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 Home » MDGs » Meeting the Millennium Development Goals in Nepal

The Millennium Development Goals Progress - Challenges and Opportunities in Nepal


The Government's Three-Year Interim Plan 2008-10 and the upcoming National Development Strategy (postponed) renews Nepal's commitment to the MDGs. The first Progress Report for Nepal was prepared in partnership between the Government and the UN Country Team in 2005. It indicated that Nepal, despite the decade-long conflict, was likely or potentially able to meet all except two goals, the ones on universal primary education and HIV/AIDS. Today, the Country Team's assessment is similar. Also the education and HIV/AIDS goals can be regarded within reach if serious and timely measures are taken. Indicators measuring poverty, child mortality, water and sanitation, malaria and tuberculosis are on a steady course towards the 2015 targets. On the other hand, the hunger target is assessed as increasingly unlikely to be achieved.

While progress on the MDGs has generally been good, it is clear that major development issues remain in Nepal, as well as issues to be resolved in relation to all the MDGs. Nepalese have the lowest life expectancy in Asia, the largest share of undernourished children, and most importantly, development has been significantly unequal across social groups – an aspect that is not reflected through MDG indicators that measure national averages. Ensuring equitable growth is one of the key challenges at this point.

I. Goals furthest out of reach:

Goal 1b: Eradicate Hunger
Target: Halve between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

Baseline 1990 1995 2000 2005 update Goal 2015
Population below minimum dietary energy consumption (%) 49 47 na 40 40 24.5
Underweight children (% of children 6-59 months) 57 na 53 na 49 29
Stunted children (% of children aged 6-59 months) 60 na 55 na 46 30

Almost half of Nepalese children under five are chronically malnourished (stunted). This figure is within the top five in the world. Although there has been some development on the hunger indicators in the past, the recent rapid rise in food prices and the consequences of climate change pose the main challenges in achieving the target. The average growth for agricultural GDP in 2000-05 was only 2.8 percent, which is only slightly above the population growth rate.

  • The limited growth in agricultural output needs to be addressed through increased irrigation facilities, improved market access and better use of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, as well as giving due attention to climate change and deforestation.
II. Goals most likely to be achieved by 2015

Goal 1a: Eradicate Extreme Poverty
Target: Halve between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar per day

Baseline 1990 1995 2000 2005 update Goal 2015
Population living below US$1 a day (PPP value) (%) Na 34 na 24 na 17
Population living below national poverty line (equivalent to 5,509 NPR per year, 1995/96 prices) (%) Na 42 38 31 na 21

Urbanisation, remittances, and higher wages have resulted in a decline of poverty incidence by over a percentage point per year since the mid-nineties, from 42 to 31 percent. However, the gains for the most excluded groups have been modest and inequality has grown. In the past ten years the Gini-coefficient increased from 0.34 to 0.47 indicating that the gap between the rich and the poor grew further. Nepal has the highest Gini-coefficient in Asia. Geographic comparisons also show high disparities. Poverty incidence is the highest in Mid- and Far-Western regions, 45 and 41 percent respectively. While in urban Kathmandu poverty incidence is only at 3 percent, in for example the Mid-Western district of Rolpa 59 percent of the population live under the poverty line.

Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality
Target: Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-5 mortality rate

  Baseline 1990 1995 2000 2005 update Goal 2015
Mortality rate, infant (per 1,000 live births) 108 79 64 51 48 34
Mortality rate, under-5 (per 1,000 live births) 162 118 91 65 na 54
1-year old children immunized against measles (%) 42 57 71 85 81 >90

A well-coordinated scale up of highly effective child survival interventions, such as vitamin A distribution, immunization and pneumonia treatment has contributed to the fact that the mortality rate among children under five years has been halved during the past 10 years. The largest challenge today is addressing mortality among newborns, now accounting for 54 percent of all deaths among under-five children. Community based interventions addressing major causes of neonatal deaths should be expanded as quickly as possible.

Goal 6b: Combat Malaria and other diseases
Target: Have halted by 2015, and begun to reverse, the spread of HIV and AIDS, malaria, and other major diseases

  Baseline 1990 1995 2000 2005 update Goal 2015
Laboratory confirmed malaria cases (per 100,000 people at risk)[11]  22,856 9,718 7,981 7,068 4,220(2007) reverse
Prevalence of tuberculosis (per 100,000 people) (2006) [12] 460 420 310 257 240 reverse

Well performing and integrated national tuberculosis and malaria control programmes have resulted in a significant decline in the incidence of both, TB decreasing from 460 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 1990 to 240 today, and malaria from 196 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 1990 to only 18 today.

Goal 7b: Ensure access to water and sanitation
Target: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to drinking water

  Baseline 1990 1995 2000 2005 update Goal 2015
Improved water source (%with sustainable access) 46 70 73 81 88 73
Improved sanitation (% with sustainable access) 6 22 30 39 41 53

The share of people living without water and sanitation has more than halved since the nineties. Already since 2000, access to clean water has risen by sixteen percentage points from 73 to 89 percent. Rural sanitation coverage remains a main concern in this sector.

III. Goals that are achievable with major changes

Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education
Target: Ensure that by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete primary schooling

  Baseline 1990 1995 2000 2005 update Goal 2015
Net enrolment rate in primary education (%) 64 69 81 87 91.9 100
Survival rate to grade 5 (% of cohort) na 38 63 79 81 100
Literacy rate 15-24 year olds 50 56 70 73 na 100

There are great improvements in net primary enrolment, from 64 percent in 1990 to close to 90 percent today. However, serious concerns remain about the quality of primary education and the low school completion rates.

  • The quality issues can be addressed only by a child-friendly environment in schools.
  • Completion rates can be addressed through measures to increase the inclusiveness of education, and targeted policy to help the people in the poorest economic quintile groups.
Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
Target: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and at all levels of education no later than 2015

  Baseline 1990 1995 2000 2005 update Goal 2015
Ratio of girls to boys in primary education 0.56 0.66 0.79 0.86 0.95 1
Ratio of girls to boys in lower secondary education 0.43 0.56 0.7 0.82 0.85 1
Ratio of literate women to men of age group 15-24 years 0.48 0.56 na 0.73 na 1
Proportion of seats held by women in parliament (%) 3.4 3.4 5.9 na 33 na

Girls' enrolment is approaching the same levels as the rates for boys – 95 girls for every 100 boys now enroll in primary school. An effective quota-system in 2008 elections brought in over 33 percent of women in the Constituent Assembly. The Civil Service Act 2008 also calls for larger representation of excluded groups, including women. However, women's low status in the control of resources and political decision making remains, as does high incidence of violence against women (including early marriage and sex selective abortions).

  • Serious measures should be taken to ensure the implementation of Nepal's international commitments for women's empowerment and gender equality. Key commitments include the CEDAW, and the UN Security Council resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.
Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health
Target: Reduce by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio (per 100,000 live births)

  Baseline 1990 1995 2000 2005 update Goal 2015
Maternal mortality ratio (per 100,000 live births) (2006) 850 or 515 539 415 na 281 213 or 134
Births attended by skilled health personnel (% of total) (2006) 7 10 11 19 na 60
Contraceptive prevalence (% of married women 15-49) (2006) 24 29 39 na 48 67

Maternal mortality has fallen by about 50 percent from the mid-nineties, from 539 to 281 cases per 100,000 births. In January 2009 the Government made delivery and management of obstetric complications free of cost in all public health facilities. However, the fact remains that only 1 out of 5 births are attended by a skilled birth attendant, linking also clearly to the high mortality rates of newborns (see above). Safe delivery and emergency obstetric care services are unavailable and unequally distributed, especially due to unavailable human resources. Currently there are only 700 trained skilled birth attendants (midwifes) from the 5400 needed.

  • The provision and retention of skilled staff and equipped and functioning facilities in rural areas is key.
Goal 6/a: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases
Target: Have halted by 2015, and begun to reverse, the spread of HIV and AIDS, malaria, and other major diseases

  Baseline 1990 1995 2000 2005 update Goal 2015
Prevalence of HIV/AIDS (% ages 15-49) na na 0.29 0.55 0.49 reverse

The national figure on HIV prevalence is slightly reversing (0.49% in 2007). However, Nepal's HIV epidemic is concentrated among population groups at higher risk of transmission – injecting drug users, female sex workers, men who have sex with men, and high-risk migrants. Just over 42% percent of all HIV infections in Nepal are among migrants, which increases the risk of transmission to the spouses of migrants as well as from mother to child. Another cause for concern is the high HIV prevalence among young injecting drug users.

  • There is a need to increase the coverage of HIV prevention activities for risk groups and develop appropriate strategies to reach high-risk Nepali migrants, in particular to India.
  • Also, further measures should be taken to ensure access to treatment and psychosocial support for those living with HIV, not least to children.
Goal 7a: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Target: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources

  Baseline 1990 1995 2000 2005 update Goal 2015
Forest area (% of land area) 37 29 na 25 29 reverse loss
Area protected to maintain biodiveristy (% of total land) 11 18 18 20 20 reverse loss

After a slump in the 1990s and early 2000s, forest cover has been stabilized in the past years, reaching 29 percent today. Also protected areas have increased slightly through community protected areas, which benefit the environment and protect the livelihoods of communities. However, factors like internal migration, uncontrolled encroachment of forest for habitation and agriculture, and high dependency on forest resources for livelihood, threatens to slow down further development and destroy acquired improvements.

  • Government institutions' capacity to manage forests on a sustainable basis should be enhanced.
  • There is an urgent need for policy guidance on management of the Terai Forests.
  • The Government should develop a system to track the forest cover as well as its quality.
Goal 8: Global Partnership for Development
Develop a Global Partnership for Development

MDG 8 targets trade, stepping up aid (especially to LDCs), debt relief, ensuring decent work for all, and the mobilisation of international organisations and the private sector to find global solutions to common problems and to apply them locally.

  Baseline 1990 1995 2000 2005 update Goal 2015
Official Development Assistance (% of GNI) 11.6 9.8 6.8 5.6 6.25 na
Official Development Assistance (Million USD) (OECD DAC) 423 429 387 425 514 na
Telephone lines per 100 population 0.32 0.41 1.2 1.79 2.21 na
Trade?            
Debt service as (% of exports of goods and services and net income) 14.7 7.7 7.3 8.2 9.7 na

Nepal relies heavily on official development assistance (ODA) to implement its development programmes and to reach the MDGs. In the past years, the Government and the donor community have engaged in a regular dialogue through the Nepal Development Forum mechanism, and ODA to Nepal has steadily increased, from about USD 430 million in 2004 to USD 578 million in 2007, and about USD 640 million in 2008. The Government projects USD 650 million for the fiscal year 2008/09.

On Aid Effectiveness and harmonisation, the OECD DAC survey on Nepal published in March 2008 made recommendations on ways to align donor and government programmes more effectively. In September 2008 the Ministry of Finance participated in the 3rd High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Accra, contributing to the global review of the harmonisation efforts. A new foreign aid policy with a stronger focus on aid effectiveness will be issued in connection to the Nepal Development Forum in May 2009. In line with the aid effectiveness agenda, the UN system in Nepal is taking continued steps towards harmonising its programmes with government systems – support to the sector-wide approaches on education and health being strong cases in point – and to further internal coordination and joint programming to lessen transaction costs of the Government. Efforts will be made to harmonise the UN Peace Fund for Nepal with the Government's Nepal Peace Trust Fund. Alongside efforts towards stronger alignment, more efforts are needed towards strengthening the capacity of government institutions to manage aid effectively and reduce the fiduciary risk of providing aid through government bodies.

On enhancing trade, Nepal passed an important milestone when it joined the World Trade Organisation in 2004. Nepal, like many other LDCs, remains vulnerable to global economic volatility due to its highly concentrated export trade. In line with WTO requirements, Nepal needs to put in place a coherent trade integration strategy to address constraints in the business environment, institutional , supply, demand and capacity issues.

Millennium Development Goals and its space in the recent Budget

Millennium Development Goal Key Related Human Rights Standards
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
  • Families living below poverty line will be provided with “State Privileged Identity Card.” The cardholders will be given privileged access to the health service, education and public supply system. They will have the first right to purchase subsidized good to be sold by the government agencies
  • The Self Employment Scheme dedicated to interested unemployed youths in undertaking activities in commercial agriculture, agro industries or service sectors, will be continued with some amendments through providing non-collateral loans up to Rs. 200,000 from the banks. Free vocational and technical training will be provided to such interested youths.
  • Skill-oriented vocational training programs will be launched under “Learn Skills and Be Employed” to increase employment opportunities and productivity of laborers.
  • Vocational  and skill oriented training will be provided to 36,000 people based on the demands of the local, national and international labor market to enhance professional skills and capabilities
 
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
  • Government has given maximum priority to the education sector with Rs. 46.61 billion allocated to it.
  • Illiteracy eradication program to be conducted to educate all Nepalis within two years.
  • Education to be made qualitative, skill and vocational oriented
  • All Nepalis to get opportunity to complete education in mother tongue
  • Free education up to Grade X
  • The Literacy program, “Let’s Be Literate, Enhance Capacity”, targeted to make all Nepalis literate will be implemented as a campaign in partnership with local bodies, schools, teachers and local political parties
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
  • Home development program in some districts for economic and social empowerment of women from the Badi community
  • Shelter homes for women in 15 districts to ensure they are not abused for lack of shelter
  • Women coming to seek shelter to be rehabilitated within 30 days
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
  • The government is committed to meet the national objectives to reduce the infant mortality rate by improving children’s health conditions. To support this national polio and immunization program will be launched as a campaign.
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
  • Government will provide Rs. 400 to all mothers who visit maternity centers four times and fully utilize the pre and post maternity services provided to them
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases Nothing has been mentioned
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
  • A massive public awareness campaign will be launched for the conservation and preservation of forests
  • Opportunities to be created in rural areas through implementation of forest entrepreneurship programs based on community owned forest resources
  • Area of community and lease hold forestry to be expanded
  • Forests will be commercialized by imparting technology to prepare briquette and timber through branches and forest waste to community forest user groups
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development
  • Trade deficit expected to widen by 28.2 percent and remain at Rs. 208.51 billion (India alone accounts for 57.3%)
  • As of mid May 09, the gross foreign exchange reserves stood at Rs.282.33 billion, which is adequate to finance merchandise and service imports for 10 months.
  • Balance of payment expected to register a surge of Rs. 30 billion at end of current fiscal year
  • Special effort made towards minimizing future liabilities and allocating more resources for development activities in future by utilizing the probable savings in current fiscal year – budget of Rs. 400 million set aside for debt cancellation
  • As of mid July, a foreign aid commitment of Rs. 47.856 billion has been made in the current fiscal year in comparison to Rs. 34.6 billion in FY 2007/08



News Updates


[03-05-2010] - Press Release
UNDP Regional Director wraps-up visit to Nepal against backdrop of political uncertainty and ongoing development challenges  
During the meeting with the Rt. Honourable Prime Minister Mr. Madhav Kumar Nepal, UNDP’s support to the peace process and Nepal’s progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals were discussed. Mr. Chhibber emphasized the importance of moving forward with the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and indicated UNDP’s ongoing support to the constitution-drafting process. He stressed the importance of the final document enjoying broad legitimacy, by ensuring a high level of consultation with all key stakeholders and the importance of political stability for economic development.
[07-05-2010] - News
Sale of rice husk stoves on the rise   
Rice husk stoves have been gaining popularity in the Terai region. Metal Nepal, a Bhairahawa based enterprise with its 60 employers produces 300 stoves in one day under the enterprising leadership of Shekhar Rayamajhi. One rice husk stove is being sold for Rs. 625 thanks to mass scale production. Earlier it used to be sold for Rs. 900. Rayamajhi has sold more than100,000 rice husk stoves in the Terai region in the past one year.
[07-05-2010] - News
Regional conference on the impact of the Global Financial Crisis
The UNDP Regional Centre for Asia Pacific in collaboration with UNDP Nepal and the National Planning Commission hosted a South Asia conference on the Impact of the Global Financial Crisis and their linkages with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).



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