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NepalPopulation Density
One of the major consequences of rapid population
growth was
the progressive deterioration of the ratio of people to
land. This
land shortage greatly affected Nepal's predominantly
agrarian
society, where land was the most important source of
livelihood and
social status, and it was most evident in terms of
population
density. In 1981 the population density was 102 persons
per square
kilometer of total land. Although the ratio appears to
suggest a
fairly low density, the figures are misleading. When
density is
measured in terms of persons per hectare of cultivatable
land (that
is agricultural density), the true nature of the
human-land ratio
emerges. The agricultural density in 1981 was 6.1 persons
per
hectare (or almost 0.2 hectare per person), which
represents a very
high density, especially given that the country's
production
technology remains in a backward state (see
table 3,
Appendix).
Nepal's ability to reclaim more land in order to
accommodate a
rapidly growing population already had reached a maximum
threshold.
Data as of September 1991
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