Chapter 15 Internal Migration in Nepal - Central Bureau of Statistics

The magnitude of these streams can not be compared with data provided in the previous censuses
as the number of urban centres have drastically increased with many of the newly designated
urban centres being rural in character. Therefore, Nepal still has an overwhelming rural-to-rural
migration. Rural-to-urban migration is gaining more visibility in districts with large urban areas
such as Kathmandu (71.8%), Kaski (82.7%), Lalitpur (56.6%), and Bhaktapur (44.6%). Internal
migrants to urban areas has increased over time from 13.4 per cent in 1971, 16.3 per cent in 1981,
17.2 per cent in 1991 (KC, 1998:20) and 26.8 per cent (746,285 VDC+81,425 municipality) in
2001 (CBS, 2002: Table 21).
15.3.6 Migration to Urban Areas
Nepal has at present 58 designated urban centres with a total population of 3,227,879. Out of this
total, 95.6 per cent are native born and 4.4 per cent are foreign born (Table 15.14). Out of the total
native born (3,085,104), 73.2 per cent (2,257,392) were internal migrants from other districts in
rural areas, whereas 24.2 per cent migrated from other municipalities. These numbers and
associated proportions are strictly based on the definition of internal migrants migrating or
crossing the boundary of one district of birth place to another district of enumeration at the time
of the census in 2001.
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