Administrative divisions of Nepal

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The administrative divisions of Nepal (Nepali: नेपालको प्रशासनिक विभाजन Nēpālakō praśāsanika vibhājana) are subnational administrative units of Nepal. The first level of country subdivisions of Nepal are the Provinces. Each province is further subdivided into districts, and each district into municipalities and rural municipalities. 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 Villages.^{[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

Map of Nepal With 7 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.

Provinces of Nepal according to current name, capital cities, area and population

Districts

Provinces are further divided into districts, of which there are 77 (as of 2017).^[4] Each districts is governed by a District Coordination Committee

Districts of Nepal

Municipalities

Urban Municipalities

Further information: List of cities in Nepal

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.

Largest cities or towns in Nepal Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration
	Rank	Name	Province	Pop.	Rank	Name	Province	Pop.
Kathmandu Pokhara	1	Kathmandu	Province No. 3	975,453	11	Tulsipur	Province No. 5	141,528	Lalitpur Bharatpur
	2	Pokhara	Gandaki	414,141	12	Itahari	Province No. 1	140,517
	3	Lalitpur	Province No. 3	284,922	13	Nepalgunj	Province No. 5	138,951
	4	Bharatpur	Province No. 3	280,502	14	Butwal	Province No. 5	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	Jitpur Simara	Province No. 2	117,496
	8	Ghorahi	Province No. 5	156,164	18	Mechinagar	Province No. 1	111,797
	9	Hetauda	Province No. 3	152,875	19	Budhanilkantha	Province No. 3	107,918
	10	Dhangadhi	Sudurpashchim	147,741	20	Gokarneshwar	Province No. 3	107,351

Former developmental 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 (VDC) and municipalities. In the 2001 census, there were 3,915 VDCs and fifty-eight municipalities.^[6]

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
  • Koshi Zone
  • Sagarmatha Zone

See also

• Local self-government in Nepal

References