ADB_book_18 April.qxp - Himalayan Document Centre - icimod

mortality rates for rural and urban areas are 79 and 50per thousand live births, respectively. The datashown in Table 2.5 indicate some of the humandevelopment measures and basic facilities in ruraland urban areas. Selected measures of humandevelopment—including gross domestic product(GDP) per capita, human development index,education index, life expectancy index, genderrelated indices and human poverty index—show thatthe performance of rural areas is much poorer thanthat of urban areas. Similarly, there are markeddifferences regarding basic facilities such as pipeddrinking water, sanitation, electricity, fuel used, andmass media exposure. In most cases, the facilities forhouseholds in rural areas are fewer than in urbanareas. The Nepal Living Standards Survey (NLSS)2004 (NLSS 2004) indicates that a majority ofhouseholds consider their access to public servicessuch as health, education, drinking water, electricity,road, post office and telephone as “fair”, whereas“bad” ratings range from 15% (education and postoffice) to 44% (road).The population of Nepal includes diverse ethnicgroups and castes, languages, religions, and culturaltraditions. In the Hill and Terai regions, Janjatispopulations (ethnic groups) account for 36.5% of thetotal population and Hindu castes for nearly 59%.Unlike urban areas, the population of rural localitiesin all regions is characterized by more or lesshomogenous ethnicity and caste. However, thepopulation of the emerging rural towns and marketcenters is more diverse.MigrationMovement of people from one place to another foreconomic, social, cultural, and other reasons has along tradition in Nepal. Migration of hill populationsincreased after the 1950s following the control ofendemic malaria in the Terai region and the warmriver valleys.Table 2.5: Performance of Rural and Urban Areas Regarding Basic Facilities and Development , 2001Demographic FeaturesHuman DevelopmentMeasuresDescription Rural UrbanTotal fertility rate (women age d 15–49) 4.4 2.1Current use of contraception (any method) 46.8 66.0Childhood mortality (per 1,000 live births)Infant 79.3 50.1Child 35.4 16.7Under five 111.9 65.9GDP per capita (PPP) $ (2000) 1,094 2,133Human development index (2000) 0.446 0.616Education index (2000) 0.276 0.568Life expectancy index (2000) 0.562 0.769Gender related development index (2000) 0.426 0.605Gender empowerment measure 0.333 0.443Human poverty index (2000) 41.4 23.9Basic FacilitiesMalnourishment among children under 5 years (%) 56.3 36.1Piped drinking water (% households) 33.0 55.2Sanitation facilities (% households)Flush toilet 6.1 58.3Pit toilet 17.1 14.6No facility 75.3 20.1Other 1.5 7.0Electricity connection (% households) 17.4 85.7Fuel used (% households)Firewood 94.1 39.1Kerosene 2.3 35.8Other 3.6 25.1Exposure to mass media, newspaper, radio and TV (% hh) 10.3 40.6hh = households, GDP = gross domestic product, PPP = purchasing power p arity, TV = televisionSource: CBS (2003) p. 409.8 Environment Assessment of Nepal : Emerging Issues and Challenges