Definition of Youth
Nepal’s 2010 National Youth Policy defines youth as “women, men and third gender” persons aged 16-40 years old. Gupta, Kumar & Katwal (2011) describe how this was controversial, with civil society members advocating for a lower upper age (ex. 29).
Marriageable Age
- Opposite Sex
- Same Sex
- Without parental consent
- with parental consent
- Male
- 20
- 18
- --
Candidacy Age
- Lower House
- 25 Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union Partially appointed.
- Upper House
- --
Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union
Unicameral.
Situation of Young People
Literacy Rates
- 91.06% Male (15-24) %
- 83.08% Female (15-24) %
- Year: 2015
- Source: UNESCO
Net Enrolment Rate
Secondary School- 58.51%Male %
- 61.15% Female %
- Year: 2013
- Source: UNESCO
Situation of Young People
Tobacco Use
Consumed any smokeless or smoking tobacco product at least once 30 days prior to the survey.- 13.00% Male (13-15) %
- 5.30% Female (13-15) %
- Year: 2010
- Source: WHO
Policy & Legislation
Nepal’s national youth policy aims:
to make qualitative the role of youths and capacity inherent in them for building prosperous, modern and just Nepal, while integrating the youths in the mainstream of national development, through meaningful participation, capacity and leadership development.
It lists 16 working policies that “shall be adopted in harmony with the sectoral policies of the state", and includes: education; health and family welfare; control of trafficking in and sale of human beings, and; participation of youth in peace-building and conflict resolution. The policy is developed in the context of the Interim Constitution of Nepal 2063 (2007), which mandates that the state “shall pursue a special policy to mobilize youth human resources for the development of the country”.Public Institutions
(ministry, department or office) that is primarily responsible for youth?
Youth and Representation
Budget & Spending
- % of GDP
- % of gov. expenditure
Source: World Bank
Additional Background
For Nepal, youth can be considered both the savior and a threat. Nepal would have still been under an autocratic rule hadn’t the courageous and pro-democratic youth flooded the streets. While on the other hand, the violent civil unrest wouldn’t have happened hadn’t the youth been involved. History and present have both proved that youth are indispensable determinants of a nation [...]
The drafting committee which consisted of 23 members had 17 members that belonged to representatives of youth wings of major political parties. Furthermore, most of them were above 30 years old. The rationale for defining age was based on value judgment which said that due to the economic and social context of Nepal, transition took a longer time. It is widely blamed that the drafting committee made space for themselves in the National Youth Council that was to be formed [...]
The definition was totally based on “political and administrative satisficing”.
From YouthSave Research Brief No. 12-15 (April 2012):The Three Year Interim Plan (2008-2011), established by the Planning Commission, includes a Youth Development Policy and focuses on improving Human Development Index scores, employment and skill trainings, education and entrepreneurship, and livelihood support programs for those in conflict-affected areas (National Planning Commission of Nepal, 2007). In The Nepali Ministry of Youth and Sports has launched a number of programs for youth welfare, including the Local Youth Partnership Program of 2009/2010, and the Ministry of Finance allocates a portion of the annual budget to youth development activities, such as the Youth Self Employment Program, the Grand Youth Sports Competition, and the Youth Mobilization Program.