Populations of Kusunda People in Nepal

Populations of Kusunda (A comparative Study)

The ethnic group Kusunda, had no single permanent settlement due to their long-continued nomadic nature before their settlement. Before, the 1970s, Kusunda people also were in nomadic situations. According to the Kusunda population and settlement found from the field, Dang, has the biggest population  and other settlement areas are in Pyuthan, Surkhet, and Gorkha. The population of Kusunda from various years is given in the table.

Population of Kusunda

Districts	2001	2011	From field study, 2018
Baitadi	12
Doti	7
Achham	1
Kanchanpur	1
Kailali	4
Pyuthan	19	18	41
Dang	4	98
Surkhet			26
Rolpa			2
Tanahun			3
Gorkha	12		11
Kapilbastu	1		5
Arghakhanchi			4 (migrated to India)
Rupendehi	1
Sindhupalchok	11
Ramachhap	41
Kathmandu	1	13
Chitwan	10
Bara	2
Rautahat	1
Sarlahi	2
Mahottari	2
Taplejung	7
Bhojpur	1
Siraha	2	14
Saptari	7
Morang	2	41
Jhapa		14
Sunsari		15
Total	164	213	151

       Source: CBS- 2001 and 2011; Field study, 2018.

The settlement and population of Kusunda found in 23 districts according to 2001 and 7 districts according to the 2011 census of Nepal. The data shows that, there is large number of populations in Ramechhap, Sindhuplanchok, Baitadi, Morang, Jhapa, and Sunsari. But from field study there is no single populations of Kusunda. From the field study conducted myself in between 2014-16  Kusunda were found in Dang, Surkhet, Gorkha, Tanahau, and other western parts of Nepal. The data provided by CBS (2011), the number of Kusunda has 273, but on my research, there were only 151 Kusundas in Nepal.