Chapter 15 Internal Migration in Nepal - Central Bureau of Statistics

Gross Migration: Gross migration indicates the magnitude of total mobility in a defined
geographical area or district in this case. This is the sum total of in and out migration and
measures the extent to which pe ople are mobile within a certain period within the geographical
boundary.
Period Migration: Period migration in the 2001 census of Nepal has been defined as those
people 5 years and above prior to the census whose place of residence was different from the
place of enumeration during the census period.
Ecological Zones: Census Bureau of Statistics has delimited ecological zones of Nepal on the
basis of the boundary of administrative districts that are constructed with due consideration of
local topography an d drainage basins. The mountain has 16 districts, the hill has 39 and the Tarai
has 20 districts. Inter-zonal migration here refers to migration occurring between these three
zones. Thus larger the migration field, smaller is the volume of migration.
Regions: Regions in this study consist of the cross product of three zones and five development
regions or each of the five development regions split into three sub-regions belonging to the
respective ecological zone. The three zones are mountain, hill and the Tarai and five development
regions are eastern, central, western, mid-western, and far -western. The total inter-regional
migration volume by 15 regions becomes greater than in the case of ecological zones. As the
number of migration field increases, the vo lume of migration also increases. It is because interregional
migration within the mountain, for example, becomes intra-regional for the mountain
zone and vice versa.
Districts: Nepal has 75 districts. The present study frequently addresses the inter-district
migration. This increases the volume of migration substantially and represents intra-regional
migration because one region may have several districts.
Village and Towns: Inter-village migration flow is not available in the 2001 census. One zone
has five regions, one region has many districts, one district has many villages and one village has
nine wards. Nepal has 58 designated urban areas. The census of 2001 collected migration data
that are strictly defined by the district boundary. Hence, even if people moved from rural to urban
and vice versa within that district, it is not recorded even though the rural and urban mobility does
not get confined within the district boundary only. Smaller the field of migration, larger is the
volume of migration.
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