As many as 52.9 percent Nepalis feel that the country is headed in the right direction and that promulgation of the new constitution in 2015 is a step forward (45.6 percent), the recent Survey of Nepali People in 2017 reveals.

The study, which focuses on topics like national mood, economic outlook, security, governance, public service delivery, social relations and access to information, paints an optimistic picture of the country’s overall situation.

Conducted by the Asia Foundation, the survey also says federal reforms will lead to tangible improvements in the lives of general people (44.4 percent) and that they are better represented after the local level elections held last year (43.8 percent). 

The survey reports that 93.8 percent people in the country feel safe.

“People of Province 6, in particular, seem to be satisfied with the way the country is currently heading while the satisfaction level seems relatively downbeat in provinces 2 and 3,” Bishnu Adhikari, programme director at Asia Foundation, said during the launch of the survey report on Friday.

Factors like the country’s overall development, improvement in condition of roadways and electricity supply, according to respondents, are the reasons for optimism.

On problems, 29 percent of the participants felt that it is hard to find work and make a living in the country, where disasters like floods and landslides are frequent (23 percent), and inflation (10 percent), corruption and extortion (nine percent) are high.

The survey conducted in September and October last year was based on a national representative sample of 7,202 people randomly selected from 599 wards across the seven provinces.

In terms of economic outlay, 58 percent of the respondents said there is no change in country’s economic situation while 18 percent feel that the condition is improving slowly and gradually while 23 percent replied they were not aware of the situation.

Thirty-one percent felt increment in household income, 12 percent reported a decline and 54 percent participants felt that the situation remains the same. 

The survey states that 47.3 percent households are in debt, most of them owing between Rs30,000 and Rs300,000.

On relationship between castes, ethnicities and religions, 58 percent of the respondents feel that the situation is improving while 12 percent think it is getting worse.

According to Adhikari, security agencies of the country deserve praise as most of the respondents feel safe. “None of the respondents said they are unsafe,” he said, adding that 71 percent of the people feel they are “reasonably safe”, 23 percent “very safe” and six percent said they are “somewhat unsafe”.

“This is a big achievement as it’s not long since the country came out of an insurgency.”

Media most trusted institution

KATHMANDU: As many as 92.2 percent respondents said media (newspaper, radio and television) are most trusted institutions in the country while political parties (33.9) are the least trusted ones.

Trust level in 19 institutions ranging from government agencies to non-governmental organisations was surveyed. Respondents were asked to categorise institutions if they “fully trust” them, “moderately trust them”, “don’t quite trust them” or “don’t trust them at all”.

The survey shows people in provinces 1, 3 and 4 named television as the main source of information while it is community radio in the Himalayan region. (PR)