Average Nepali spends Rs 122 per day: CBS survey

KATHMANDU, May 19:

Each Nepali spends Rs 122 daily on an average, states a recent survey by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). According to the Household Survey-2012/13 unveiled by the CBS on Sunday, the people in urban areas spend more as compared to their rural counterparts.

Likewise, each Nepali earns Rs 172 daily on an average, the survey shows.

CBS had studied 3,000 households in both urban and rural areas for the survey, according to CBS Director General Bikas Bista.

A person residing in urban area spends Rs 230.50 daily on an average, while in rural area the average per capita daily expenditure is Rs 150.

The survey further states that the poorest urban individual spends Rs 42 per day while the daily expenditure of urban rich is Rs 412.

A rural poor spends Rs 39 daily while an urban rich spends Rs 318 per day.

Agriculture, forest and fishery sectors are the major job providers with 66.5 percent of the population employed in these sectors. In urban areas, only 28.2 percent of the population is employed in the agro sector whereas 73 percent of the population in rural areas is employed in the sector, which includes agriculture, forest and fishery.

The survey also showed that 14.2 percent population in urban areas and 5.6 percent population in rural areas are employed in wholesale/retail trade and vehicles and motorcycle workshops.

Families living in urban areas spend 45.1 percent of their total consumption in food, 19.4 percent to pay house rent, and 6.7 in education, according to the survey.

Likewise, families in rural areas spend 62.5 percent of their total consumption in food, 9.8 percent in house rent and only 2.2 percent in education.

An average Nepali family spends only 3 percent in education.

A large chunk of the consumption (59.2 percent) is being spent on food items.

Similarly, 20 percent richest people’s stake in total consumption is 79.6 percent, while the stake of the poorest 20 percent is only 0.8 percent. The remaining 19.6 percent of consumption is made by the middle income people.

According to the CBS, urban unemployment is higher compared to the rural areas. Some 61 percent of the urban population is employed while employment in rural areas stands at 82.4 percent.

“People in rural areas get jobs easily than their urban counterparts,” said Bista, adding, “Eigthy-one percent of the national population is financially active.”

Gender wise, 82.9 percent of men are employed and while employment percentage among women stands at 74.9 percent.

The report reveals that youths of 20-24 years age group are found most unemployed. Altogether 27.8 percent of the labor force remained underutilized, which was recorded at 30 percent according to the result of labor survey conducted in 2007/09. The poverty rate is increasing at 3.3 percentages annually owing to fewer jobs generation as compared to the population growth.

Key Findings

Consumption per capita per year - Rs 44,596

Average consumption per family per year - Rs 204,835

Rural family’s consumption per year - Rs 173,215

Urban family’s consumption per year - Rs 340,607

Employment rate -- 78.4 percent

Labor underutilization - 27.8 percent

Unemployment rate - 21 percent

Unemployment growth rate per year -- 3.3 percent

Source: Republica