About Nepal

The Country

The Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia and is the world's youngest republic.

It borders with the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China in the North and India in the East, South and West respectively.

AREA: 147,181 sq. kilometers.
ALTITUDE: Varies from 70 meters to 8848 meters.
POPULATION: Approximately 30 million

Nepal is the world's 93rd largest country by land mass and the 41st most populous country. It is a country of highly diverse and rich geography, culture and religious. The mountainous north contains eight of the world's ten highest mountains, including the highest, Mount Everest.

Kathmandu is the nation's capital and the country's largest metropolitan city.

The People

Nepalese people are mainly divided into two distinct groups the Indo-Aryans and the Mangoloids. Kathmandu Valley is the spiritual and cultural meeting point of all these groups. Hindu Temples and Buddhist shrines are scattered all over the country. Although Hinduism is practiced by a majority of the population, the nation has a strong Buddhist tradition, as it is the birthplace of Gautama Buddha.

Nepal is among the poorest and least developed countries in the world with 31% of its population living below the poverty line (income less than $1 a day)

60% of Nepal's population are illiterate.

15% of primary level students in grades 1-5 drop out every year due mainly to poor facilities at school, poverty and hunger.

Nepal has an estimated six million children aged 5-14 and nearly 20% of them have never enrolled in school.