Nepal has a wide range of climatic conditions from tropical forest to snow-capped mountains and glaciers. The main rainy season is between late June to September with hot temperatures. The remainder of the year has warm and settled weather. Rainfall decreases from east to west.

Himalayan foothills and the Himalayan range. Mount Everest and seven more of the world's top 10 highest mountains line Nepal's northern border with the Tibetan autonomous region of China. Landlocked Nepal is bordered to the west, south and east by India.

Maps of Nepal

Nepal adopts new constitution

Nepal's President Ram Baran Yadav announced the adoption of theconstitution during a Constituent Assembly meeting. The new constitutionis the first to be drafted by elected representatives.

The official language is Nepali in the Devanagari script. It is related to Hindi, but it is only spoken by just over half the population. There are numerous other languages, including Awadhi, Bantawa, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Chepang, Gurung, Hindi, Kham, Limbu, Magar, Maithili, Newari, Rajbangsi, Santali, Sherpa, Sunwar, Tamang, Tharu and Tibetan. Hindi and English are also used in official and commercial circles.

Nepal's Languages

A mixture of Indo-Aryan peoples, who originally migrated from India, and a range of Mongol tribes, including the Gurungs, Magars, Rai and Limbu, who speak Tibeto-Burman languages. The Kathmandu valley is the home of the Newar community, while small communities of indigenous peoples and Muslim immigrants are found in the Terai.

Ethnic Groups & Nationalities

Nepal is the world's only officially Hindu nation, with 86.2 percent Hindu, 7.8 percent Buddhist, 3.8 percent Muslim and 0.2 percent Christian.

Religion in Nepal

- the House of Representatives ("Pratinidhi Sabha"): 205 members, directly elected for 5 years ; last elections May 1999,

- the National Assembly ("Rastriya Sabha"): 60 members, of which 10 are nominated by the King, 35 are elected by the House of Representatives and 15 by an electoral college of the 5 Development regions; the legislative period is 6 years (one third of the members are newly elected/nominated every 2 years);

January 11, 2007: Interim Paliament

Top leaders of the four major political parties reached an agreement to share the remaining 48 seats in the interim legislature-parliament among the seven-party alliance and the CPN-Maoist. According to the understanding reached during a meeting held at the Prime Minister's official residence at Baluwatar, the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist will get 10 seats each, Nepali Congress (Democratic) six, while Nepal Sadbhavana Party (Anandi Devi), Nepal Workers' and Peasants' Party, Janamorcha Nepal and United Left Front will get three seats each out of the 48 seats, initially allocated for civil society.

11 April 2008: Constituent Assembly Election 2008

Nepal 's Constituent Assembly comprises 601 seats. 240 seats are chosen on a first-past -the-post system.
There are also 335 seats distributed by proportional representation. A further 26 seats will be nominated by the government.

Constituent Assembly Elections

New constitution: federalism and provinces

On 20 September 2015 Nepal has adopted a new constitution. The four major parties in the Special Committee of the Constituent Assembly’s Constitutional Political Dialogue and Consensus Committee have agreed in carving outsix federal provinces in Nepal (six-Pradesh model with the boundaries of new federal states).

New Provinces (Federal States) of Nepal