The 1952-54 Nepal census was the 5th national census and first modern census of Nepal. It was conducted after the advent of the democracy in 1951. The census recorded a total population of 8,256,625.
The census was conducted by the then Department of Statistics (Sankhya Bibhag) that had been established in 1950. The department was established with a core of five officers who had received training on census methods at the International Training Center on Censuses and Statistics sponsored by the United Nations and the Government of India, in New Delhi in 1949.
The census was planned taking into consideration the concepts recommended by the U.N. for the world census of 1950. The Census was carried out in two stages: the Eastern part of the country except Mahottari District was enumerated in 1952 whereas the Western part and Mahottari District were enumerated in 1954.
The key findings of 1952-54 census are as follows:
There were nine regions in Nepal during the time of 1952-54 census. Population figures for those regions are as follows:
In the 1952-54 census, districts referred to revenue districts, known as Mal or Ilaka. There were 54 such revenue districts in Nepal at that time. Due to the lack of clear border demarcation, parts of some districts were enumerated under other districts. For the census purposes, the districts of Kathmandu Valley were further subdivided into urban and rural blocks.
The 1952-54 census recorded details for 53 languages/dialects but final tabulations were made only for 36 languages. There were significant problems while collecting details of Terai languages. Often the answer for the question about language was Dehati, which is not an actual language rather a generic term for rural dialects of various languages spoken in Terai region. These Dehati (rural Terai) dialects were classified according to the region.