Administrative divisions of Nepal
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The administrative divisions of Nepal (Nepali: नेपालको प्रशासनिक विभाजन, romanized: Nēpālakō praśāsanik vibhājana) are subnational administrative units of Nepal. The first level of country subdivision of Nepal are the provinces. Each province is further subdivided into districts, each district into municipalities and rural municipalities, and each of those municipalities into wards. Before 2015, instead of provinces, Nepal was divided into developmental regions and administrative zones.
Fulfilling the requirement of the new constitution of Nepal in 2015, all old municipalities and villages (which were more than 3900 in number) were restructured into 753 new municipalities and rural municipalities.[1][2] The former 75 district development committees (DDC) were also replaced by 77 new district coordination committees (DCC) which have much less power than the DDCs. At present there are 6 metropolitan cities, 11 sub-metropolitan cities, 276 municipalities, and 460 rural municipalities.
| Federal Government | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 Provinces (e.g. Gandaki) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 77 Districts (e.g. Parbat) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 Metropolitan Cities (e.g. Kathmandu) | 11 Sub-Metropolitan Cities (e.g. Dharan) | 276 Municipalities (e.g. Lamki Chuha) | 460 Rural Municipalities (e.g. Mahashila) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Provinces
Nepal is composed of seven provinces.[3] They are defined by schedule 4 of the new constitution, by grouping together the existing districts. Two districts however are split in two parts, ending up in two different provinces.
| Province | Capital | Governor | Chief Minister | Districts | Area | Pop. (2021) |
Density (/km2) |
HDI (2019) |
GDP per capita (USD; 2021) | Map |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Koshi Province | Biratnagar | Parshuram Khapung | Kedar Karki | 14 | 25,905 km2 | 4,972,021 | 192 | 0.597 | 1,298 |  |
| Madhesh Province | Janakpur | Hari Shankar Mishra | Saroj Kumar Yadav | 8 | 9,661 km2 | 6,126,288 | 767 | 0.538 | 882 |  |
| Bagmati Province | Hetauda | Yadav Chandra Sharma | Shalikram Jamkattel | 13 | 20,300 km2 | 6,084,042 | 300 | 0.673 | 2,640 |  |
| Gandaki Province | Pokhara | Prithvi Man Gurung | Khagraj Adhikari | 11 | 21,504 km2 | 2,479,745 | 116 | 0.631 | 1,348 |  |
| Lumbini Province | Deukhuri | Amik Sherchan | Jokh Bahadur Mahara | 12 | 22,288 km2 | 5,124,225 | 230 | 0.583 | 1,209 |  |
| Karnali Province | Birendranagar | Tilak Pariyar | Yamlal Kandel | 10 | 27,984 km2 | 1,694,889 | 61 | 0.568 | 1043 |  |
| Sudurpashchim Province | Godawari | Ganga Prasad Yadav | Kamal Bahadur Shah | 9 | 19,999.28 km2 | 2,711,270 | 136 | 0.579 | 1135 |  |
| Nepal | Kathmandu | President Ram Chandra Poudel |
Sushila Karki (interim) | 77 | 147,641.28 km2 | 30,192,480 | 198 | 0.602 | 1,372 | |
Districts
Provinces are further divided into districts, of which there are 77, since 2017.[4] Each of the districts is governed by a District Coordination Committee.
Municipalities of Nepal
Urban municipalities
Municipalities are places having at least some minimum criteria of population and infrastructure and declared as a municipality by the government. There are 293 municipalities in Nepal.
Rural municipalities
Rural municipalities (Gaunpalikas) were established in 2017, replacing the village development committees (VDCs). The main purpose of a gaunpalika resembles that of a VDC, but it has more rights on collection of royalty and taxes and has a higher annual budget than the VDC. Several VDCs were usually combined into each new gaupalika. There are 460 gaunpalikas in Nepal.