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Nepal Country Guide

Explore Nepal in Asia

Nepal with the capital city Kathmandu is located in Asia (Southern Asia, between China and India). It covers some 140,800 square kilometres (slightly larger than Arkansas) with 29,519,000 citizens.

Interactive map of Nepal

The landscape offers Tarai or flat river plain of the Ganges in south, central hill region, rugged Himalayas in north. The average density of population is approximately 210 per km². The notable climate conditions in Nepal can be described as varies from cool summers and severe winters in north to subtropical summers and mild winters in south. Potential threats by nature are severe thunderstorms or flooding, landslides or drought and famine depending on the timing, intensity, and duration of the summer monsoons.

To reach someone in Nepal dial +977 prior to a number. There are 820,500 installed telephones. And there are 7,618,000 registered mobile phones. The cellular networks commonly support frequencies of 900/1800 MHz. Websites registered in this country end with the top level domain ".np". If you want to bring electric equipment on your trip (e.g. laptop power supply), note the local power outlet of 230V - 50Hz.

About the flag and history of Nepal

Nepal Flag Icon

Red with a blue border around the unique shape of two overlapping right triangles; the smaller, upper triangle bears a white stylized moon and the larger, lower triangle displays a white 12-pointed sun; the color red represents the rhododendron (Nepal's national flower) and is a sign of victory and bravery, the blue border signifies peace and harmony; the two right triangles are a combination of two single pennons (pennants) that originally symbolized the Himalaya Mountains while their charges represented the families of the king (upper) and the prime minister, but today they are understood to denote Hinduism and Buddhism, the country's two main religions; the moon represents the serenity of the Nepalese people and the shade and cool weather in the Himalayas, while the sun depicts the heat and higher temperatures of the lower parts of Nepal; the moon and the sun are also said to express the hope that the nation will endure as long as these heavenly bodies note: Nepal is the only country in the world whose flag is not rectangular or square.


In 1951, the Nepali monarch ended the century-old system of rule by hereditary premiers and instituted a cabinet system of government. Reforms in 1990 established a multiparty democracy within the framework of a constitutional monarchy. An insurgency led by Maoist extremists broke out in 1996. The ensuing 10-year civil war between insurgents and government forces witnessed the dissolution of the cabinet and parliament and assumption of absolute power by the king. Several weeks of mass protests in April 2006 were followed by several months of peace negotiations between the Maoists and government officials, and culminated in a November 2006 peace accord and the promulgation of an interim constitution. Following a nationwide election in April 2008, the newly formed Constituent Assembly (CA) declared Nepal a federal democratic republic and abolished the monarchy at its first meeting the following month. The CA elected the country's first president in July. Between 2008 and 2011 there have been four different coalition governments, led twice by the United Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist, which received a plurality of votes in the Constituent Assembly election, and twice by the Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist-Leninist. In August 2011, Baburam BHATTARAI of the United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoaist) became prime minister. After the CA failed to draft a constitution by the May 2012 deadline, BHATTARAI dissolved the CA and called for new elections. Months of negotiations failed to produce a new election date. Finally, in March 2013, the chief justice of Nepal''s Supreme Court, Khil Raj REGMI, was sworn in as Chairman of the Interim Council of Ministers for Elections to lead an interim government and charged with holding Constituent Assembly elections by December 2013.



Geography Quick-Facts

SummaryContinent: Asia
Neighbours: China, India
Capital: Kathmandu
Size140,800 square kilometers (km² or sqkm) or 54,363 square miles (mi² or sqmi)
slightly larger than Arkansas
Population29,519,000
CurrencyName Rupee, Currency Code:NPR
Country Top Level Domain (cTLD).np
Telephone Country Prefix+977
Mobile Phone Connections7,618,000
Landline Phone Connections820,500

Country Position in World Rankings

Information about single country attributes and how these compare against the rest of the world. The information below is compiled with data from 2013. As such, it may differ a bit to the Information above in the text (which is from 2010).

Geography

Value nameValueWorld Rank
Area147,181 (sq km)94

People and Society

Value nameValueWorld Rank
Population30,430,267 41
Population growth rate1.81 (%)65
Birth rate21.48 (births/1,000 population)78
Death rate6.68 (deaths/1,000 population)142
Net migration rate3.30 (migrant(s)/1,000 population)30
Maternal mortality rate170.00 (deaths/100,000 live births)60
Infant mortality rate41.76 (deaths/1,000 live births)53
Life expectancy at birth66.86 (years)165
Total fertility rate2.36 (children born/woman)93
Health expenditures5.50 (% of GDP)122
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate0.40 (%)71
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS64,000 51
HIV/AIDS - deaths4,700 40
Obesity - adult prevalence rate1.40 (%)189
Children under the age of 5 years underweight29.10 (%)18
Education expenditures4.70 (% of GDP)86

Economy

Value nameValueWorld Rank
GDP (purchasing power parity)41,220,000,000 102
GDP - real growth rate4.60 (%)71
GDP - per capita (PPP)1,300 207
Labor force18,000,000 33
Unemployment rate46.00 (%)192
Distribution of family income - Gini index32.80 100
Taxes and other revenues18.00 (% of GDP)177
Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-)-6.20 (% of GDP)178
Inflation rate (consumer prices)8.30 (%)182
Central bank discount rate6.50 (%)51
Commercial bank prime lending rate8.00 (%)116
Stock of narrow money2,983,000,000 116
Stock of broad money12,120,000,000 99
Stock of domestic credit9,618,000,000 100
Market value of publicly traded shares4,843,000,000 84
Industrial production growth rate2.90 (%)98
Current account balance93,000,000 53
Exports1,000,000,000 157
Imports6,150,000,000 120
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold3,631,000,000 104
Debt - external3,774,000,000 130

Energy

Value nameValueWorld Rank
Electricity - production3,431,000,000 (kWh)127
Electricity - consumption5,349,000,000 (kWh)112
Electricity - imports74,000,000 (kWh)97
Electricity - installed generating capacity717,000 (kW)129
Electricity - from fossil fuels7.90 (% of total installed capacity)197
Electricity - from hydroelectric plants92.10 (% of total installed capacity)10
Refined petroleum products - consumption18,430 (bbl/day)133
Refined petroleum products - imports17,250 (bbl/day)110
Carbon dioxide emissions from consumption of energy3,359,000 (Mt)137

Communications

Value nameValueWorld Rank
Telephones - main lines in use845,500 85
Telephones - mobile cellular13,355,000 58
Internet hosts41,256 100
Internet users577,800 116

Transportation

Value nameValueWorld Rank
Airports47 94
Railways59 (km)130
Roadways17,282 (km)118

Military

Value nameValueWorld Rank
Military expenditures1.30 (% of GDP)114

Data based on CIA facts book 2010 & 2013, wikipedia, national statistical offices and their census releases

List of current world heritage sites

NameSince
Chitwan National Park
At the foot of the Himalayas, Chitwan is one of the few remaining undisturbed vestiges of the 'Terai' region, which formerly extended over the foothills of India and Nepal. It has a particularly rich flora and fauna. One of the last populations of si ...
1984
Kathmandu Valley
The cultural heritage of the Kathmandu Valley is illustrated by seven groups of monuments and buildings which display the full range of historic and artistic achievements for which the Kathmandu Valley is world famous. The seven include the Durbar Sq ...
1979
Lumbini, the Birthplace of the Lord Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, the Lord Buddha, was born in 623 B.C. in the famous gardens of Lumbini, which soon became a place of pilgrimage. Among the pilgrims was the Indian emperor Ashoka, who erected one of his commemorative pillars there. The site is now ...
1997
Sagarmatha National Park
Sagarmatha is an exceptional area with dramatic mountains, glaciers and deep valleys, dominated by Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world (8,848 m). Several rare species, such as the snow leopard and the lesser panda, are found in the park. The ...
1979