Is Nepal really developing?

Can we call the present Nepal, a developed country or even a developing country? We can see continuous developments in areas like infrastructures, buildings, technology and things becoming more efficient. We can definitely see people building their houses, using luxury items, having fun overseas, expanding their business etc. but is it the real definition of a developing country or a developed country? If big buildings, people purchasing luxury items, vacations overseas, studying overseas, youths leaving country for earning, having different institutions, consultancies, training centres, schools, colleges, just to prepare students to leave the country for their further studies, having more than 40% of goods importing every year, is what defines a country to be developed then, Yes we can proudly say Nepal is a developed or a developing country. 

We have thousands of youths leaving the country every year. According to data from the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security, around 500,000 to 700,000 Nepalese migrate for work each year, many of whom are young people seeking better job prospects. As per Laxmi Bal, a youth working in Dubai, ‘I definitely miss my home, I have 3 small children, and I have to earn good for them to have a better future. We have a small house in our village and my wife takes care of everything now. I am forced to leave this country to earn more money if only jobs in Nepal would pay as much salary to workers and give the same respect as we receive here’. 

 Students are the youth of a country and according to the 2022 report, more than 125000 Nepali students went abroad with most opting to study in Australia, Japan, India and US. Dirgha Raj Joshi, a Nepali student in the US, told the Times: when the country’s youth do not see a future in their own country, the future of that country will never be bright. 

2022 study by the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) indicated that approximately 30-40% of farmers encounter significant economic losses due to factors like natural disasters, market instability, inflation, importing goods, lack of proper storage and market place. In the two previous fiscal years (2021-022 and 2022-023) altogether 13,823 people killed themselves. Of these, over 40 percent were farmers (5,556), followed by 15.4 percent of students (2128), and 11.6 percent housewives. (Kathmandu Post) 

 As such is the condition of Nepal and Nepalese people, now it is us people to decide whether to call our country a developing country or not.