Nepal Map

About Nepal

Nepal is a landlocked strip of country about 880 km long and, on average, under 200 km wide, set along the central Himalaya between China's Tibet Autonomous Region to the north and India on the other three sides. In that short distance the land climbs from about 60 m above sea level in the Terai to 8,848.86 m on the summit of Mount Everest (Sagarmatha in Nepali), the height Nepal and China announced jointly in 2020. About 30 million people live here (UN World Population Prospects, 2025 estimate; the 2021 census counted 29.2 million).

Five belts from the plains to the peaks

Going north from India, the land rises through a series of belts. The Terai is a strip of the flat, fertile Ganges plain that grows most of the country's rice and holds about half of its people. Above it rise the Siwalik (Chure) hills and the inner valleys (dun) such as Chitwan. Next come the Mahabharat Range and the middle hills (Pahad), where terraced farms surround the Kathmandu and Pokhara valleys. The High Himalaya (see Asia's mountain ranges) carries eight of the world's fourteen 8,000 m peaks: Everest, Kangchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Dhaulagiri, Manaslu and Annapurna. Behind the main range lie dry trans-Himalayan valleys such as Mustang and Dolpo, in the rain shadow of the mountains and culturally close to Tibet.

Three river systems, the Koshi in the east, the Gandaki (Narayani) in the centre and the Karnali in the west, cut south through the mountains in deep gorges. All of them feed the Ganges in India, which gives Nepal large hydropower potential. Nepal now exports electricity to India and Bangladesh. The country also lies on the boundary between the Indian and Eurasian plates; the 2015 Gorkha earthquake killed nearly 9,000 people and damaged many of the Kathmandu Valley's temples.

Monsoon seasons and when to go

Around 80 percent of the year's rain falls in the summer monsoon, from June to September, when trails turn muddy, mountain views disappear and landslides often close roads. October and November are the classic trekking season, with clear skies after the rains, and the main festivals, Dashain and Tihar, usually fall then. Spring (March to May) is the second season and the time of most Everest expeditions and rhododendron blossom. In winter the Terai is foggy and mild, Kathmandu has cold nights and the high passes are snowbound.

Provinces and cities

Under the 2015 constitution Nepal became a federal republic of seven provinces: Koshi, Madhesh, Bagmati, Gandaki, Lumbini, Karnali and Sudurpashchim. They are divided into 77 districts and 753 local governments. City figures below are for municipalities in the 2021 census.

• Kathmandu - The capital, with about 860,000 people in the metropolitan city and roughly 3 million across the Kathmandu Valley. Its old royal squares, Swayambhunath and Boudhanath stupas and Pashupatinath temple make up most of the valley's UNESCO site.
• Pokhara - About 510,000 people beside Phewa Lake, the base for the Annapurna treks, with an international airport opened in 2023.
• Bharatpur - About 370,000 people in the inner Terai, the gateway to Chitwan National Park and a road junction on the East-West Highway.
• Lalitpur (Patan) - About 290,000 people just south of Kathmandu across the Bagmati River, famous for its Durbar Square and metalworking traditions.
• Birgunj - About 270,000 people on the Indian border, the main crossing point for trade from Kolkata's ports.
• Biratnagar - About 240,000 people, the industrial centre of the eastern Terai.

From kingdom to republic

Modern Nepal took shape when Prithvi Narayan Shah of Gorkha conquered the Kathmandu Valley in 1768-69. The kingdom's expansion was halted by the Anglo-Nepalese War (1814-16), and the Sugauli treaty set much of today's southern and western border. Nepal was never colonised, although from 1846 to 1951 the Rana family of hereditary prime ministers ruled in the king's name. A Maoist insurgency from 1996 to 2006 ended in a peace deal, and the monarchy was abolished in 2008. One border question remains open: in 2020 Nepal published a map that includes Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura, an area in the north-west administered by India and claimed by both.

In September 2025 youth-led "Gen Z" protests, triggered by a ban on social media platforms and anger at corruption, left more than 70 people dead. The parliament building was set on fire, and Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli resigned. Former chief justice Sushila Karki led an interim government until elections on 5 March 2026. The Rastriya Swatantra Party won 182 of the 275 seats, and former Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah became prime minister on 27 March 2026.

Interesting Facts

• Nepal's flag, two stacked pennants, is the only national flag that is not a rectangle.
• The country runs on UTC+5:45, 15 minutes ahead of India. It is the only country that uses a 45-minute offset nationwide.
• Lumbini in the western Terai is revered as the birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, and is one of Nepal's four UNESCO World Heritage sites, along with the Kathmandu Valley, Sagarmatha National Park and Chitwan National Park.
• The 2021 census recorded 124 mother tongues. Nepali is spoken at home by about 45 percent of people, followed by Maithili and Bhojpuri in the Terai.
• Gurkha soldiers from Nepal's hills have served in the British Army since 1815, and later also in the Indian Army.