Kathmandu, April 6 -- Rainfall data from eastern Nepal collected over the past 70 years point to a strong correlation between chronic drought and outmigration. Repeated and more frequent monsoon failures forced more and more people to abandon villages.

Terathum, Dhankuta, Panchthar and Taplejung districts lost more than 40% of their population between 2001 and 2021. Archival data of the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology shows that rainfall was below the annual national average for almost every year since the 1960s in what is supposed to be the wettest part of the country.

In Panchakanya village of Terathum 40% of residents left in those 20 years. A nearby village, Thoklung, lost 42% of its population. Across the Tamor River, 44%...