The population of Nepal has reached 26.6 million, according to the preliminary result of the National Census 2011.

The result released by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) on Tuesday said the population of Nepal is 26,620,809 in 2011 including 12,927,431 male and 13,693,378 female.

The census showed the population growth rate of Nepal was 2.25 per cent per annum. Nepal’s population was 23 million according to the last census held in 2001.

Presenting the details of the result, CBS Director Rudra Subba said the preliminary result showed the absentee population in Nepal increased to 1,917,903, which is more than double the absentee population in 2001.

Similarly, there are 5,659,984 households living in 4,767,196 dwellings/houses throughout the country, which shows the ratio of houses to households 1:1.19. The result revealed that the size of the household in Nepal has decreased from 5.44 in 2001 to 4.7 in 2011.

Kathmandu district has the lowest household size of 3.71 whereas in some Terai districts such as Rautahat, Bara, Kapilbastu, the household size still remains more than six.

Accordingly, the result shows that the sex ratio of Nepal has decreased from 99.8 in 2001 to 94.41 in 2011.

According to the preliminary result, the Terai belt constitutes highest proportion of the population followed by Hill and Mountain belt. More than half of the total population of the country (50.2%) lives in Terai belt followed by Hill and Mountain belt that constitutes about 43 per cent and 7 per cent of the total population respectively. In addition, the result reveal massive increase in the urban population.

Among the urban areas, the Kathmandu Metropolitan City constitutes the largest population of 1,006,656 followed by Pokhara, Lalitpur and Biratnagar Municipality. Dhulikhel Municipality has the lowest population, 16,406, among the urban areas followed by Dasharathchand, Bhadrapur and Ilam Municipalities.

The preliminary result also reveal that Kathmandu district has the largest population of 1,740,977 followed by Morang, Rupandehi, Jhapa and Kailali, which has the population of 964,709; 886,706; 810,636 and 770,279 respectively. On the other hand, Manang constitutes the lowest population of 6,527 followed by Mustang, Dolpa, Rasuwa and Humla that has population of 13,799; 36,701; 43,798 and 51,008 respectively.

The CBS had mobilized 42,000 employees for conducting the census held between September 20 to 30, 2011.

However, CBS Director General Uttam Narayan Malla said the preliminary result may change after the final result is prepared.