Chapter 15 Internal Migration in Nepal - Central Bureau of Statistics

15.3.9.3 Ethnic Composition of Migrants
Table 15.20 presents ethnic composition of migrants in relation to the total population of Nepal by
gender. Among the males, a high proportion of Brahmin (27.6%) and Chhetri (19.3%) were
shown to be migratory as against only 13.8 and 16.1 per cent in the total population. A higher
proportion of Brahmin than Chhetri among both male and female migrants contrary to the
proportion of these two groups in the total population might have resulted from a very high
proportion of male population grouped in other category (23.8%). The proportion among male
migrants in other category was reported to be only 13.8 per cent, a ten percentage point difference
between the proportion of migrations and that of the total population. In case of total populat ion
of females, the other category was 22.6 per cent, whereas other category among female migrants
was only 20.6 per cent, only two percentage point difference. Since the ethnic distribution by
migration status can be examined only in relation to the ethnic distribution of the total population,
the proportions allocated for other caste and ethnic groups could have been severely distorted [See
chapter on ethnicity in this monograph]. For example, Brahmin and Chhetri together constituted
30 per cent of the total male population, whereas these two groups constituted 46.9 per cent of the
total male migrants. Similarly, these groups comprised of 30.5 per cent of the total female
population, similar to the proportion of total male population. Among female migrants, these two
groups constituted 39.2 per cent. The spurious nature of data tends to convey that Brahmin and
Chhetri among males were 16.9 percentage point more migratory than their actual distribution in
the total population. Similarly, females tend to be more migratory by 8.7 percentage points than
their actual distribution in the total population. This leads one to believe that males are more
migratory than females by discounting the effect of a huge proportion of marriage migration by
females.
Table 15.20: Ethnic composition of migrants and total population by gender
Caste/Ethnic
Group
Male
Female
Migrants % Total % Migrants % Total %
Brahmin (hill) 414,263 (26.48) 27.63 1,564,365 13.77 446,553 (28.22) 22.40 1,582,369 13.91
Chhetri 289,192 (15.82) 19.29 1,827,628 16.09 334,089 (17.75) 16.76 1,881,636 16.54
Newar 98,277 (12.69) 6.55 774,560 6.82 141,996 (18.92) 7.12 783,487 6.89
Magar 95,437 (13.26) 6.36 719,650 6.34 112,067 (14.46) 5.62 775,120 6.81
Tamang 66,098 (11.76) 4.41 562,220 4.95 72,805 (12.85) 3.65 566,733 4.98
Kami 42,766 (10.57) 2.85 404,621 3.56 56,419 (12.98) 2.83 434,599 3.82
Rai 44,3361 (15.28) 2.96 290,150 2.55 50,159 (16.66) 2.52 301,140 2.65
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