Migration trends in Nepal
Asia
2.6M people from Nepal have built lives abroad. That's 8.9% of the country population, spread across 48 different countries
29.7M
Population
458.9K
Immigrants
2.6M
Emigrants
−2.2M
Outflow
1 in every 12 people born in Nepal now lives abroad
The #29 largest source of emigrants worldwide
Top corridors
The largest migration routes in Nepal
Where people move to
Key moments
How migration has changed since 1990
1990
411K immigrants · 523.9K emigrants
1995
- The country became a destination — more people arriving than leaving
- A surge of arrivals — the foreign-born population jumped 59%
- Surge of immigrants from Bhutan — 90.9K new arrivals
- The foreign-born population passed 500K residents
2000
- The country became a place of departure — more people leaving than arriving
2005
- An accelerating exodus — the diaspora abroad grew by 49%
- The diaspora abroad passed 1M people
- The outflow deepened — net losses doubled to 410.4K
- Malaysia became a significant new destination — 192.3K residents had moved there
2015
- An accelerating exodus — the diaspora abroad grew by 51%
- Surge of departures to Saudi Arabia — 207.1K people left
- Surge of departures to Qatar — 123.5K people left
Today
- Since 1990: roughly the same number of foreign-born residents and 2.1M more citizens living abroad