Kathmandu, June 21: Minister of State for Population and Environment Shiva Raj Joshi today said that the population pressure has made “our service delivery poor” and that in spite of government attempts population management in Nepal is far from satisfactory. He was addressing a seminar entitled “Population and Sustainable Development” organised by the Ministry of Population and Environment (MOPE).

Population Secretary Govinda Raj Bhatta cautioned that Nepal’s population management attempts are suffering from immigrant population. He was indicating to “alarming growth” of population in the last decade. The statistics show that in the last ten years Nepal’s population grew by 5 million. “High population growth deplete the social sector budget fast. Though a lot of fund is invested in the social sector, Nepal is still short of capable population who could contribute for nation’s development,” Bhatta said. He further pointed out that Nepal’s absorbing capacity of international aid for social development stands at meagre 45 per cent.

Charu Chandra Paudel of United Nations Fund for Population said that Nepal’s future depends on “intensity of attempts” made today for population control. The experts predict high population growth in Nepal in coming 20 years. Statistics reveal that 22 per cent of Nepal’s population falls in 15 to 24 age bracket, the most responsible age group for population growth in coming two decades.

National Planning Commission member Dr. Jagadish Chandra Pokharel said that dynamics of population growth should be studied closely to be able to plan effective intervention. He further said that Nepal should ensure fair distribution of wealth to achieve sustainable development.

Population experts Dr. Shyam Thapa, Dr. Bal Kumar KC and Prakash Pant presented working papers on population dynamics and their links to poverty and sustainable development. They noted that internal as well as external migration is creating imbalance in distribution of population and wealth in different geographical regions in the country. “But in lack of reliable data regarding external migration, accessing effects caused by it is impossible,” they said.

They also pointed out that high growth of population is hindering Nepal’s economic as well as social development. They also pointed out that socially inflicted gender bias against women and girls is causing social disparity between the sexes.