Nepal - Unmet Need for Family Planning, 2008-2009 One in four currently married women in Nepal has an unmet need for family planning, with the highest rates of unmet need occurring in the Eastern mountain and Western hill subregions. The proportion of women with an unmet need for family planning has declined steadily in over time (in 1996, 31 percent of women had an unmet need for family planning), but remains high among women with little education and among the poorest households, where one in three women report an unmet need for family planning. Investing in health programs that meet needs for family planning would improve women's and families' health and well-being, slow population growth, and reduce vulnerability to climate change impacts. Because of the important role family planning plays in women's and family's health and well-being, the National Planning Commission identified the need to fulfill unmet need for family planning, and to link family planning with maternal health services, in a 2011 assessment of progress toward the Millennium Development Goals.
Definition: Unmet need for family planning is determined in large household surveys. Based on a nationally representative sample, currently married women who do not wish to have a child in the next two years but are not using a contraceptive method are considered to have an unmet need for family planning. This includes women who wish to have no more children at any time. Surveys are conducted through the MEASURE DHS (Demographic and Health Surveys) project; for more information about its methodology, see: http://www.measuredhs.com/aboutsurveys/dhs/methodology.cfm Due to the small number of sampled women in the sparsely populated sub-regions of Far-Western Mountains and Mid-Western Mountains, these respondents were included with Western Mountains. Sources: Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) [Nepal], New ERA, and Macro International Inc. 2007. Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2006. Kathmandu, Nepal: Ministry of Health and Population, New ERA, and Macro International Inc.Government of Nepal, National Planning Commission and United Nations Development Programme. 2011. Millennium Development Goals Needs Assessment for Nepal 2010. Kathmandu: Government of Nepal, National Planning Commission.
Nepal - Contraceptive Prevalence Rate, 2008-2009 The use of modern contraceptive methods in Nepal increased by dramatically between 1996 and 2006, from 26 percent of married women to 44 percent. The contraceptive prevalence rate is lowest in the Far-western hill subregion, where only 25.5 percent of currently married women use a modern contraceptive method. The Far-western hill subregion is within the Far-Western region, where women have, on average, 3.5 children. The need for health programs that can effectively deliver contraception across Nepal remains high: if all currently married women who say they would like to space or limit their children were to use a contraceptive method, the contraceptive prevalence rate would increase to 73 percent, according to a 2006 national survey. In recognition of the important role that contraceptive use can play in safeguarding the health and well-being of women and families, the National Planning Commission identified a need to increase the contraceptive prevalence rate in a recent assessment of progress toward the Millennium Development Goals.
Definition: The current level of contraceptive use is determined in large household surveys and is a measure of actual contraceptive practice at the time of the survey. This measure refers to currently married women using modern methods of contraception. Modern methods include condoms, the contraceptive pill, intrauterine contraceptive device, injectables, implants, diaphragm, contraceptive foam and contraceptive jelly, lactational amenorrhea method, female sterilization, male sterilization, country-specific modern methods and respondent-mentioned other modern contraceptive methods. Due to the small number of sampled women in the sparsely populated sub-regions of Far-Western Mountains and Mid-Western Mountains, these respondents were included with Western Mountains. Sources: Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) [Nepal], New ERA, and Macro International Inc. 2007. Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2006. Kathmandu, Nepal: Ministry of Health and Population, New ERA, and Macro International Inc. Government of Nepal, National Planning Commission and United Nations Development Programme. 2011. Millennium Development Goals Needs Assessment for Nepal 2010. Kathmandu: Government of Nepal, National Planning Commission.
Nepal - Fertility Rate, 2008-2009 The total fertility rate in Ethiopia declined from an average of 4.6 children per woman in 1996 to 3.1 children per woman in 2006. National averages mask substantial differences in fertility among different groups. Rural women have on average 1.2 more children than urban women, and those in the Mountain ecological zones have on average one more child than women in the Hill and Terai zones. Education and wealth also have effects on fertility: mothers without an education have twice the number of children as women with a School Leaving Certificate (SLC) or above, and poor women have an average of 4.7 children while those in the highest wealth quintile have an average of 1.9 children. Definition: The total fertility rate is the total number of births a woman would have by the end of her childbearing period if she were to pass through those years bearing children at currently observed age-specific rates. Source:
Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) [Nepal], New ERA, and Macro International Inc. 2007. Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2006. Kathmandu, Nepal: Ministry of Health and Population, New ERA, and Macro International Inc.
Nepal - Population Density by District, 2001 With a growing population, population density in Nepal has increased dramatically over the past century, with accelerated growth through the latter part of the 20th century. As Nepal's population continues to grow, understanding where population density is likely to intensify and intersect with climate change risks such as flood, drought and landslides will be critical for effective adaption planning and disaster risk reduction. Definition: Population density is measured as the total number of inhabitants per square kilometer of surface area. Source: Government of Nepal, Central Bureau of Statistics. 2008. Environmental Statistics of Nepal. Kathmandu: Central Bureau of Statistics.
Nepal - Climate Risk Factors Climate-related disasters such as drought, flood, and landslides are a major source of risk, especially for Nepal's poorest and most vulnerable populations. Himalayan glacier melt and retreat in Nepal have been associated with the risk of Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) events, placing people and property at significant risk. In the coming decades, changes in precipitation associated with monsoons and glacial melting are expected to continue and increase. Understanding where these risks occur in relation to each other and with growing populations will be critical in developing adaptation and development plans that will minimize vulnerability to changing climate conditions. Definitions: Landslide: The landslide data shows the propensity for a landslide or an avalanche to occur. The index of hazard risk is based on an a model developed by the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) that incorporates slope, soil moisture,
soil moisture conditions, precipitation, seismicity, temperature and elevation data. Drought: Frequency and distribution of droughts from 1980-2000. To identify droughts, researchers associated with the Center for Hazards and Risk Research compared the average monthly precipitation for the 20 year period to a standardized measure of precipitation deficit or surplus that accounts for seasonal variation in precipitation for the same time period. A drought is considered to have occurred when a monthly precipitation deficit was less than or equal to 50 percent of its long-term median value for three or more consecutive months. Deserts and dry periods are taken out of the dataset and are therefore not considered in the frequency or distribution of droughts. Flood: Frequency and distribution of floods from 1985-2003. Data from a global listing of extreme flood events was converted to a 2.5 by 2.5 minute grid cell. The number of events that fell within each grid cell was recorded to get a frequency of events per cell. Data Classification: Researchers associated with the Center for Hazards and Risk Research classified the global datasets of drought and flood frequencies into deciles which created 10 classes, each containing roughly equal number of grid cells. The landslide data was classified by researchers into areas ranked one through nine, with nine as the highest propensity for a landslide. Then, they dropped anything with an index of four or below as they determined these risks to be negligible. To make the data surface compatible with the other hazard datasets, a one was added to the classes that remained (five through nine) and therefore the landslide data has a range of six through ten. The maps we have created for each risk factor individually group the data into low, moderate and high categories. The low category contains values one through three, moderate contains values four through seven, and the high category contains values eight through ten. The final climate risk map shows each of the factors on one map but only includes the data values considered to be high (eight through ten). Sources: Landslide, Drought and Flood Frequency and Distribution Datasets, 2005. Palisades, NY: Center for Hazards and Risk Research, Columbia University. Ministry of Environment. 2010. National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) to Climate Change. Kathmandu: Government of Nepal
Nepal - Forest Loss in Terai Districts: 1990/91 to 2000/01 Since 1990, Nepal has lost about one-fourth of its forest cover. With much of the population dependent on forests for their livelihoods and energy needs, a rapidly growing population increases pressure on this valuable resource. Forest loss negatively affects the country's ability to withstand natural disasters, including flooding, and also reduces an important sink for carbon dioxide, the major contributor to climate change. Sources: Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, Forestry Department. 2010. Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010 Country Report: Nepal. Rome: FAO. Government of Nepal, Central Bureau of Statistics. 2008. Environmental Statistics of Nepal. Kathmandu: Central Bureau of Statistics.