Nepal’s 10th population census, conducted in June 2001, produced a population count of 23,214,681. That number marked an increase of 5 million since the previous census in 1991 and an average annual growth rate of 2.3 percent. According to the census, 86 percent of this growing population lives in rural areas, and 82 percent of the economically active population works in agriculture, fishing, or forestry.
