patterns of population growth in nepal - Institute for Social and ...

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3.4 Population in the Present Century:
.,
.~ By 1981 Nepal has completed eight successive
censuses in the country.
Size and gro\·;th of population
in Nepal from 1911 to 1981 are presented in
Table 3.2.
\Vhen the data given in Table 302 for
the last seventy years are looked into they reveal
three distinct periods in the demographic history
of Nepal: (a) 1911 to 1930, (b) 1930 to 1961, and
(c) 1961 to 1981.
During the first phase of demographic
history, i.e., 1911 to 1930, the size of
population of Nepal v:as declining and the net decrease
in the country's population vias about 107 thousand.
Some of the important reason~
for this decline are:
(a) heavy casuality of the Gorkha troops in the
First \·lorld vlar, (b) high incidence of mortality due
to Influenza epidemic of 1917, (c) large scale recruitment
of Gorkha soldiers to serve in the British
army dUI:ing FiI:st l"loI:ld Hac, and (d) undeI:enumeration
in the 1920 and 1930 censuses (ESCAP, 1980: 12). Thus
one can conclude that the natural increase of population
growth has very little to do with the absolute
decline in population of the country; instead it was
a combination of natural calamities and undercounting.