House is one of the basic needs of human life. The type of house and housing condition are
influenced by local environment or availability of construction materials locally and the level of
development. So there are differences in type of houses in different ecological zones and
development regions. On the other hand, the impact of development efforts is reflected in housing
condition of people in the area. The term housing means the household or family accommodation
in dwelling units, its structure type and facilities such as electricity, drinking water, cooking fuel,
toilet, etc. (Karmacharya & Sangraula, 1998). So, it is the main indicator of human well being and
level of development.
Similarly, social and cultural analysis is mainly based on household information. Socio-cultural
picture of the country is generally reflected in household information like composition, average
size, age-sex differences of headship rate and so on. Again, household data is the basis of local
and national level planning. Nepal is a multi-ethnic and cultural country. Each ethnic cultural
group has its own household characteristics. In this perspective, data on households is very
important for the socio-economic development in the country. Household is the basic unit of
enumeration in all population censuses, sample surveys, preparation of electoral voter list and so
on. The present study concentrates mainly on type of house, ownership, average household size,
household composition, sex differences in household headship rates, etc.