Nepal

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This article is about the country. For other uses, see Nepal (disambiguation).

Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal Sanghiya Loktntrik Ganatantra Nepl

Flag

Coat of arms

Motto: (Nepali)
"Mother and Motherland are Greater than Heaven"

Anthem: Sayaun Thunga Phulka

Made of Hundreds of Flowers

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Capital and largest city Official languages Demonym Government - President

Kathmandu (Nepali: )
2742N 8519E

Nepali Nepali, Nepalese, Gurkhas Interim parliamentaryrepublic Ram Baran Yadav

- Prime Minister

Sushil Koirala

Legislature

Constituent Assembly Unification

- Kingdom declared

25 September 1768[1]

- State declared

15 January 2007

- Republic declared

28 May 2008

Area - Total 147,181 km2 (95th) 56,827 sq mi - Water (%) 2.8

Population - 2011 census 26,494,504[2] 180/km2 (62nd) 518/sq mi

- Density

GDP (PPP) - Total

2012 estimate $41.22billion [3] $1,200[3]

- Per capita

GDP (nominal) - Total

2012 estimate $19.921 billion[4] $743[4]

- Per capita

Gini (2010)

32.8[5] medium

HDI (2013)

0.463[6][7] low 157th

Currency Time zone

Nepalese rupee (NPR) NPT (UTC+5:45) DST not observed

Drives on the Calling code ISO 3166 code Internet TLD

left +977 NP .np

listen)),

Nepal ( i/npl/ ne-PAWL[8] Nepali: [nepal] (

officially the Federal Democratic

Republic of Nepal,[9] is alandlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. With an area of 147,181 square kilometres (56,827 sq mi) and a population of approximately 27 million (and nearly 2 million absentee workers living abroad),[2] Nepal is the world's 93rd largest country by land mass[10] and the 41st most populous country. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India. Specifically, the Indian states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,West Bengal, and Sikkim border Nepal, while across the Himalayas lies the Tibetan Autonomous Region. Nepal is separated fromBangladesh by the narrow Indian Siliguri corridor. Kathmandu is the nation's capital and largest metropolis. The mountainous north of Nepal has eight of the world's ten tallest mountains, including the highest point on Earth, Mount Everest, called Sagarmatha ( ) in Nepali. It contains more than 240 peaks over 20,000 ft (6,096 m) above sea level.[11] The southern Terai region is fertile and humid. Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Gautam Buddha, is located in this region. Lumbini is

one of the holiest places of one of the world's great religions, and its remains contain important evidence about the nature of Buddhist pilgrimage centres from as early as the 3rd century BC.[12] Hinduism is practiced by about 81.3% of Nepalis, making it the country with the highest percentage of Hindus. Buddhism is linked historically with Nepal and is practiced by 12%, Kirat 5.1%, Islam by 4.4%, Christianity 1.4%, and animism 0.4%.[2] A large section of the population, especially in hill region, even though they follow Hindu customs, may identify themselves as both Hindu as well as Buddhists which can be attributed to syncretic nature of Hinduism and Buddhism in Nepal.[13] A monarchy throughout most of its history, Nepal was ruled by the Shah dynasty of kings from 1768,[1] when Prithvi Narayan Shahunified its many small kingdoms, until 2008; a decadelong Civil War involving the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (Now known as the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)) and several weeks of mass protests by all major political parties led to the 12-point agreement[clarification needed] of 22 November 2005. The ensuing elections for the constituent assembly on 28 May 2008 overwhelmingly favored the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of a federal multiparty representative democraticrepublic. In recent developments, the political parties of Nepal have agreed on forming an interim government under the leadership of Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi in order to hold Constituent Assembly elections by 19 November 2013 to end the political deadlock.[14][15]The second election for the constituent assembly was held successfully and Sushil Koirala was appointed the new prime minister.[16][17] In 2013, Nepal ranked the 157th place on the Human Development Index (HDI) and is one of the least developed nations in the entire world.[18]
Contents [hide] 1 Etymology 2 History o o o o 2.1 Ancient 2.2 Medieval 2.3 Kingdom of Nepal 2.4 Republic

3 Geography o o 3.1 Neotectonics 3.2 Environment

4 Politics o o 4.1 Environmental policy 4.2 Government

4.3 Subdivisions

5 Foreign relations and military 6 Economy 7 Infrastructure o o o o o o 7.1 Energy 7.2 Transport 7.3 Communication 7.4 Education 7.5 Health 7.6 Community forestry

8 Crime and law enforcement 9 Demographics o o o 9.1 Languages 9.2 Religion 9.3 Largest cities

10 Culture o 10.1 Cuisine

11 Sports 12 See also 13 Citations 14 References 15 External links

Etymology