Nepal Making Efforts to Control Population Growth

Nepal making efforts to control population growth

KATHMANDU, July 11 (Xinhua) — Efforts are under way to bring down the population growth rate of Nepal, Vice Chairman of the Council of Ministers Kirtinidhi Bista said here Monday.

Inaugurating a function organized at the Royal Nepal Academy at Kamaladi of downtown Kathmandu to mark World Population Day, Bista, who also holds the portfolio of Ministry of Health and Population, stressed the role of government, non-governmental organizations, civil society, family and individuals in population management.

“Efforts are under way to manage internal and external migration, to make family planning services available and to raise awareness about family planning with a view to bringing down the population growth rate to replacement level by the end of 2017,” Bista noted.

Policy and programs relating to population management are being formulated in view of population pressure and commitments made in international forum, said Lab Kumar Devkota, secretary of the Ministry of Health and Population.

The population of Nepal is estimated to be 25 million, according to National Planning Commission of Nepal.

The Nepali Ministry of Population and Environment published a population statistics in 2004 with an analysis of the size and the rate of population growth in which it projected that the current population of Nepal would double in 30 years.