Administrative divisions of Nepal

Politics of Nepal
show Constitution Fundamental Rights and Duties Human rights LGBT rights
show Government President: Bidhya Devi Bhandari Vice President: Nanda Bahadur Pun Executive: Prime Minister: Sher Bahadur Deuba Council of Ministers: Deuba V Cabinet Secretary Federal Parliament: House of Representatives Speaker: Agni Prasad Sapkota House Leader: Sher Bahadur Deuba Opposition Leader: KP Sharma Oli National Assembly Chairman: Ganesh Prasad Timilsina House Leader: Dina Nath Sharma Opposition Leader: Suman Raj Pyakurel Judiciary: Supreme Court Chief Justice of Nepal: Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana District Courts
show Elections Election Commission Political parties Recent elections Presidential: 2008 2015 2018 General: 2008 2013 2017 next Provincial: 2017 Local: 2017
show Federalism Administrative divisions Provinces Provincial governments Provincial Assemblies Governors Chief Ministers Local governments Districts Municipalities Rural Municipalities
show Foreign relations Ministry of Foreign Affairs Minister: Dr. Narayan Khadka Diplomatic missions of / in Nepal Nationality law Passport Visa requirements Visa policy
show Related topics Democracy movement Civil War
Nepal portal Other countries
v t

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.

Provinces[]

7 Provinces of Nepal

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.

Districts[]

77 Districts of Nepal

Provinces are further divided into districts, of which there are 77 (as of 2017).^[6] Each 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.

Urban municipalities are categorized into 3 levels:

• Metropolitan city (Mahanagarpalika)
• Sub metropolitan city (Upmahanagarpalika)
• Municipality (Nagarpalika)

There are six metropolitan cities; the capital city Kathmandu, as well as Bharatpur, Biratnagar, Pokhara, Lalitpur and Birgunj. There are 11 sub-metropolitan cities and 276 municipalities.

v t Largest cities or towns in Nepal Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration [1]
	Rank	Name	Province	Pop.	Rank	Name	Province	Pop.
Kathmandu Pokhara	1	Kathmandu	Bagmati	975,453	11	Tulsipur	Lumbini	141,528	Lalitpur Bharatpur
	2	Pokhara	Gandaki	414,141	12	Itahari	Province No. 1	140,517
	3	Lalitpur	Bagmati	284,922	13	Nepalgunj	Lumbini	138,951
	4	Bharatpur	Bagmati	280,502	14	Butwal	Lumbini	138,741
	5	Birgunj	Province No. 2	240,922	15	Dharan	Province No. 1	137,705
	6	Biratnagar	Province No. 1	214,662	16	Kalaiya	Province No. 2	123,659
	7	Janakpur	Province No. 2	159,468	17	Jitpursimara	Province No. 2	117,496
	8	Ghorahi	Lumbini	156,164	18	Mechinagar	Province No. 1	111,797
	9	Hetauda	Bagmati	152,875	19	Budhanilkantha	Bagmati	107,918
	10	Dhangadhi	Sudurpashchim	147,741	20	Gokarneshwar	Bagmati	107,351

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.

Former development regions and zones[]

Prior to 10 September 2015, Nepal was divided into five developmental regions and fourteen administrative zones. At the time of the 2001 census, it was further subdivided into seventy-five districts. Districts were divided into village development committees and municipalities. In the 2001 census, there were 3,915 VDCs and fifty-eight municipalities.^[7]

Development Regions:

• Far Western
  • Mahakali Zone
  • Seti Zone
• Mid-Western
  • Karnali Zone
  • Bheri Zone
  • Rapti Zone
• Western
  • Dhawalagiri Zone
  • Gandaki Zone
  • Lumbini Zone
• Central
  • Janakpur Zone
  • Bagmati Zone
  • Narayani Zone
• Eastern
  • Mechi Zone
  • Kosi Zone
  • Sagarmatha Zone

See also[]

• Local self-government in Nepal
• List of Mayor of Nepal

Notes[]

References[]