Nepal Population Changes | Back |
     
  Turn these population growth figures into a graph. Put time on the horizontal axis and space out the period 1950-2020 evenly. Put population (in millions) on the vertical scale. Make a prediction for Nepal's population in 2020.  
 

NEPAL POPULATION CHANGE

1950

8 million

1960

10 million

1970

12 million

1980

15 million

1990

19 million

2000

24 million

2010

29 million

2020

 
 
  Describe the trend of the graph and explain why it is important.  
     
  Wedged between the world's two population billionaires, China and India, Nepal is struggling with its own population pressures. The country's 28 million people, most of whom make their living from farming, have nearly run out of land to cultivate, while their numbers continue to grow; poverty, the highest outside of Africa, persists; and internal conflict is draining already scarce resources.

According to the census, 86 percent of this growing population lives in rural areas, and 82 percent of the economically active population works in agriculture, fishing, or forestry.

Because one-third of the country consists of mountains or hills, little additional land is available to tend. The share of land being cultivated rose from 17 percent in 1974 to 30 percent in 1998, and the remaining areas that could be added consist mostly of slopes and marginal lands that are environmentally sensitive and less productive.
from http://www.prb.org/Articles/2002/PopulationGrowthContinuestoHinderNepalsEconomicProgress.aspx 		 
     
 

Which part of Nepal is lower ground? Where do most people live and where is population growing the fastest?