Employment

The rate of unemployment and underemployment approaches half of the working-age population. The unemployment rate was estimated at 42% in 2004 what means that 30,9% of population is leaving below poverty line. Thus many Nepali citizens move to India in search of work; the Gulf countries and Malaysia being new sources of work. Nepal receives US$50 million a year through the Gurkha soldiers who serve in the Indian and British armies and are highly esteemed for their skill and bravery. The total remittance value is worth around 1 billion USD, including money sent from Persian Gulf and Malaysia, who combined employ around 700,000 Nepali citizens. A long-standing economic agreement underpins a close relationship with India. The country receives foreign aid from India, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, the European Union, China, Switzerland, and Scandinavian countries. Poverty is acute; per-capita income is less than US$ 300. The distribution of wealth among the Nepalis is consistent with that in many developed and developing countries: the highest 10% of households control 39.1% of the national wealth and the lowest 10% control only 2.6%. As estimated in 2006 the labour force was about 11.11 billion of economically active population of working age. 76 % of them were engaged in agricultural activities, 18 % in services and 6 % in industry (CIA-The world factbook, 2008).