Rethinking Poverty Reduction in Nepal

The latest poverty report makes it clear how far Nepal still has to go in tackling this grim issue, with one in every five individuals living below the poverty line—20.27 percent, to be precise. The new poverty line has been set at Rs 72,908 per capita per year, a substantial increase from the previous benchmark. Yet despite this revision, millions of Nepalis continue to struggle to make ends meet. Among the provinces, Sudurpaschim is the poorest, with nearly one-third of its population living below the poverty line, while Gandaki has the lowest poverty rate, at around 12 percent. Rural areas face the toughest conditions, with almost a quarter of the population living in poverty, compared to 18.34 percent in urban areas. District-level data reveal even starker disparities. Achham in Sudurpaschim has nearly half of its population living below the poverty line, while Kaski district in Gandaki reports a rate of just over 5 percent. At the local level, the contrast is even more striking, ranging from less than 2 percent in parts of Mustang to as high as 78 percent in Junichande Rural Municipality of Jajarkot.