| Urban Civilization
For the first time in human history, more people live in cities (urban areas) than in the country. So says the State of World Population 2007 launched Wednesday. It says though only 17 per cent of the country’s 28 million population lives in urban areas, Nepal has been urbanizing very rapidly, at an average annual rate of 6.65 per cent in the intercensal period 1991-2001. Most of the increase has come from migration, intensified by an 11-year conflict, especially to the southern Terai region and to the slums of Kathmandu.
More on Nepal: Poverty and political instability are blamed for the urban swell. Displacement of people, estimated at 200,000 to 500,000, is another source of the growth.