Household income rises over four-fold in 15 years

KATHMANDU, Aug 9: Despite political upheavals and unrest, average household income of Nepalis has increased by more than four-fold to Rs 202,374 over the span of 15 years due to rise in the number of employed population, switch from agricultural to non-agricultural jobs and increased receipt of remittances.



That is not all. With better income, Nepalis have started to lead better lives in 2010/11, shows the findings of the Nepal Living Standards Survey (NLSS) released on Monday.[break]



For instance, the third edition of the survey, which compared living standard of same households that were studied during the first NLSS in 1995/96, says almost 70 percent households have access to electricity at present, whereas only about 14 percent and 37 percent households had such access in 1995/96 and 2003/04 respectively.



The number of households with access to safe drinking water too has increased to 83 percent from 70.4 percent in 1995/96. Likewise, almost 18 percent households are presently using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) - efficient and less polluting fuel - for cooking, up from 8.2 percent of 2003/04 and 0.1 percent of 1995/96.



“Over the span of 15 years, access of Nepalis to primary school has jumped to almost 95 percent from 88 percent, access to health centers to 74 percent from 45 percent, market center to 45 percent from 24 percent and paved road to 51 percent from 24 percent,” said Dhundi Raj Lamichhane, director of Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) that prepared the report.



Over the same period, per capita income of an individual has undergone a tremendous growth, added Lamichhane, stating that average per capita income of Nepali has gone up to Rs 41,659 in 2010/11 from just Rs 7,690 in 1995/96.



The survey also shows a significant change in sources of income of Nepali households. According to the survey, more Nepalis have started to make non-agricultural income, whereas in the past, agriculture used to contribute the bulkiest share in households income.



The contribution of agriculture sector in the household income has come down to 27.7 percent from 61 percent in 1995/96. Subsequently, share of non-agricultural income in household income has increased to 37.2 percent from 22 percent of 15 years ago. The survey notes that in 2010/11, almost 56 percent of total Nepali households are receiving remittances, which is a remarkable rise over 23.4 percent recorded in 1995/96 and 31.9 percent in 2003/04.



The survey has also traced striking growth in the number of employed population. According to the survey, a total of 78.5 percent of the total population were employed in 2010/11, whereas in 1995/96 only 67.2 percent Nepalis were employed.



“Good thing is that the percentage of not active population has dropped to 19.9 percent now from 29.4 percent of 1995/96,” said Lamichhane.

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