indigenous peoples (janajatis) and women.
Population density in the country varies according to altitude – averaging more than 1,000 persons per
square kilometre (km2) in the low Terai region, about 300 persons per km2 in hilly regions and as few
as 30 persons per km2 in mountainous
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