Geography of Nepal

With its fast-flowing Himalayan rivers, Nepal sees hydropower as a key to its development. Lok Sewa often asks about the first power stations, the largest projects, the types of hydropower plants and Nepal’s electricity trade with India and Bangladesh. This note covers all of these in one place.

Transport links Nepal’s mountains, hills and Terai, and connects this landlocked country with India and China. Lok Sewa asks about the main highways and who helped build them, international airports, railways, cable cars and trade routes. This note gathers these facts by type of transport.

Nepal’s twelfth national census, the National Population and Housing Census 2078 (2021), is the main source for population questions in Lok Sewa. This note lists the key figures: total population, sex ratio, growth rate, density, the most and least populous areas, literacy, languages, castes and religions.

Forests cover a large part of Nepal and support farming, water, wildlife and rural livelihoods. Nepal is also known worldwide for its community forestry programme. This note covers forest cover, vegetation zones with their main trees, types of forest management, community forestry, the main laws, and valuable herbs and non-timber forest products.

Nepal is rich in water, forests, biodiversity and some minerals, but it has no petroleum production of its own. Lok Sewa asks about hydropower potential, where minerals such as iron, limestone and magnesite are found, Nepal’s biodiversity and how royalties from natural resources are shared. This note covers each of these resources.

Nepal’s climate changes from tropical heat in the Terai to arctic cold on the Himalayan peaks, all within a short distance. Lok Sewa asks about climatic zones, the monsoon, the wettest and driest places, rain shadow areas and the six seasons of the Nepali calendar. This note covers each of these with the key facts and numbers.

Nepal is home to eight of the fourteen mountains in the world that rise above 8,000 metres, including Sagarmatha (Mount Everest), the highest point on Earth. Lok Sewa regularly asks about their heights, locations, ranks and first ascents. This note puts all of that in one place, along with the mountain ranges of Nepal and key facts about Sagarmatha.

Questions about latitudes, longitudes, time differences and the layers of the atmosphere appear in Lok Sewa general knowledge papers. This note explains the basics of world geography, including how Nepal’s time (GMT +5:45) is fixed, in a simple and exam-focused way.