Migration in Nepal

Internal Migration in Nepal:

a.      Waves of Migration in Nepal

i.First Wave: It was present during Prithivi Narayan Shah and his successor until 18^th Century. Migration was mainly due to the Jhara labor in which youths were used for different purposes such as transport of military and other supplies, construction of temples, palaces, bridges, forts, etc. Jhara labor was kind of forced labor required to leave their villages to provide services in distant culture.

ii.Second Wave: The second wave of internal migration emerged in the mid-50s with the implementation of the state sponsored resettlement programme of hill people to Tarai. The main objective of the resettlement programme was land colonisation of Tarai and increase agricultural production. Launched by Rapti Valley Development Project (RVDP) and Nepal Resettlement Company (NRC), the resettlement programme continued until the late 80s in Chitwan and Nawalparasi. Under the RVDP, 5,233 households were settled in Rapti Valley of Chitwan. In addition, an estimated 7,000 families settled spontaneously each year in the Tarai region. NRC settled 1,504 families in Nawalparasi and there were more than 10,000 spontaneous settlements.

iii. Third Wave:  It emerged during advent of democracy in 1951 with socio-economic transformation of the country. Nepal witnessed a rapid increase in the volume of internal migrants because of the expansion of employment opportunities in informal sectors.

b.     Inter-District Migrants

Year	Inter District migrants (as Percentage)
1961	4.7%
1971	-
1981	8.6%
1991	9.6%
2001	13.2%
2011	14.8%

d.     Migration by Place of Residence:

Place of Residence	Percentage of Migrants
Rural-Urban	33.5%
Urban-Urban	4.5%
Rural-Rural	59.2%
Urban-Rural	2.9%

International Migration in Nepal

a.      Absentee Population

Year	Total (in percentage)	Male (in Percentage)	Female (in Percentage)
1981	2.6%	81.3%	18.5%
1991	3.4%	83.2%	16.8%
2001	3.2%	89.2%	10.8%
2011	7.3%	87.6%	12.4%

b.Percentage of Migrants to Destination Countries

Year	To India	To Other Countries
1981	93.1%	6.9%
1991	89.2%	12.8%
2001	77.3%	22.7%
2011	37.6%	61.4%

b.     Emigration Rate in Nepal=10.77 per thousand people

c.      Immigration Rate in Nepal=0.46 per thousand people

d.     Gross Migration Rate in Nepal= 11.23 per thousand people

e.      Net Migration Rate in Nepal= -10.32 per thousand people