Country Profile
Situated in the lap of the Himalayas, Nepal is located between the latitude 26*22' to 30*27' North and longitude 80*4' E to 88*12' East, and elevation ranges from 90 to 8848 meters. The average length is 885 km east to west and the average breadth is 193 km from north to south. The country is bordered by between the two most populous countries in the world, India in the east, south, and west, and China in the north. Nepal is a land locked country and is home to natural beauty with traces of ancient treasures. The northern range of the Himalayas is covered with snow all throughtout the year, where the highest peak of the world, the Mount Everest, stands. The middle range (Hill) is captured by gorgeous mountains, high peaks, hills, valleys and lakes. The southern range (Terai) is the Gangaitic plain of alluvial soil and consist of dense forest area, national parks, wildlife reserves and conservation areas. The temperature and rainfall differ from place to place. This geographic diversity and varied climatic conditions accomodate 23.2 million people of more than 60 caste/ethnic groups are accommodated in the country. Nepal presents an example of being united in diversity over the course of history and has maintained its pride of being an independent sovereign state. There is a constitutional monarchy where people exercise right to vote. The executive, legislative and judiciary bodies function and exercise their rights independently. There is two tier system of legislation, the upper house, called the Rastriya Sabha, consists of 60 members and the Lower House, called the Pratinidhi Sabha is the house of Representatives whose members are elected from 205 electoral constituencies distributed in 75 districts of the country. The elected Prime Minister heads the government.
Geographically, the country is divided into three regions; Mountain, Hill and Terai accommodating 7.44 and 49 % of the population respectively. Based on area of districts these regions constitute 35, 42 and 23% of the total land area. There are 5 development regions and 75 administrative districts. Districts are further divided into smaller units, called Village Development Committee (VDC) and Municipality.

Currently, there are 3914 VDCs and 58 Municipalities in the country. Each VDC is composed of 9 wards, Municipality ward ranges from 9 to 35. Kathmandu is the capital. There are numerous peaks, rivers and lakes in the country.

Nepal is a member of the United Nations and has established diplomatic relations with 113 (as of June 2001) countries of the world. Major export commodities are paste, pulses, oil cake, catechu, jute good sacking, twins, carpets (hand knitted wollen), readymade garments, handicrafts and ginger.

Nepal's economic growth has not improved markedly over time in relation to population growth. As the country's estimated population growth is 2.3 per annum, the gain achieved by developmen activities has been concealed by the growing population. Little over half (57%)of the population of working age reported economically active in 1991 and among them 81% were engaged in agricultural activities. The contribution of non-agricultural activities is gradually increasing in the GDP (just as a sidenote, GDP is not always an accurate indicator of economic growth; there are multiple factors that are either neglected or distorted in GDP calculations. In other words, GDP doesn't tell the whole story of the nation's economic being). Per capita GDP is estimated in the order of US $ 240 (preliminary estimate) for 2000/01. The currency is the Nepalese rupee.

Total Area of The Kingdom 1,47,181 Sq.Km.
Total Agricultural Holdings (1991) 25,98,970 Ha.

Provisional Population 2001
Total 2,32,14,681
Male 1,15,87,547
Female 1,16,27,134