The present study on functional classification of the towns in Nepal is a revisit to
the study made in 1980 applying the similar methodology. The previous study was
based on census data of 1971 and the present study on census data of 2011. The
percentages of surplus labour force in proportion to national level were computed
considering five activities groups involved in non-agricultural sectors. Then, the
arithmetic means of each activity group were calculated and the standard deviations
from the means were taken for measuring the functional specialization.The study
revealed that both the degree of urbanization and level of functional specialization
have considerably increased during a period of four decades. There were only 16
towns in 1971, which increased to 58 in 2011. The number of specialized towns
has increased by six folds from 4 in 1971 to 26 in 2011. The level of urbanization
has now been a prominent phenomenon as compared to that in 1971. In 1971, even
the then large towns were with high agricultural labor force. Now, the proportion
of agricultural labor force has declined considerably. However, agriculture labor
forces constitute to be dominant in more than 15 smaller towns. It indicates that
urban economic base is not being taken into account while incorporating places
as municipalities in several cases.