World Population Day is being observed in Nepal today. This year's theme is "Family Planning: Empowering People, Developing Nations" – '????????? ?????? : ?????? ????????? ????' in Nepali. <br/><br/>The main function was organised by the Ministry of Population and Environment in association with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) at Kathmandu. <br/><br/>Addressing the gathering Nepal Parliament speaker Onsari Gharti said that gender equality organises family and if family is organised our nation prosper. On this occasion winners of an essay competition on this year's World Population Day were also awarded. <br/><br/>The UNFPA has also released a report on " Population Situation Analysis of Nepal". According to report the fertility and mortality rates in Nepal have been fast declining in the recent years. The average annual population growth rate in Nepal between 1961 and 2001 was 2.25 percent, which declined to 1.35 percent between 2001 and 2011. <br/><br/>Nepal, like other South Asian countries, has been undergoing rapid demographic changes during the last few decades. The working age population between 15 to 64 years has been increasing in Nepal. <br/><br/>As per report the circumstances in which average Nepali lives is still far from the targets Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) seek to achieve. Overall, poverty has declined but it has worsened in the high mountain region and in urban centers. School enrolment for girls has improved substantially but the drop-out rate is high. <br/><br/>Discrimination toward women and girls is rampant, son preference is high and employment opportunities for females is low. Spatial distribution of population shows an ever declining share of the mountain and hill population compared to the Tarai population. The report further says that Nepal is aspiring to graduate from the least developed country to a middle-income country by 2030.