Nepal is one of the least developed countries in the world. It’s population increasing rapidly. Formally Nepal has been divided into 75 districts, 14 zones, 3 geographical regions and five development regions (Eastern development region, central development region, western development region, mid-western development region and far-western development region) for effective administration, balanced, equally and proportionate development. Population distribution by geographical regions is affected by both economic and geographical environment of the country. The area of different development regions and their number of districts, zones is also not equal. About one third of the total population of the Nepal is in the central development region only, whereas the mid-western and far-western development regions are sparsely populated. The information about population distribution helps the government for the provision of effective services and facilities to the needy people.
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The region table shows the population distribution and density according to the development regions.
Development region | Area | Population (2001) | % | Population density | Population growth rate | |
| Sq. km | % | |||||
| Eastern | 28456 | 19.3 | 5344476 | 23.09 | 187.82 | 1.84 |
| Central | 27410 | 18.6 | 8031629 | 34.69 | 293.03 | 2.61 |
| Western | 29398 | 20.0 | 4571013 | 19.74 | 155.49 | 1.92 |
| Mid-western | 42378 | 28.8 | 3012975 | 13.01 | 71.1 | 2.26 |
| Far-western | 19539 | 13.3 | 2191330 | 9.47 | 112.15 | 2.26 |
| Total | 147181 | 100 | 23151423 | 100 | 157.3 | 2.25 |
Source: CBS, 2003 Nepal Population Report, 2007)
In terms of area the biggest development region of Nepal is the mid-western development region. It occupies around 29% of the total land of Nepal but there are only 13 % people of the total population living in this region. Similarly, the far-western development region is the least populated development region of the entire country. There are many reasons behind the less population density in these two far-western and mid-western development regions. Some of them are problems like geographical remoteness, lack of plain and fertile land, low rainfall, lack of transportation and communication facilities, no industrial development, etc.
The population growth rate in the central development region is 2.61 which is the highest of all development regions. The main reason behind this is the migration of people to this development region due to the availability of fertile soil and various other facilities and services.
