| Key findings of Nepal Living Standard Surveys | |||
| NLSS I | NLSS II | NLSS III | |
| Survey year | 1995/96 | 2003/04 | 2010 |
| Absolute poverty (% of population) | 41.8 | 30.8 | 25.2 |
| Demography (%) | |||
| Population aged 0-14 years | 42.4 | 39.6 | 36.7 |
| Population aged 15-59 years | 50.8 | 52.8 | 54.2 |
| Population aged 60+ years | 6.8 | 7.6 | 9.1 |
| Sex ratio (male to every 100 female) | 95.5 | 92.3 | 85.6 |
| Female headed households | 13.6 | 19.6 | 26.6 |
| Housing and household facilities (% of household) | |||
| House owner | 93.8 | 91.6 | 89.7 |
| House renter | 2.2 | 5.4 | 7.8 |
| Access to power | 14.1 | 37.2 | 69.9 |
| Access to drinking water | 70.4 | 81.2 | 83 |
| LPG for cooking | 1 | 8.2 | 17.7 |
| Access to toilet | 21.6 | 38.7 | 56 |
| Education | |||
| Literacy (6 + years) | 37.8 | 50.6 | 60.9 |
| Attendance in private school/collage | 7.5 | 16.7 | 26.8 |
| Remittances | |||
| Percentage of househoold receiving remittances | 23.4 | 31.9 | 55.8 |
| Total amount received (Rs billion) | 13 | 46 | 310 |
| From within Nepal | 6 | 11 | 120 |
| From outside Nepal | 7 | 35 | 208 |
| Use of remittance (%) | |||
| Daily consumption | - | - | 78.9 |
| Household property | - | - | 4.5 |
| Repay loans | - | - | 7.1 |
| Education | - | - | 3.5 |
| Capital formation | - | - | 2.4 |
| Income | |||
| Nominal avg household income (Rs) | 43,732 | 80,111 | 202,374 |
| Nominal avg per capita income (Rs) | 7,690 | 15,161 | 41,659 |
| Share of farm income in household income (%) | 61 | 47.8 | 27.7 |
| Consumption | |||
| Nominal per capita consumption (Rs) | |||
| All Nepal | 6,802 | 15,848 | 34,829 |
| Poorest (first decile) | 2,152 | 4,183 | 11,093 |
| Average (fifth decile) | 4,777 | 9,230 | 24,238 |
| Richest (tenth decile) | 20,263 | 62,037 | 102,772 |
| Consumption expenditure (share of total) | |||
| Food | - | 59 | 61.5 |
| Housing | - | 9.5 | 11 |
| Education | - | 2.8 | 5.3 |
| Other non-food items | - | 28.7 | 22.2 |
| Wage employment | |||
| Share of agriculture sector in wage employment | 53 | 37 | 35 |
| Mean daily wage (Rs) | |||
| Agriculture | 40 | 75 | 170 |
| Non-agriculture | 74 | 133 | 263 |
| Loans (% of total household) | |||
| Borrowing loans | 61.3 | 68.8 | 65 |
| Having standing loans | 58.4 | 66.7 | 62.6 |
| Loans from banks | 16.2 | 15.1 | 20 |
| Loans from money lenders | 39.7 | 26 | 15.1 |
| Loans from relatives | 40.8 | 54.5 | 51.1 |
This table is sourced from Republica (2011-08-06). My initial comments on the findings are here.
Notice that all the changes are remittance- and migration-driven. More remittance money is spent on consumption than in any other heading. Only 2.4 percent of remittance money is spent in capital formation.
Households that owned houses have decreased while those renting houses have increased. Access to power has substantially increased. So, are households with safe drinking water and toilet. (One can guess the supply thought-- prolonged power cuts and taps running dry!). Households with LPG for cooking has also increased (which explains why the NOC is loosing out the most money on LPG).
Working group population has increased. But, those dependent (60+) has also increased. Dependent population below 14 years has decreased.
Nominal average household income and nominal average per capita income have increased by 153 percent and 175 percent respectively between NLSSII and NLSS III. In the same time period, nominal per capita consumption of the poorest households (first income decile) has increase by 165 percent while that of richest households (tenth income decile) has increased by 66 percent. The nominal per capita consumption of median households (fifth decile) increased by 166 percent.
Consumption expenditure on food, housing and education has increased but on other non-food items it decreased.
The average daily wage in agriculture sector has increased by 127 percent between the two surveys, but that of non-agriculture sector increased by 98 percent only.
More households are now borrowing from banks and curtailing loans from money lenders.
