Bhimeshwor Municipality in Dolakha has announced cash incentives for women who give birth to a third child, in an unusual local initiative aimed at reversing a steady decline in population and addressing growing labour shortages in the local unit.

The municipality introduced the scheme in the fiscal year 2024–25 after its population continued to shrink for years. The local unit continued the programme by revising its procedures to make it further effective.

Various reports published in the media said that rural settlements are turning into ‘ghost villages’ across the country due to unchecked outmigration and low population growth rate. The 2021 national census revealed Nepal’s lowest population growth rate in decades, hovering at a mere 0.92 percent. In Bhimeshwor, the reality is even more stark.

According to the municipality’s own household survey conducted in 2018, Bhimeshwor had a population of 39,667. However, the 2021 national census recorded only 35,122 residents, reflecting a significant decline within just a few years.

Under the programme, mothers who give birth to a third child receive Rs10,000 directly into their bank accounts as postnatal support. According to Mangala Manandhar, chief of the municipality’s Women, Children and Senior Citizens Section, a total of 34 women received the incentive in the last fiscal year.

“The main objective of this programme is population growth. At first, people found it unusual, but after women started receiving the support money, more mothers who had given birth to a third child began approaching the municipality,” said Manandhar. She said the municipality developed its own policy and procedures because the federal government has yet to introduce a national policy encouraging population growth, despite repeated concerns about migration and depopulation in hill districts.

As per the municipality’s procedures, to receive the grant, parents must submit birth certificates for all three children along with citizenship documents. The money is then deposited directly into the mother’s bank account.

Babita Nepali of Ward 5 was the first woman to receive the incentive. Among the municipality’s nine wards, Ward 1 recorded the highest number of beneficiaries in the programme’s first year, with eight mothers receiving support. Ward 6, however, has not received a single application so far.

“Having a third child is not compulsory,” said Manandhar. “But if someone in the municipality gives birth to a third child, we want to support them because population growth is part of the municipality’s policy.”

After local officials described the programme as effective, the municipal assembly doubled the budget for the current fiscal year of 2025-26. Mothers and newborns are now each entitled to Rs10,000. By mid-May this year, 28 applications had already been registered claiming the incentives.

While mothers can immediately use the money they receive, the amount allocated to newborns cannot be withdrawn before they turn 18, except under special circumstances such as serious illness. Municipal officials said guardians may access the funds early if medical documents prove the money will be used for treatment.

Deputy Mayor Kamala Basnet said the municipality introduced the programme because villages were steadily emptying while governments at higher levels failed to respond with concrete policies.

“How can there be economic prosperity without population growth?” said Basnet. “If the population increases, local communities will also produce more manpower. Labour shortages are affecting every sector, and the population situation is becoming negative.”

The municipality also wants the programme to pressure federal authorities to consider population-related policies at the national level.

According to Basnet, the municipality is revising the guidelines to address situations not fully covered in the original policy, including cases where women give birth to twins as their third delivery. She said future budgets would focus not only on childbirth incentives but also on employment, healthcare and education for children from such families. “Population may increase through childbirth, but long-term sustainability also depends on jobs, schools and health services,” she said.

Basnet insisted the municipality is not encouraging women to have more children through coercion or treating them as ‘machines for childbirth’. Instead, she said, the municipality simply wanted to share responsibility with families who choose to have a third child.

She argued that depopulation was also weakening traditional village life, local culture and social practices. “If the population grows, villages will not become empty, and traditions will not disappear,” she said.

Bhimeshwor’s initiative comes at a time when many hill districts in Nepal are witnessing migration of young people to cities and labour markets. Reports have documented how declining school enrolment, barren farmland and labour shortages have become common across hill settlements.