Kathmandu, Mar 25 (IANS): Nepal had a population of 29.16 million by 2021 and the average annual population growth was 0.92 per cent in the previous 10 years, the government announced.

As per the final data about the census conducted on November 11-25 in 2021, the country's population stood at 29,164,578, including 51.02 per cent of females and 48.98 per cent of males.

A total of 137,407 foreigners were also included in the total population, Xinhua news agency reported.

"We included foreigners who stayed in Nepal for six months or intended to live in Nepal for a longer period in the total population of Nepal," said Nevin Lal Shrestha, deputy chief statistics officer at the National Statistics Office, on Friday.

The growth rate of 0.92 per cent was the lowest in eight decades since Nepal started the population census in 1911, noted the agency.

Shrestha attributed delayed marriage age, education, increasing costs of rearing children and reducing tendency in gender discrimination to the low birth rate.