About Nepal

NEPAL
PACOUNTRY OVERVIEW

Location and Physiographic
1. Nepal is located between longitude 80o4' and 88o12' and between latitude 26o22' and 30o27'. It borders the Peoples Republic of China in the north and India in the east, south and west. Nepal has a breadth east to west of 885 km, a mean width of 193 km and covers an area of 147,181 sq km. Topographically the Country is divided into three bands running the full breadth and comprising the Terai (southern plains), the Mid-Hills and the Mountains. The Mid-Hills and Mountains together represent 83% of the total area of Nepal.

2. The hill areas are geologically very young and active, and are affected by a constant tectonic uplifting accompanied by down-cutting of the river systems. This action on the predominately soft and deeply weathered nature of the rock has produced extremely rugged topography with local differences in elevation varying from 500 metres to 3,500 metres and rising to 8,848 metres (Mount Everest) above mean sea level. The resulting steep, unstable and highly erodible slopes are divided into many gullies and small valleys and the provision and maintenance of even basic infrastructure in such extreme conditions is both difficult and costly.

3. The Country is administered through five development regions: eastern, central, western, mid-western and far-western. These are further subdivided into 14 zones, 75 districts, 58 municipalities, and 3,914 Village Development Committees. Although the declared policy of Government is to decentralise development responsibility to the local level, this is proving difficult in practice due, in part, to the lack of local capability and hence, poor resource mobilisation.
 

Clomate
4. Nepal lies in the monsoon belt but the climate is dictated by altitude and varies from sub-tropical on the Terai plains to alpine and tundra in the Mountains. Annual rainfall differs from place to place ranging from less than 250 mm in the Mountains to more than 4,000 mm in the Mid-Hills (near Pokhara). Most of the precipitation occurs during the period June to September and is concentrated in the Mid-Hills and the Terai. The high concentration during the monsoon months results in flooding, heavy erosion and triggers landslips over a wide area.
 

Demography
5. The 2001 census recorded a population level of 23.2 million. Of this figure, some 11.20 million are based in the Mid-Hills, some 2.00 million are in the Mountains, and the remaining 10 million are in the Terai. Outside the Kathmandu Valley, the eastern and central Terai has the highest population density ranging from 300 - 1,100 per sq km. Density in the Kathmandu Valley lies between 1,100 and a maximum of 1,710 in Kathmandu itself.

6. Major changes have taken place and are continuing to take place in the distribution of population among the various parts of the Country. These changes are largely intra-regional and involve a pronounced shift of population from the Mountains and Mid-Hills to the Terai. Zones with the largest exodus have been the eastern Mountains and Mid-Hills followed by the western and central Mid-Hills. In addition to these movements, there is a continuing migration from the rural areas to Kathmandu whose population has increased threefold over the past 5 years to some 1000,000.
 

	Royal family of Nepal
	King Birendra

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