Kathmandu, June 20 -- The rising cost of living in Nepal is discouraging couples from having as many children as they would like, a new report of the United Nations Population Fund says.

According to the findings of the UNFPA's 2025 State of the World Population report titled "The Real Fertility Crisis: the Pursuit of Reproductive Agency in a Changing World," many people in urbanised provinces such as Bagmati and Gandaki are having fewer children than they desire, despite a steady preference for two or more children. This has also reduced the country's total fertility rate, the report says.

"The average fertility rate in Nepal has declined to two children per woman, a trend that cuts across all social groups-urban and rural, educated an...