The U.S. government’s priorities in Nepal focus on encouraging democracy, enhancing economic prosperity and improving stability and disaster resilience. The embassy and the U.S. Agency for International Development mission are working to help the country recover from a pair of earthquakes that hit the country last year as it works to implement a newly adopted constitution.
The fledgling democracy faces a number of key challenges, including having 25 percent of its 29 million people living under the poverty line as of 2010, the most recent World Bank data. Half of the population is under the age of 25.
With relatively slow economic growth and few job opportunities outside of agriculture — only about 17 percent of Nepal’s population has paid work — young people, especially men, are increasingly looking outside the country. The country sees some half a million of its citizens leave each year to work overseas.