In 2023, the total fertility rate in children per woman in Nepal amounted to 1.98. Between 1960 and 2023, the figure dropped by 4.09, though the decline followed an uneven course rather than a steady trajectory.

Graph and download economic data for Fertility Rate, Total for Nepal (SPDYNTFRTINNPL) from 1960 to 2023 about Nepal, fertility, and rate.

Nepal NP: Fertility Rate: Total: Births per Woman data was reported at 2.118 Ratio in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 2.162 Ratio for 2015. Nepal NP: Fertility Rate: Total: Births per Woman data is updated yearly, averaging 5.308 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2016, with 57 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 5.966 Ratio in 1965 and a record low of 2.118 Ratio in 2016. Nepal NP: Fertility Rate: Total: Births per Woman data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Nepal – Table NP.World Bank: Health Statistics. Total fertility rate represents the number of children that would be born to a woman if she were to live to the end of her childbearing years and bear children in accordance with age-specific fertility rates of the specified year.; ; (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision. (2) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (4) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Reprot (various years), (5) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database, and (6) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme.; Weighted average; Relevance to gender indicator: it can indicate the status of women within households and a woman’s decision about the number and spacing of children.

Fertility rate, total (births per woman) in Nepal was reported at 1.984 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Nepal - Fertility rate, total (births per woman) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.

Nepal Total Fertility Rate: Children per Woman data was reported at 1.980 Person in 2023. This records a decrease from the previous number of 2.000 Person for 2022. Nepal Total Fertility Rate: Children per Woman data is updated yearly, averaging 2.915 Person from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2023, with 34 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 5.210 Person in 1990 and a record low of 1.980 Person in 2023. Nepal Total Fertility Rate: Children per Woman data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Nepal – Table NP.OECD.GGI: Social: Demography: Non OECD Member: Annual.

In 2023, the total fertility rate in Nepal remained nearly unchanged at around 1.98 children per woman. Yet 2023 saw the lowest fertility rate in Nepal with 1.98 children per woman. Total fertility rates refer to the average number of children that a woman of childbearing age (generally considered 15 to 44 years) can expect to have throughout her reproductive years. Unlike birth rates, which are based on the actual number of live births in a given population, fertility rates are hypothetical (similar to life expectancy), as they assume that current patterns in age-specific fertility will remain constant throughout a woman's reproductive years.Find more statistics on other topics about Nepal with key insights such as fertility rate of women aged between 15 and 19 years old, share of children aged 12-23 months immunized against diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus (DPT), and crude birth rate.

Nepal NP: Wanted Fertility Rate: Births per Woman data was reported at 1.700 Ratio in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 1.800 Ratio for 2011. Nepal NP: Wanted Fertility Rate: Births per Woman data is updated yearly, averaging 2.000 Ratio from Dec 1996 (Median) to 2016, with 5 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 2.900 Ratio in 1996 and a record low of 1.700 Ratio in 2016. Nepal NP: Wanted Fertility Rate: Births per Woman data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Nepal – Table NP.World Bank: Health Statistics. Wanted fertility rate is an estimate of what the total fertility rate would be if all unwanted births were avoided.; ; Demographic and Health Surveys.; Weighted Average;

Adolescent fertility rate (births per 1,000 women ages 15-19) in Nepal was reported at 67.17 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Nepal - Adolescent fertility rate (births per 1,000 women ages 15-19) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on August of 2025.

Nepal NP: Fertility Rate: per Woman data was reported at 1.700 NA in 2050. This stayed constant from the previous number of 1.700 NA for 2049. Nepal NP: Fertility Rate: per Woman data is updated yearly, averaging 2.610 NA from Jun 1971 (Median) to 2050, with 80 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 5.990 NA in 1971 and a record low of 1.700 NA in 2050. Nepal NP: Fertility Rate: per Woman data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by US Census Bureau. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Nepal – Table NP.US Census Bureau: Demographic Projection.

Graph and download economic data for Adolescent Fertility Rate for Nepal (SPADOTFRTNPL) from 1960 to 2023 about Nepal, 15 to 19 years, fertility, and rate.

This line chart displays fertility rate (births per woman) by date using the aggregation average, weighted by population female in Nepal. The data is about countries per year.

Nepal NP: Adolescent Fertility Rate: Births per 1000 Women Aged 15-19 data was reported at 62.083 Ratio in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 63.684 Ratio for 2015. Nepal NP: Adolescent Fertility Rate: Births per 1000 Women Aged 15-19 data is updated yearly, averaging 126.564 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2016, with 57 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 131.887 Ratio in 1992 and a record low of 62.083 Ratio in 2016. Nepal NP: Adolescent Fertility Rate: Births per 1000 Women Aged 15-19 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Nepal – Table NP.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Adolescent fertility rate is the number of births per 1,000 women ages 15-19.; ; United Nations Population Division, World Population Prospects.; Weighted average;

In 2023, the births per one thousand women in the age group between 15 and 19 in Nepal were 67.17. Between 1960 and 2023, the figure dropped by 64.99, though the decline followed an uneven course rather than a steady trajectory.

The 1996 Nepal Family Health Survey (NFHS) is a nationally representative survey of 8,429 ever- married women age 15-49. The survey is the fifth in a series of demographic and health surveys conducted in Nepal since 1976. The main purpose of the NFHS was to provide detailed information on fertility, family planning, infant and child mortality, and matemal and child health and nutrition. In addition, the NFHS included a series of questions on knowledge of AIDS. The primary objective of the Nepal Family Health Survey (NFHS) is to provide national level estimates of fertility and child mortality. The survey also provides information on nuptiality, contraceptive knowledge and behaviour, the potential demand for contraception, other proximate determinants of fertility, family size preferences, utilization of antenatal services, breastfeeding and food supplementation practices, child nutrition and health, immunizations, and knowledge about Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). This information will assist policy-makers, administrators and researchers to assess and evaluate population and health programmes and strategies. The NFHS is comparable to Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) conducted in other developing countries. MAIN RESULTS FERTILITY Survey results indicate that fertility in Nepal has declined steadily from over 6 births per woman in the mid-1970s to 4.6 births per woman during the period of 1994-1996. Differentials in fertility by place of residence are marked, with the total fertility rate (TFR) for urban Nepal (2.9 births per woman) about two children less than for rural Nepal (4.8 births per woman). The TFR in the Mountains (5.6 births per woman) is about one child higher than the TFR in the Hills and Terai (4.5 and 4.6 births per woman, respectively). By development region, the highest TFR is observed in the Mid-western region (5.5 births per woman) and the lowest TFR in the Eastern region (4.1 births per woman). Fertility decline in Nepal has been influenced in part by a steady increase in age at marriage over the past 25 years. The median age at first marriage has risen from 15.5 years among women age 45-49 to 17.1 years among women age 20-24. This trend towards later marriage is supported by the fact that the proportion of women married by age 15 has declined from 41 percent among women age 45-49 to 14 percent among women age 15-19. There is a strong relationship between female education and age at marriage. The median age at first marriage for women with no formal education is 16 years, compared with 19.8 years for women with some secondary education. Despite the trend towards later age at marriage, childbearing begins early for many Nepalese women. One in four women age 15-19 is already a mother or pregnant with her first child, with teenage childbearing more common among rural women (24 percent) than urban women (20 percent). Nearly one in three adolescent women residing in the Terai has begun childbearing, compared with one in five living in the Mountains and 17 percent living in the Hills. Regionally, the highest level of adolescent childbearing is observed in the Central development region while the lowest is found in the Western region. Short birth intervals are also common in Nepal, with one in four births occurring within 24 months of a previous birth. This is partly due to the relatively short period of insusceptibility, which averages 14 months, during which women are not exposed to the risk of pregnancy either because they are amenorrhoeic or abstaining. By 12-13 months after a birth, mothers of the majority of births (57 percent) are susceptible to the risk of pregnancy. Early childbearing and short birth intervals remain a challenge to policy-makers. NFHS data show that children born to young mothers and those born after short birth intervals suffer higher rates of morbidity and mortality. Despite the decline in fertility, Nepalese women continue to have more children than they consider ideal. At current fertility levels, the average woman in Nepal is having almost 60 percent more births than she wantsthe total wanted fertility rate is 2.9 births per woman, compared with the actual total fertility rate of 4.6 births per woman. Unplanned and unwanted births are often associated with increased mortality risks. More than half(56 percent) of all births in the five-year period before the survey had an increased risk of dying because the mother was too young (under 18 years) or too old (more than 34 years), or the birth was of order 3 or higher, or the birth occurred within 24 months of a previous birth. Nevertheless, the percentage of women who want to stop childbearing in Nepal has increased substantially, from 40 percent in 1981 to 52 percent in 1991 and to 59 percent in 1996. According to the NFHS, 41 percent of currently married women age 15-49 say they do not want any more children, and an additional 18 percent have been sterilized. Furthermore, 21 percent of married women want to wait at least two years for their next child and only 13 percent want to have a child soon, that is, within two years. FAMILY PLANNING Knowledge of family planning is virtually universal in Nepal, with 98 percent of currently married women having heard of at least one method of family planning. This is a five-fold increase over the last two decades (1976-1996). Much of this knowledge comes from media exposure. Fifty-three percent of ever-married women had been exposed to family planning messages on the radio and/or the television and 23 percent have been exposed to messages through the print media. In addition, about one in four women has heard at least one of three specific family planning programmes on the radio. There has been a steady increase in the level of ever use of modern contraceptive method over the past 20 years, from 4 percent of currently married women in 1976, to 27 percent in 1991 and 35 percent in 1996. Among ever-users, female sterilization and male sterilization are the most popular methods (37 percent), indicating that contraceptive methods have been used more for limiting than for spacing births. The contraceptive prevalence rate among currently married women is 29 percent, with the majority of women using modern methods (26 percent). Again, the most widely used method is sterilization (18 percent, male and female combined), followed by injectables (5 percent). Although current use of modern contraceptive methods has risen steadily over the last two decades, the pace of change has been slowest in the most recent years (1991-1996). Current use among currently married non-pregnant women increased from 3 percent in 1976 to 15 percent in 1986 to 24 percent in 1991 and to 29 percent in 1996. While female sterilization increased by only 3 percent from 45 percent of modern methods in 1986 to 46 percent in 1996, male sterilization declined by almost 50 percent from 41 percent to 21 percent over the same period. The level of current use is nearly twice as high in the urban areas (50 percent) as in rural areas (27 percent). Only 18 percent of currently married women residing in the Mountains are currently using contraception, compared with 30 percent and 29 percent living in the Hills and Terai regions, respectively. There is a notable difference in current contraceptive use between the Far-western region (21 percent) and all the other regions, especially the Central and Eastern regions (31 percent each). Educational differences in current use are large, with 26 percent of women with no education currently using contraception, compared with 52 percent of women who have completed their School Leaving Certificate (SLC). In general, as women's level of education rises, they are more likely to use modem spacing methods. The public sector figures prominently as a source of modem contraceptives. Seventy-nine percent of modem method users obtained their methods from a public source, especially hospitals and district clinics (32 percent) and mobile camps (28 percent). The public sector is the predominant source of sterilizations, 1UDs, injectables, and Norplant, and both the public and private sectors are equally important sources of the pill and condoms. Nevertheless, the public sector's share of the market has fallen over the last five years from 93 percent of current users in 1991 to 79 percent in 1996. There is considerable potential for increased family planning use in Nepal. Overall, one in three women has an unmet need for family planning14 percent for spacing and 17 percent for limiting. The total demand for family planning, including those women who are currently using contraception, is 60 percent. Currently, the family planning needs of only one in two women is being met. While the increase in unmet need between 1991 (28 percent) and 1996 (31 percent) was small, there was a 14 percent increase in the percentage of women using any method of family planning and, over the same period, a corresponding increase of 18 percent in the demand for family planning. MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH At current mortality levels, one of every 8 children born in Nepal will die before the fifth birthday, with two of three deaths occurring during the first year of life. Nevertheless, NFHS data show that mortality levels have been declining rapidly in Nepal since the eighties. Under-five mortality in the period 0-4 years before the survey is 40 percent lower than it was 10-14 years before the survey, with child mortality declining faster (45 percent) than infant mortality (38 percent). Mortality is consistently lower in urban than in rural areas, with children in the Mountains faring much worse than children living in the Hills and Terai. Mortality is also far worse in the Far-western and Mid-western development regions than in the other regions. Maternal education is strongly related to mortality, and children of highly educated mothers are least likely to die young. For example, infant mortality is nearly

This scatter chart displays rural population (people) against fertility rate (births per woman) in Nepal. The data is filtered where the date is 2021. The data is about countries per year.

This scatter chart displays fertility rate (births per woman) against inflation (annual %) in Nepal. The data is filtered where the date is 2021. The data is about countries per year.

Abstract

The 2001 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) is a nationally representative survey of 8,726 women age 15-49 and 2,261 men age 15-59. This Survey is the sixth in a series of national-level population and health surveys conducted in Nepal. It is the second nationally representative comprehensive survey conducted as part of the global Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) program, the first being the 1996 Nepal Family Health Survey (NFHS). The 2001 NDHS is the first in the history of demographic and health surveys conducted in Nepal that included a male sample. The 2001 NDHS was carried out under the aegis of the Family Health Division of the Department of Health Services, Ministry of Health, and was implemented by New ERA, a local research organization, which also conducted the 1996 NFHS. ORC Macro provided technical support through its MEASURE DHS+ project. The survey was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through its mission in Nepal.

The principal objective of the 2001 NDHS is to provide current and reliable data on fertility and family planning, infant and child mortality, children's and women's nutritional status, the utilization of maternal and child health services, and knowledge of HIV/AIDS. This information is essential for informed policy decisions, planning, monitoring, and evaluation of programs on health in general and reproductive health in particular at both the national and regional levels.

A long-term objective of the survey is to strengthen the technical capacity of the Family Health Division of the Ministry of Health to plan, conduct, process, and analyze data from complex national population and health surveys. The 2001 NDHS data is comparable to data collected in the 1996 NFHS and similar to survey data conducted in other developing countries. This allows for temporal and spatial comparisons of demographic health information. The 2001 NDHS also adds to the vast and growing international database on demographic and health variables. The inclusion of data on men adds to the richness of this data.

Geographic coverage

The 2001 NDHS collected demographic and health information from a nationally representative sample of ever-married women and men in the reproductive age groups of 15-49 and 15-59, respectively. The primary focus of the 2001 NDHS was to provide estimates of key population and health indicators, including fertility and mortality rates, for the country as a whole and for urban and rural areas separately.

Analysis unit

• Household
• Women age 15-49
• Men age 15-59

Universe

The population covered by the 2008 DHS is defined as the universe of all women ever-married women and men in the reproductive age groups of 15-49 and 15-59

Kind of data

Sample survey data

Sampling procedure

The survey was designed to obtain completed interviews of 8,400 ever-married women age 15-49. In addition, all ever-married males age 15-59 in every third household were interviewed. To take nonresponse into account, a total of 8,700 households nationwide were selected. The sample size was allocated to each district by urban and rural areas and the numbers of PSUs were calculated based on an average sample "take" (the number of ultimate sampled units in a cluster) of 34 completed interviews per PSU.

SAMPLE DESIGN

The 2001 NDHS collected demographic and health information from a nationally representative sample of ever-married women and men in the reproductive age groups of 15-49 and 15-59, respectively. The primary focus of the 2001 NDHS was to provide estimates of key population and health indicators, including fertility and mortality rates, for the country as a whole and for urban and rural areas separately. In addition, the sample was designed to provide estimates of most key variables for the 13 domains obtained by cross-classifying the three ecological zones (mountains, hills, and terai) with the five development regions (Eastern, Central, Western, Mid-western, and Far-western). Due to their small size, the mountain areas of the Western, Mid-western, and Far-western regions were combined.

SAMPLING FRAME

The 2001 NDHS used the sampling frame provided by the list of census enumeration areas (EAs) with population and household information from the 1991 Population Census. Administratively, Nepal is divided into 75 districts. Each district is subdivided into village development committees (VDCs), and each VDC is divided into wards. The primary sampling unit (PSU) for the 2001 NDHS is a ward or group of wards in rural areas and subwards in urban areas. In rural areas, the ward is small enough for a complete household listing, but in urban areas, the ward size is large. It was therefore necessary to subdivide each urban ward into subwards. Information on the subdivision of the urban wards was obtained from the Living Standards Measurement Survey, a project funded by the World Bank.

SAMPLE SELECTION

The sample for the survey is based on a two-stage, stratified, nationally representative sample of households. At the first stage of sampling, 257 PSUs - 42 in urban areas and 215 in rural areas were selected using systematic sampling with probability proportional to size. During fieldwork, six PSUs in the Mid-western region were dropped from the sample due to security issues, reducing the total number of PSUs covered to 251 and reducing the number of rural PSUs to 209. This also reduced the expected number of completed interviews to 8,170 from 8,400.

A complete household listing operation was then carried out in all the selected EAs to provide a sampling frame for the second-stage selection of households. Sketch maps were constructed to identify the relative position of housing units in an EA to help interviewers locate selected households during fieldwork. Table A.1 shows the sample distribution of PSUs.

Global positioning system (GPS) units were used to calculate latitude and longitude coordinates for each selected ward (or subward) during the household listing stage. One latitude/longitude coordinate was taken for the center of each settlement or community within the ward. The altitude reading was also taken with the GPS units. The positional accuracy of the GPS readings is approximately 5 to 10 meters for latitude/longitude and approximately 30 meters for altitude. This geographic information allows the 2001 NDHS data to be integrated into a geographic information system (GIS) along with other spatial data collected in the same localities and adds to the depth of information available from the 2001 NDHS.

At the second stage of sampling, systematic samples of 34 households per PSU on average were selected in all the regions in order to provide statistically reliable estimates of key demographic and health variables. However, since Nepal is predominantly rural, in order to obtain statistically reliable estimates for urban areas, it was necessary to oversample the urban areas. As such, the total sample is weighted and a final weighting procedure was applied to provide estimates for the different domains and for the urban and rural areas of the country as a whole.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face

Research instrument

The 2001 NDHS used three questionnaires: the Household Questionnaire, the Women's Questionnaire, and the Men's Questionnaire. The content and design of the questionnaires were based on the MEASURE DHS+ Model 'B' Questionnaire. The questionnaires were specifically geared toward obtaining the kind of information needed by health and family planning program managers and policymakers. The model questionnaires were then adapted to local conditions and a number of additional questions specific to ongoing health and family planning programs in Nepal were added. These questionnaires were developed in English and translated into the three principal languages in use in the country: Nepali (the national language), Bhojpuri, and Maithili. They were then independently translated back to English and appropriate changes were made in the translation of questions in which the back-translated version did not compare well with the original English version. A pretest of all three questionnaires was conducted in the three local languages in September 2000.

a) All usual members in a selected household and visitors who stayed there the previous night were enumerated using the Household Questionnaire. Specifically, the Household Questionnaire obtained information on the relationship to the head of the household, residence, sex, age, marital status, and education of each usual resident or visitor. This information was used to identify eligible women and men for the individual interview. Ever-married women age 15-49 in all selected households and ever-married men age 15-59 in every third selected household, whether usual residents or visitors, were deemed eligible and were interviewed. The Household Questionnaire also obtained information on some basic socioeconomic indicators such as the source of drinking water, the type of toilet facilities, the ownership of a variety of consumer durable items, and the flooring material. All eligible women and all children born since Baisakh 2052 in the Nepali calendar (which roughly corresponds to April 1995 in the Gregorian calendar) were weighed and measured.

b) The Women's Questionnaire collected information on female respondent's background characteristics; reproductive history; contraceptive knowledge and use; antenatal, delivery, and postnatal care; infant feeding practices; child immunization and health; marriage; fertility preferences; attitudes about family planning;

The crude birth rate in Nepal declined to 19.34 live births per 1,000 inhabitants in 2023. In 2023, the rate thereby reached its lowest value in recent years. The crude birth rate refers to the number of live births in a given year, expressed per 1,000 population. When studied in combination with the crude death rate, the rate of natural population increase can be determined.Find more statistics on other topics about Nepal with key insights such as number of refugees residing, health expenditure as a share of gross domestic product, and fertility rate of women aged between 15 and 19 years old.

This dataset is about countries per year in Nepal. It has 64 rows. It features 4 columns: country, ISO 3 country code, and fertility rate.

The 2011 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey is the fourth nationally representative comprehensive survey conducted as part of the worldwide Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) project in the country. The survey was implemented by New ERA under the aegis of the Population Division, Ministry of Health and Population. Technical support for this survey was provided by ICF International with financial support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through its mission in Nepal. The primary objective of the 2011 NDHS is to provide up-to-date and reliable data on different issues related to population and health, which provides guidance in planning, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating health programs in Nepal. The long term objective of the survey is to strengthen the technical capacity of the local institutions to plan, conduct, process and analyze data from complex national population and health surveys. The survey includes topics on fertility levels and determinants, family planning, fertility preferences, childhood mortality, children and women’s nutritional status, the utilization of maternal and child health services, knowledge of HIV/AIDS and STIs, women’s empowerment and for the first time, information on women facing different types of domestic violence. The survey also reports on the anemia status of women age 15-49 and children age 6-59 months. In addition to providing national estimates, the survey report also provides disaggregated data at the level of various domains such as ecological region, development regions and for urban and rural areas. This being the fourth survey of its kind, there is considerable trend information on reproductive and health care over the past 15 years. Moreover, the 2011 NDHS is comparable to similar surveys conducted in other countries and therefore, affords an international comparison. The 2011 NDHS also adds to the vast and growing international database on demographic and health-related variables. The 2011 NDHS collected demographic and health information from a nationally representative sample of 10,826 households, which yielded completed interviews with 12,674 women age 15-49 in all selected households and with 4, 121 men age 15-49 in every second household. This survey is the concerted effort of various individuals and institutions.