Introduction
On September 20th in 2015, the people of Nepal embarked upon another chapter in their governance history. After years of prolonged negotiation, a political compromise was reached between the major political parties and the Constituent Assembly of Nepal approved the country’s new constitution. The Constitution of Nepal 2015 establishes a federal government structure with the vision of establishing strong local governments, which are vested with greater authorityNepal is now divided into seven provinces, these include 77 districts, 6 metropolitan cities, 11 sub-metropolitan cities,276 municipalities,and are further sub-divided into460 rural municipalities. All municipalities are counted now as local government with a larger responsibility than before.
Regarding national health system, it’s also speeds up its own decentralization process (each municipality has its own healthcare center), this to reduce disparities in access, and improve health outcomes. The turn towards federalism creates several potential opportunities for the national healthcare system. This is because decision making has been devolved to the federal, provincial and local governments, and so they can make decisions that are more representative of their localizedhealth needs.
Many aspects of Nepal's health care system are determined and influenced by the economic and social conditions of its residents. In the 2011 census a lot of information on these aspects is available at a detailed level concerning whole Nepal.Nepal has been conducting population censuses almost decennially and the census 2011 is the eleventh one. The census 2011 has been historical event in many ways. It has successfully applied an ambitious questionnaire through which numerous demographic, social and economic information have been collected.6
Nepal is also aspiring to graduate from the least developed country (LDC) to a middle-income country by 2030, the SDG indicators set by the government of Nepal will help in achieving these goals. The NPC has also endorsed a new three year Development Plan, the 14thPlan (2016/17-2018/19), which aims to incorporate SDG priorities for Nepal.
Nepal is also aspiring to graduate from the least developed country to a middle-income country by 2030, the Sustainable Development Goals indicators set by the government of Nepal will help in achieving these goals. Against this backdrop, a report on Population Situation Analysis of Nepal has been prepared to provide a sound basis for evidence-based policy dialogue for integrating core population dynamics issues in the new sustainable development plan of the Government of Nepal to ensure that ‘no one is left behind’. This report draws on Nepal’s demographic transition and resulting population momentum using key demographic variables for the next 15 years (2016-2030) in the context of the new federal structure of the country.7
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