Nepal Country Profile: Facts, Population and Economy 2026
In short
A current, sourced data profile of Nepal: geography and the three ecological belts, the 2021 census, the 2015 federal constitution and its seven provinces, the economy and the remittance engine that drives it, hydropower, foreign relations between two giant neighbours, and the September 2025 Gen Z uprising that burned the parliament and led to a 35-year-old rapper becoming prime minister in March 2026. Every figure is dated. Where an older number is still widely repeated online but no longer correct, it's flagged.
What's on this page
- Nepal at a glance
- Geography and terrain
- Climate and natural hazards
- People: the 2021 census
- Religion and language
- Health, education and migration
- A short history
- From kingdom to republic
- Government and the 2015 constitution
- The seven provinces
- Local government
- The 2025 uprising and the 2026 election
- Economy
- Remittances: the real engine
- Hydropower
- Tourism
- Trade and infrastructure
- Foreign relations
- Culture, heritage and symbols
- What has changed since 2009
- Outdated figures still circulating
- Sources
- Common questions
Nepal at a glance
| Official name | Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal (Sanghiya Loktantrik Ganatantra Nepal) |
| Capital | Kathmandu (27°43'N, 85°19'E) |
| Government | Federal parliamentary republic, secular since 2008 |
| Constitution | Promulgated 20 September 2015 |
| Head of state | President Ram Chandra Poudel (since March 2023) |
| Head of government | Prime Minister Balendra Shah (since 27 March 2026) |
| Legislature | Bicameral: House of Representatives (275) and National Assembly (59) |
| Currency | Nepalese rupee (NPR), pegged to the Indian rupee at 1.6 NPR per INR |
| Time zone | UTC+5:45 — one of only three countries on a 45-minute offset |
| Calendar | Bikram Sambat, roughly 56.7 years ahead of the Gregorian calendar; the new year falls in mid-April |
| Internet TLD | .np |
| Calling code | +977 |
| Drives on | Left |
| Fiscal year | 16 July to 15 July |
| Independence | Never colonised; unification from 1768 under Prithvi Narayan Shah |
Two things worth flagging straight away, because both are still repeated in older reference material. Nepal is not a Hindu state — it was declared secular in 2007 and the 2015 constitution confirms it. And the old 14 zones no longer exist administratively; the country has been organised into seven provinces since 2015.
Geography and terrain
Nepal is landlocked between China to the north and India to the east, south and west. It's roughly rectangular, about 800 km east to west and 150 to 250 km north to south — and it rises from near sea level to the highest point on the planet across that short distance.
| Location | Southern Asia, between China and India |
| Coordinates | 28°00'N, 84°00'E |
| Total area | 147,181 sq km (land 143,351; water 3,830) |
| Comparative | Slightly larger than Arkansas; slightly smaller than England and Wales combined |
| Land boundaries | 3,159 km total — India 1,770 km, China 1,389 km |
| Coastline | 0 km (landlocked) |
| Lowest point | Kanchan Kalan, Terai — about 70 m |
| Highest point | Mount Everest (Sagarmatha) — 8,848.86 m |
| Natural resources | Water and hydropower potential, timber, quartz, scenic value; small deposits of lignite, copper, cobalt, iron ore |
Everest's height was revised to 8,848.86 m in December 2020 by a joint Nepal–China survey. The older figure of 8,848 m — and the American 8,850 m — are both superseded.
The country divides into three parallel belts running east to west, and almost everything about Nepal follows from that arrangement.
Terai
The southern plain, an extension of the Gangetic basin. Flat, fertile, humid, and the country's agricultural heartland. Densely populated.
Hills
The central belt, 700 to 4,000 m, including the Kathmandu and Pokhara valleys. Where most of the historic settlement and political power sits.
Mountains
The high Himalaya in the north. Sparsely populated, and the source of both the rivers and the tourism.
| Peak | Height (m) | World rank |
|---|---|---|
| Everest / Sagarmatha | 8,848.86 | 1st |
| Kanchenjunga | 8,586 | 3rd |
| Lhotse | 8,516 | 4th |
| Makalu | 8,485 | 5th |
| Cho Oyu | 8,188 | 6th |
| Dhaulagiri I | 8,167 | 7th |
| Manaslu | 8,163 | 8th |
| Annapurna I | 8,091 | 10th |
Eight of the world's fourteen peaks above 8,000 m lie wholly or partly in Nepal. Everest and Kanchenjunga sit on the borders with China and India respectively. K2 (2nd) and Nanga Parbat (9th) are in Pakistan.
Climate and natural hazards
Climate tracks altitude rather than latitude. The Terai is subtropical with hot summers; the hills are temperate; above about 4,000 m it's alpine and then permanently frozen. The summer monsoon, roughly June to September, delivers most of the year's rain and most of the year's disasters.
Earthquakes
Nepal sits on the collision zone between the Indian and Eurasian plates. The April 2015 Gorkha earthquake (Mw 7.8) killed nearly 9,000 people. A further quake struck Jajarkot in November 2023.
Monsoon flooding
Annual, and worst in the Terai. Landslides in the hills routinely sever the road network for days at a time.
Glacial lake floods
Retreating glaciers form unstable meltwater lakes. A sudden breach sends a destructive flood down the valley — a growing risk as warming continues.
Air quality
Kathmandu regularly records some of the worst air in the world during the winter inversion, when pollution is trapped in the bowl of the valley.
Environmental pressures are much as they were: deforestation for fuel, water contamination from human, agricultural and industrial waste, and vehicle emissions. One genuine bright spot is community forestry — Nepal's programme of handing forest management to local user groups is internationally regarded as a success, and forest cover has recovered substantially since the 1990s.
People: the 2021 census
The most recent full census was the 2021 National Population and Housing Census, published from 2022 onwards. It counted 29,164,578 people.
| Population (2021 census) | 29,164,578 |
| Current estimate | About 29.6 million (2025–26) |
| Growth rate | Roughly flat — about 0.9% annually over 2011–21, and close to zero more recently |
| Median age | About 25–27 years |
| Total fertility rate | About 1.9 children per woman — below replacement level |
| Urban population | Roughly 21–29% depending on definition used |
| Largest city | Kathmandu, about 1.5 million |
| Caste/ethnic groups recorded | 142 (up from 125 in 2011) |
The demographic turn
This is the most important change in the data and it gets very little attention. Nepal's fertility rate has fallen below replacement level. In 2009 the figure was about 2.6 children per woman; it is now around 1.9. Combined with heavy outward migration of working-age adults, population growth has essentially stopped.
Nepal is still a young country by median age, but it is no longer a fast-growing one, and the ageing problem that implies is arriving much sooner than most planning assumes.
| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| Chhetri | 16.5% |
| Brahman (Hill) | 11.3% |
| Magar | 6.9% |
| Tharu | 6.2% |
| Tamang | 5.6% |
| Bishwokarma | 5.0% |
| Musalman | 4.9% |
| Newar | 4.6% |
| Yadav | 4.2% |
| Rai | 2.2% |
| All others | ~32% |
Musalman appears here as a caste and ethnicity category, which is how the census records it. It is counted separately from Islam in the religion table below, and the two figures are not identical.
No group comes close to a majority, which is the single most important fact about Nepali politics. The 2015 constitution's federal structure, and the long argument over where provincial boundaries should fall, is largely an argument about this table.
Religion and language
| Religion | Population | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Hinduism | 23,677,744 | 81.19% |
| Buddhism | 2,393,549 | 8.21% |
| Islam | 1,483,066 | 5.09% |
| Kirat | 924,204 | 3.17% |
| Christianity | 512,313 | 1.76% |
| Prakriti (nature worship) | 102,048 | 0.35% |
| Bon | 67,223 | 0.23% |
| Jainism, Sikhism, Baha'i Faith | 4,431 | 0.02% |
Still widely repeated: "Nepal is the only official Hindu state in the world."
Not since 2007. The interim constitution declared Nepal secular, and the 2015 constitution confirms it — while adding a clause protecting "sanatana" religion and culture as practised from ancient times, which is a genuine point of legal debate. Nepal does have the highest Hindu share of population of any country, which is presumably how the confusion persists.
Two changes since 2011 are worth noting: the share following Islam rose from 4.4% to 5.09%, and Christianity from 1.4% to 1.76% — the fastest proportional growth of any group, from a small base. In practice the boundary between Hindu and Buddhist observance is porous, and many households take part in both.
| Language | Share |
|---|---|
| Nepali (official) | 44.9% |
| Maithili | 11.1% |
| Bhojpuri | 6.2% |
| Tharu | 5.9% |
| Tamang | 4.9% |
| Bajjika | 3.9% |
| Avadhi | 3.0% |
| Nepalbhasa (Newari) | 3.0% |
| Magar Dhut | 2.8% |
| Doteli | 1.7% |
| Urdu | 1.4% |
Nepali is the sole official language of federal government, written in Devanagari, and is spoken as a first language by fewer than half the population. Provinces may adopt additional official languages for provincial business. English is widely used in government, business and higher education.
Health, education and migration
| Indicator | Around 2009 | Current |
|---|---|---|
| Life expectancy | 65.5 years | About 71–72 years |
| Infant mortality | 47.5 per 1,000 births | About 24–26 per 1,000 |
| Total fertility rate | 2.64 | About 1.9 |
| Adult literacy | 48.6% (2001 census) | 76.3% (2021 census) |
| Female literacy | 34.9% | About 69% |
| HIV adult prevalence | 0.5% | About 0.1% |
| Population below poverty line | 24.7% (2004) | 20.3% (2022, national line) |
Whatever else can be said about Nepal's politics over the past two decades, this table is the strongest evidence that something went right. Life expectancy up roughly six years, infant mortality roughly halved, and adult literacy up nearly thirty percentage points in twenty years. Female literacy has roughly doubled.
Outward labour migration is the defining social fact of contemporary Nepal. Millions of Nepalis work abroad — principally in India, the Gulf states and Malaysia, with South Korea and Japan growing as destinations. Net migration is consistently and strongly negative. The consequences run through everything: household income, the labour shortage in agriculture, the gender balance in rural villages, and the political anger that boiled over in 2025.
A short history
Nepal was never colonised, which shapes almost everything about how the country sees itself. It is one of a small handful of Asian states that kept formal sovereignty through the entire European imperial period — though at the cost of a war with Britain, a large territorial concession, and a century of deliberate isolation.
| Period | Events |
|---|---|
| c. 400–750 CE | Licchavi period. The earliest solid historical record in the Kathmandu Valley; stone inscriptions, Indo-Nepalese cultural synthesis |
| c. 1200–1769 | Malla kingdoms. The valley splits into Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur. The great age of Newar art, architecture and the durbar squares still standing today |
| 1743–1768 | Prithvi Narayan Shah of Gorkha campaigns to unify the hill principalities; takes Kathmandu in 1768 and makes it his capital |
| 1814–1816 | Anglo-Nepalese War. The Treaty of Sugauli cedes about a third of Nepal's territory to British India and fixes the modern borders. British recruitment of Gurkha soldiers begins |
| 1846 | The Kot Massacre brings Jung Bahadur Rana to power. The Rana family takes the premiership as a hereditary office and reduces the kings to figureheads |
| 1846–1951 | Rana regime. A century of autocracy and deliberate isolation from the outside world |
| 1951 | Rana rule ends. King Tribhuvan returns from exile in India; the monarchy is restored to real power |
| 1959–1960 | First elected parliament. King Mahendra dissolves it within eighteen months and bans political parties |
| 1962–1990 | Panchayat system. Partyless rule under the crown |
| 1990 | Jana Andolan I. Mass protests force a multiparty constitution and constitutional monarchy |
| 1996–2006 | Maoist insurgency. A decade of civil war costing over 17,000 lives |
| 1 June 2001 | Royal massacre. Crown Prince Dipendra kills King Birendra and most of the royal family before dying himself. Gyanendra takes the throne |
| 2005 | Gyanendra dismisses the government and assumes direct rule |
| April 2006 | Jana Andolan II. Weeks of mass protest force the king to restore parliament |
| November 2006 | Comprehensive Peace Accord ends the civil war |
| 28 May 2008 | The Constituent Assembly abolishes the 240-year-old monarchy and declares a federal democratic republic |
The Treaty of Sugauli is why maps of "Greater Nepal" circulate in nationalist circles: the pre-1816 state extended west to the Sutlej and east to the Teesta. It is also the origin of the Gurkha regiments, which the British began recruiting after being impressed by the soldiers they had just fought.
From kingdom to republic
The seventeen years between the abolition of the monarchy and the uprising of 2025 were spent trying to build a functioning state on top of a peace accord. It half worked.
Two Constituent Assemblies
The first, elected 2008, failed to produce a constitution in four years and dissolved. The second, elected 2013, succeeded — but only after the 2015 earthquake created enough urgency to force a deal.
The 2015 earthquake
The Gorkha earthquake in April 2015 killed nearly 9,000 people and destroyed much of the historic architecture of the valley. Reconstruction dominated the following decade.
The blockade
The constitution triggered protests in the Terai over provincial boundaries. An unofficial border blockade from India followed, choking fuel and medicine imports for months.
Fourteen governments
Roughly fourteen administrations in seventeen years, with the same handful of men rotating through the office. This is the grievance that eventually produced 2025.
Why the monarchy question keeps returning
Pro-monarchy demonstrations resurfaced in early 2025, and former king Gyanendra remains a public figure. It would be a mistake to read this as broad support for restoration — it is mostly a proxy for exhaustion with the republic's political class.
The 2025 uprising is the clearest evidence. Despite the monarchist current running through the preceding months, the movement aimed at reforming the republic rather than restoring the crown, and the transfer of power that followed was constitutional.
Government and the 2015 constitution
The 2015 constitution replaced the 2007 interim document. Getting there took seven years, two Constituent Assemblies, and it was promulgated in the aftermath of the Gorkha earthquake, amid protests in the Terai over provincial boundaries that turned deadly and triggered a months-long border blockade.
| System | Federal parliamentary republic with three tiers: federal, provincial, local |
| President | Ceremonial head of state, elected by an electoral college of federal and provincial legislators for a five-year term, maximum two terms |
| Prime Minister | Head of government, leader of the majority in the House of Representatives |
| House of Representatives | 275 members — 165 by first-past-the-post, 110 by proportional representation. Five-year term. |
| National Assembly | 59 members — 56 elected by provincial electoral colleges, 3 nominated. Six-year terms, one third retiring every two years. |
| Local government | 753 local units — metropolitan cities, sub-metropolitan cities, municipalities and rural municipalities |
| Judiciary | Supreme Court (Sarbochha Adalat), seven high courts, district courts |
| Suffrage | 18 years, universal |
| National holiday | Constitution Day, 20 September; Republic Day, 29 May |
Two constitutional features are worth understanding, because they explain a lot of the instability.
Mixed electoral system
The 110 proportional seats make single-party majorities very hard. Nearly every government since 2008 has been a coalition, and coalitions have collapsed regularly.
Inclusion quotas
The proportional lists must include set shares of women, Dalits, indigenous nationalities, Madhesis and others. At least a third of each party's total members must be women.
The result
Genuinely more representative than anything before it — and structurally prone to short-lived governments. Nepal had roughly fourteen governments in the seventeen years to 2025.
The seven provinces
Federalism took effect with the 2015 constitution. The old 14 zones and 5 development regions were abolished. Three of the seven provinces went unnamed for years while their assemblies argued; the last, Koshi, was named in 2023.
| Province | Capital | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Koshi | Biratnagar | Eastern Nepal; includes Kanchenjunga and the eastern Terai industrial belt |
| Madhesh | Janakpur | Entirely Terai plain; the most densely populated province; Maithili-speaking heartland |
| Bagmati | Hetauda | Contains Kathmandu Valley; the political and economic centre |
| Gandaki | Pokhara | Annapurna and Manaslu ranges; tourism-heavy |
| Lumbini | Deukhuri (Dang) | Includes Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha |
| Karnali | Birendranagar | Largest by area, smallest by population; the most remote and poorest |
| Sudurpashchim | Godawari (Dhangadhi) | Far west; high outward migration to India |
Local government
Federalism created a third tier that gets far less attention than the provinces but touches daily life much more directly.
| Type | Number | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Metropolitan cities | 6 | Kathmandu, Pokhara, Lalitpur, Bharatpur, Birgunj, Biratnagar |
| Sub-metropolitan cities | 11 | Includes Dhangadhi, Hetauda, Butwal, Janakpur |
| Municipalities | 276 | Urban and semi-urban units |
| Rural municipalities | 460 | Gaunpalika — the majority of units by count |
| Districts | 77 | Retained as administrative and electoral units under the provinces |
Each local unit elects a chair or mayor, a deputy, and ward representatives, with reserved seats for women and Dalit women. Local government controls a meaningful share of the budget and delivers most basic services. It's also where the current prime minister built his reputation — Balendra Shah was mayor of Kathmandu from 2022, and the credibility he earned in that job is what carried the 2026 election.
The 77 districts survive from the pre-federal structure and cause regular confusion. They are no longer a tier of self-government — they function as administrative and electoral geography inside the provinces, with a coordination committee rather than an elected assembly.
The 2025 uprising and the 2026 election
The most significant political event in Nepal since the abolition of the monarchy happened in September 2025, and any profile written before then is badly out of date.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 4 September 2025 | Government blocks 26 social media platforms — including Facebook, YouTube, X and WhatsApp — for failing to register with the communications ministry |
| 8 September | Mass youth-led protests in Kathmandu and other cities. Police open fire; 19 killed on the first day |
| 8–9 September | Ban lifted, but protests escalate. Parliament, the Supreme Court and politicians' homes set on fire; ministers evacuated by helicopter |
| 9 September | Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli resigns |
| 12 September | Sushila Karki, former Chief Justice, sworn in as interim prime minister — Nepal's first woman in the office. Parliament dissolved; elections set for March 2026 |
| 5 March 2026 | General election. The Rastriya Swatantra Party wins 182 of 275 lower house seats |
| 27 March 2026 | Balendra Shah sworn in as prime minister, aged 35 — the youngest in Nepal's history |
Death tolls vary by source and the breakdown remains contested. Contemporary reporting cited 19 killed on the first day. The accepted total is at least 76, with over 2,500 injured. The Nepali Army's October 2025 figures counted 22 protesters, 3 police officers and 10 prisoners shot preventing an escape, listing the remaining 41 as "others". In November 2025 the government declared 45 of the dead martyrs. A three-member commission of inquiry chaired by former Special Court judge Gauri Bahadur Karki reported to the interim prime minister in March 2026; at the time of writing the report has not been published, and Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists have jointly called for its release.
The trigger was the social media ban. The cause was older and deeper: entrenched corruption, an economy that sends its young abroad for work, and a political class that had produced roughly fourteen governments in seventeen years while the same handful of men rotated through the top job. The "nepo kid" hashtag — images of politicians' children living conspicuously well — did more organising work than any party.
The scale of the result
The RSP took 182 of 275 seats, two short of a two-thirds majority. The Nepali Congress fell to 38 and the CPN-UML to 25. It's the first single-party parliamentary majority since 1999.
Balendra Shah
Structural engineer and rapper, elected mayor of Kathmandu in 2022 as an independent. He contested Oli's own seat in Jhapa 5 and won it by nearly 50,000 votes.
What it isn't
Despite a visible pro-monarchy current in early 2025, the movement was aimed at reforming the republic, not restoring the king. The constitution held; the transfer of power was constitutional.
The open question
Whether a party with no governing record and a leader who had never sat in parliament can deliver on an anti-corruption mandate. Too early to say.
Economy
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| GDP (nominal) | About US$45–49 billion (2025–26) |
| GDP (PPP) | About US$195 billion |
| GDP per capita (nominal) | About US$1,500–1,650 |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$6,600 |
| GDP growth | 3.4% in H1 FY2025/26; about 4% forecast |
| Composition | Services ~55%, agriculture ~22%, industry ~11% |
| Labour force by sector | Agriculture ~43%, services ~36%, industry ~21% |
| Inflation | About 4–5% |
| Unemployment | About 12.6% (2022); youth unemployment about 20% |
| Poverty | 20.3% below the national line (2022) |
| Foreign exchange reserves | Over US$20 billion (2026) |
| Country classification | Lower-middle-income; still a Least Developed Country — graduation deferred to November 2029 by a request filed in May 2026 |
Then and now
In 2009 Nepal's nominal GDP was around US$14.7 billion with GDP per capita near US$540. It is now roughly three times that in nominal terms, with per capita income near US$1,500.
The structural shift matters more than the totals. Agriculture has fallen from about 35% of GDP to roughly 22%, while services have grown to more than half. Nepal is no longer straightforwardly an agrarian economy — though it is not an industrial one either. Industry has actually shrunk as a share, which is the uncomfortable part.
Old figure still circulating: "Unemployment 46%."
This came from a 2008 estimate and was misleading even then — it conflated unemployment with underemployment in a largely subsistence-agricultural workforce. Current measured unemployment is around 12.6%, with youth unemployment near 20%. The real story isn't unemployment; it's that a large share of the working-age population has left the country to find work.
Remittances: the real engine
If you understand one thing about Nepal's economy, make it this. Money sent home by Nepalis working abroad is worth somewhere around a quarter to a third of GDP — among the highest ratios of any country in the world.
The consequences are double-edged and both sides are real.
What it buys
Remittances have driven most of the fall in poverty, funded schooling and healthcare, and give Nepal a current account surplus and healthy foreign reserves despite a huge trade deficit.
What it costs
The most productive workers are elsewhere. Money flows into consumption and land rather than industry, and the exchange rate effects make domestic manufacturing harder.
The fragility
It depends on labour demand in the Gulf and Malaysia and on the treatment of migrant workers there. Neither is under Nepal's control.
Hydropower
The old profiles said Nepal had enormous hydropower potential and no way to use it. The first half is still true and the second is no longer.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Theoretical potential | About 83,000 MW |
| Economically feasible | About 42,000–45,000 MW |
| Installed capacity | About 3,400–3,900 MW (2025), roughly 95% hydro |
| Under construction | Over 4,000 MW |
| Electricity access | Over 90% of the population |
| Exports | Up to about 1,000 MW to India in the monsoon; first exports to Bangladesh via the Indian grid in 2024–25 |
| Imports | Still required in the dry season, October to May |
| Key agreement | India–Nepal Long-Term Power Trade Agreement, January 2024 — 10,000 MW of export over ten years |
The single biggest change since 2009 is that the load shedding is over. Nepal endured scheduled blackouts of up to 16 hours a day for a decade; they ended around 2017–18. The country now generates a wet-season surplus and sells it across the border. It still imports in the dry season, because run-of-river plants produce far less when the rivers are low — which is why storage projects are the next argument.
Tourism
Tourism is the most visible part of Nepal's economy abroad and a smaller part of it at home than most people assume — significant, but well behind remittances.
| Arrivals | About 1.15 million in 2025 |
| Pre-pandemic peak | About 1.2 million (2019) |
| Main source markets | India, China, United States, United Kingdom, Australia |
| Everest permit | Spring royalty raised to US$15,000 in September 2025, the first increase in a decade |
| Main draws | Everest and Annapurna trekking, Kathmandu Valley heritage, Chitwan wildlife, Lumbini pilgrimage, Pokhara |
| Peak seasons | October to November and March to May |
The concentration problem
A very large share of trekking happens on two circuits, Everest and Annapurna. Crowding, waste and permit management on those routes are persistent issues while most of the country sees almost no visitors.
Vulnerability
Tourism collapses instantly with any shock — the 2015 earthquake, the pandemic, and the September 2025 unrest each produced a sharp drop. It is the least reliable of Nepal's income sources.
New capacity
Gautam Buddha International at Bhairahawa and Pokhara International both opened in 2022–23. Neither has attracted the international traffic that was projected.
Trade and infrastructure
| Exports | About US$3.7 billion (2024–25) |
| Imports | About US$17.8 billion (2024–25) |
| Trade deficit | Roughly US$14 billion — covered by remittances, not by exports |
| Main exports | Refined edible oils (re-export), carpets, garments, textiles, cardamom, tea, electricity |
| Main imports | Petroleum products, machinery, vehicles, gold, medicines, food staples |
| Export partners | India ~67%, United States ~12% |
| Import partners | India ~71%, China ~17% |
| Trade organisations | WTO (2004), SAFTA, BIMSTEC, SAARC |
The dependence on India is the central fact of Nepal's external economy — roughly two-thirds of exports and seven-tenths of imports, with an open border and a currency pegged to the Indian rupee. The 2015 blockade demonstrated how exposed that makes a landlocked country. Efforts to diversify towards China are constrained by the Himalaya, which is a difficult thing to negotiate with.
The refined edible oil export line deserves a note, because it distorts the figures. Nepal imports crude palm and soybean oil, refines it, and re-exports to India under preferential terms. It is Nepal's largest single export category by value and adds relatively little domestic value, so headline export growth overstates the strength of the productive economy.
| Roads | Roughly 30,000 km of strategic road network, much of it unpaved; landslides regularly sever links |
| Railways | Minimal. The Jaynagar–Kurtha/Bijalpura cross-border line with India reopened in 2022 |
| Airports | Around 45–50. Tribhuvan International (Kathmandu) is the main gateway; Gautam Buddha (Bhairahawa) and Pokhara International opened 2022–23 |
| Mobile subscriptions | Well over 100 per 100 people |
| Internet users | Majority of the population; mobile data dominant |
| Electricity access | Over 90% of the population |
Cellular subscriptions exceed population because many people hold more than one SIM. In 2009 the figure was roughly 15 subscriptions per 100 people — the single fastest-moving indicator in this entire profile, and a large part of why a social media ban in 2025 produced the reaction it did.
Foreign relations
Nepal's foreign policy is one long exercise in balancing between two neighbours who between them hold a third of humanity. The traditional formulation, attributed to Prithvi Narayan Shah, is that Nepal is "a yam between two boulders".
India
Open border, free movement of citizens, currency peg, and roughly 70% of trade. Deep cultural and religious ties — and a relationship with periodic sharp frictions, including the 2015 blockade and the Kalapani–Lipulekh border dispute.
China
Growing investment, infrastructure and hydropower involvement, and Belt and Road agreements. Constrained by the Himalaya: the physical difficulty of moving goods across the northern border limits how far the relationship can substitute for India.
The balance
Every Nepali government is read domestically as tilting one way or the other. Managing that perception consumes a large share of the country's diplomatic energy.
| United Nations | Member since 1955 |
| Regional bodies | SAARC (headquartered in Kathmandu), BIMSTEC, Non-Aligned Movement |
| Economic | WTO (2004), World Bank, IMF, Asian Development Bank, AIIB |
| Peacekeeping | Among the largest contributors of troops to UN peacekeeping operations worldwide |
| LDC status | Classified since 1971; graduation deferred to November 2029 by a request filed in May 2026 |
Two things there deserve emphasis. The SAARC secretariat sits in Kathmandu, a legacy of Nepal's usefulness as neutral ground. And Nepal punches far above its weight in UN peacekeeping — a direct continuation of the Gurkha military tradition, and a meaningful source of foreign exchange and professional training.
The Gurkha connection remains live. Nepali citizens still serve in the British Army and in the Indian Army's Gorkha regiments under arrangements dating to the 1947 tripartite agreement. Recruitment into the Indian Army was suspended in 2022 over the Agnipath short-service scheme, and the dispute has not been fully resolved — a small item that carries disproportionate emotional weight in Nepal.
Culture, heritage and symbols
| Flag | The only national flag in the world that is not rectangular — two stacked crimson pennants with a blue border, bearing a white moon and sun |
| Emblem | Adopted 2008: Mount Everest, green hills, the Terai, a man's and woman's hands joined, and the map of Nepal |
| Anthem | "Sayaun Thunga Phulka" (Made of Hundreds of Flowers), adopted 2007 |
| National flower | Rhododendron (lali gurans) |
| National bird | Himalayan monal (danphe) |
| National animal | Cow |
| National colour | Crimson |
The flag's geometry is set out in the constitution with a precise construction procedure — a set of instructions for drawing it with compass and straightedge. The two pennants are generally understood to represent Hinduism and Buddhism, or alternatively the two branches of the ruling houses; the sun and moon are read as a wish that the nation endure as long as they do.
| Site | Listed | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Kathmandu Valley — seven monument zones | 1979 | Cultural |
| Sagarmatha National Park | 1979 | Natural |
| Chitwan National Park | 1984 | Natural |
| Lumbini, birthplace of the Buddha | 1997 | Cultural |
Four listings, comprising ten locations. The Kathmandu Valley listing covers Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur Durbar Squares, the stupas of Swayambhunath and Boudhanath, and the temples of Pashupatinath and Changu Narayan. The valley was on the List of World Heritage in Danger from 2003 to 2007 over loss of traditional fabric.
Dashain
The longest and most important festival, fifteen days in September or October. Effectively shuts the country; the great annual movement of people back to home villages.
Tihar
Five days of lights shortly after Dashain, with days dedicated to crows, dogs, cows and finally to brothers and sisters.
Chhath
A major Terai and Madhesh observance, worship of the sun at river ghats. A marker of the cultural distinctness of the plains.
Losar
New year for the Tibetan-Buddhist communities of the high valleys — Sherpa, Tamang, Gurung and others — falling in winter or early spring.
Two features of Nepali religious life confound outside categories. Hindu and Buddhist practice overlap heavily, with shared shrines and households observing both. And Kathmandu maintains the Kumari tradition — a young girl from the Newar Shakya community venerated as a living goddess, a specifically Newar institution with no clean parallel elsewhere.
What has changed since 2009
Setting a 2009-era profile beside current data makes the scale of the shift clear. This is the comparison that most reference pages online never make, because they are still printing the left-hand column.
| Measure | 2009 | Now |
|---|---|---|
| Constitution | Interim, 2007 | Federal constitution, 2015 |
| Legislature | Constituent Assembly, 601 seats | Bicameral parliament, 275 + 59 |
| Administrative units | 14 zones, 5 development regions | 7 provinces, 77 districts, 753 local units |
| Religion in law | Often described as a Hindu state | Secular (since 2007–08) |
| Head of state | President Ram Baran Yadav | President Ram Chandra Poudel |
| Head of government | PM Madhav Kumar Nepal | PM Balendra Shah, aged 35 |
| Population | 28.6 million, growing 1.3% a year | 29.2 million, essentially flat |
| Fertility | 2.64 | ~1.9, below replacement |
| Life expectancy | 65.5 | ~71–72 |
| Infant mortality | 47.5 per 1,000 | ~24–26 per 1,000 |
| Literacy | 48.6% | 76.3% |
| GDP (nominal) | US$14.7bn | ~US$45bn |
| GDP per capita | ~US$540 | ~US$1,500 |
| Agriculture share of GDP | ~35% | ~22% |
| Electricity | ~700 MW; daily load shedding | ~3,400–3,900 MW; net exporter in monsoon |
| Mobile phones | 4.2 million | Over 100 subscriptions per 100 people |
| Everest height | 8,848 m | 8,848.86 m (2020 joint survey) |
Outdated figures still circulating
Because so much reference material online was written from the same 2009-era source, a specific set of wrong numbers keeps reappearing. If you see any of these, the page is stale — and probably wrong about everything else too.
"Only official Hindu state"
Wrong since 2007. Nepal is constitutionally secular. It does have the world's highest Hindu share of population, which is likely the source of the error.
"14 zones"
Abolished in 2015. Seven provinces, 77 districts and 753 local units.
"Unemployment 46%"
A 2008 artefact conflating unemployment with underemployment. Actual figure around 12.6%.
"Constituent Assembly"
Dissolved. The second assembly became the legislature in 2015; an elected bicameral parliament replaced it in 2017.
"Everest 8,850 m"
The 1999 US GPS figure. The agreed height has been 8,848.86 m since December 2020.
"Literacy 48.6%"
From the 2001 census. The 2021 census records 76.3%.
"Interim constitution"
Superseded on 20 September 2015.
"Province No. 1"
Named Koshi in 2023. Sources from 2020–22 often still use the number.
"Graduating from LDC in 2026"
Deferred. A request filed in May 2026 moved the target to November 2029.
Named officeholders
Any profile naming Ram Baran Yadav, Madhav Kumar Nepal or Girija Prasad Koirala is at least fifteen years old. Koirala died in 2010.
The short version: Nepal has changed more in the last seventeen years than most countries do in fifty. It abolished a 240-year-old monarchy, wrote a federal constitution, held together through an earthquake and a border blockade, ended a decade of daily blackouts and became a power exporter, roughly halved infant mortality, added nearly thirty points of literacy, and saw its fertility rate fall below replacement. It also produced fourteen governments in seventeen years, sent a large share of its workforce abroad to fund the whole arrangement, and in September 2025 watched its parliament burn. In March 2026 it elected a 35-year-old structural engineer and rapper with a near two-thirds majority and no governing record. Whatever comes next, the data from 2009 will not help you predict it.
Sources
Figures on this page are drawn from primary statistical and institutional sources rather than secondary news aggregation. Where sources disagree, a range is given rather than a false precision.
| Area | Source |
|---|---|
| Population, ethnicity, language, religion, literacy | National Population and Housing Census 2021, National Statistics Office, Government of Nepal |
| GDP, growth, poverty, trade | World Bank Nepal Development Update; International Monetary Fund country reports |
| Remittances, reserves, balance of payments | Nepal Rastra Bank |
| Electricity capacity, generation and trade | Nepal Electricity Authority; Water and Energy Commission Secretariat |
| Constitution, provinces, local units | Constitution of Nepal 2015; Nepal Law Commission |
| Election results | Election Commission of Nepal |
| September 2025 events | Human Rights Watch World Report 2026; joint statements of Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists; Nepali press reporting |
| Everest elevation | Joint Nepal–China survey, December 2020 (Survey Department of Nepal) |
| LDC status | UN Committee for Development Policy |
| Heritage listings | UNESCO World Heritage Centre |
Reporting on Nepali domestic politics is drawn from Nepali outlets and international human rights organisations. Coverage of Nepal in the regional press carries well-documented editorial slants in several directions, and has been avoided as a basis for factual claims on this page.
Common questions
What is the population of Nepal?
The 2021 National Population and Housing Census counted 29,164,578 people. Current estimates put the figure at around 29.6 million. Growth has slowed almost to a standstill because the fertility rate has fallen below replacement level and large numbers of working-age adults live abroad.
Is Nepal still a Hindu country?
Nepal is constitutionally secular. It was the world's last official Hindu state until the 2007 interim constitution declared it secular, and the 2015 constitution confirmed this while adding a clause protecting religion and culture as practised since ancient times. About 81% of the population is Hindu — the highest share of any country — so it remains a Hindu-majority country, just not a Hindu state.
Who is the prime minister of Nepal?
Balendra Shah, sworn in on 27 March 2026 at the age of 35, making him the youngest prime minister in Nepal's history. A structural engineer and rapper, he was mayor of Kathmandu from 2022 and led the Rastriya Swatantra Party to 182 of 275 seats in the March 2026 election. The president is Ram Chandra Poudel, in office since March 2023.
How many provinces does Nepal have?
Seven: Koshi, Madhesh, Bagmati, Gandaki, Lumbini, Karnali and Sudurpashchim. They were created by the 2015 constitution, which abolished the previous 14 zones and 5 development regions. Below them are 77 districts and 753 local units. Several provinces went unnamed for years while their assemblies argued; Koshi was the last to be named, in 2023.
What happened in Nepal in September 2025?
The government blocked 26 social media platforms on 4 September for failing to register with the communications ministry. Youth-led protests began on 8 September; police opened fire, killing 19 on the first day. The ban was lifted but protests escalated, with parliament, the Supreme Court and politicians' homes set on fire. Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli resigned on 9 September. Former Chief Justice Sushila Karki was appointed interim prime minister, parliament was dissolved and elections held in March 2026. Around 76 people died.
Was Nepal ever colonised?
No. Nepal is one of a small number of Asian states that were never formally colonised. It fought the Anglo-Nepalese War against Britain from 1814 to 1816 and lost about a third of its territory under the Treaty of Sugauli, but retained sovereignty. The Rana regime from 1846 to 1951 then kept the country deliberately isolated from outside contact.
When did Nepal abolish the monarchy?
On 28 May 2008, at the first meeting of the newly elected Constituent Assembly, which declared Nepal a federal democratic republic and ended 240 years of Shah rule. The final king was Gyanendra, who had taken the throne after the royal massacre of June 2001 and assumed direct rule in 2005, precipitating the mass protests that led to the monarchy's end.
How high is Mount Everest?
8,848.86 metres, agreed by a joint Nepal–China survey announced in December 2020. Earlier figures of 8,848 m (the Indian survey of 1954) and 8,850 m (a 1999 American GPS measurement) are both superseded.
Which of the world's highest mountains are in Nepal?
Eight of the fourteen peaks over 8,000 m lie wholly or partly in Nepal: Everest (1st), Kanchenjunga (3rd), Lhotse (4th), Makalu (5th), Cho Oyu (6th), Dhaulagiri I (7th), Manaslu (8th) and Annapurna I (10th). Everest sits on the border with China and Kanchenjunga on the border with India. K2 and Nanga Parbat, the 2nd and 9th highest, are in Pakistan.
What is Nepal's economy based on?
Services account for roughly 55% of GDP, agriculture about 22% and industry about 11%. But the single largest driver of household income is remittances from Nepalis working abroad, worth roughly a quarter to a third of GDP — among the highest ratios in the world. Tourism and hydropower are the main growth sectors, with electricity now exported to India during the monsoon.
Does Nepal export electricity?
Yes, a substantial change from a decade ago. Installed capacity is around 3,400–3,900 MW, about 95% hydro, and Nepal can export up to roughly 1,000 MW to India during the monsoon. First exports to Bangladesh via the Indian grid began in 2024–25. The India–Nepal Long-Term Power Trade Agreement of January 2024 commits to 10,000 MW of export over ten years. Nepal still imports in the dry season, when run-of-river output falls.
Is Nepal's unemployment rate really 46%?
No. That figure comes from a 2008 estimate that conflated unemployment with underemployment in a largely subsistence-agricultural workforce, and it is still copied across older reference pages. Measured unemployment is around 12.6% (2022), with youth unemployment near 20%. The more meaningful indicator is the scale of outward labour migration.
How many languages are spoken in Nepal?
The 2021 census recorded 124 mother tongues, up from 123 in 2011, alongside 142 caste and ethnic groups. Nepali is the sole official language of federal government and is the first language of about 44.9% of the population. Maithili is second at 11.1%. Provinces may adopt additional official languages for their own business.
Why is Nepal's time zone 45 minutes offset?
Nepal uses UTC+5:45, one of only three time zones in the world on a 45-minute offset. It is set to the local mean time of the meridian passing near Gaurishankar, a mountain east of Kathmandu, and puts Nepal 15 minutes ahead of Indian Standard Time — a distinction generally understood to be as much political as astronomical.
Why is Nepal's flag not rectangular?
It is the only non-rectangular national flag in the world, formed of two stacked crimson pennants with a blue border. The shape derives from combining the separate pennants of two branches of the ruling house. The constitution specifies an exact geometric construction procedure for drawing it. The sun and moon are commonly read as expressing a wish that Nepal endure as long as they do.
What are Nepal's UNESCO World Heritage Sites?
Four listings covering ten locations: the Kathmandu Valley (1979, seven monument zones including the three Durbar Squares, Swayambhunath, Boudhanath, Pashupatinath and Changu Narayan), Sagarmatha National Park (1979), Chitwan National Park (1984) and Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha (1997). Two are cultural and two natural.
What calendar does Nepal use?
The official calendar is Bikram Sambat, which runs roughly 56.7 years ahead of the Gregorian calendar — so 2026 CE corresponds to about 2082–83 BS. The new year falls in mid-April. Government business, official documents and the fiscal year all use Bikram Sambat dates, while international business commonly uses the Gregorian calendar alongside it.
Is Nepal still a Least Developed Country?
Yes. Nepal has been classified as an LDC since the category was created in 1971. It first met the graduation criteria in 2015 but deferred after the earthquake, deferred again in 2018, and in 2021 accepted a five-year preparatory period setting graduation for 24 November 2026. A further deferral request filed with the UN in May 2026 moved the target to November 2029. Nepal is classified separately by the World Bank as a lower-middle-income economy.
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