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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 being 885 km
east to west and the average breadth is 193 km from north to
south. The country is bordering 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 home
place of natural beauty with traces of artifacts. The Northern
range (Himalayas) is covered with snow over 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. 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. In the
geographic diversity and varied climatic conditions 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 history and has maintained it's pride as
being an independent sovereign state. There is constitutional
monarchy where people exercise right of adult franchise. 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 for which
members are elected from 205 electoral constituency distributed
in 75 districts of the country. The elected Prime Minister heads
the government.
Geographically, the country is divided in 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 city. There are
number of peaks, rivers and lakes in the country.
Nepal is the member of the United Nations and has established
diplomatic relation with 113 (Jun 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, ginger.
Economic growth of the country has not improved markedly over
time to over take population growth. As the country estimated
population growth is 2.3 per annum, the gain achieved by
developmental activities has been concealed by 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. Contribution of
non-agricultural activities are gradually increasing in the GDP.
Per capita GDP is estimated in the order of US $ 240
(preliminary estimate) for 2000/01. The currency is Nepalese
Rupee.
District Profile:
Total Area of The Kingdom 1,47,181 Sq.Km.
Total Agricultural Holdings (1991) 25,98,970 Ha. |
