Nepal (2004) | World (2002) | |
Administrative divisions | 14 zones (anchal, singular and plural); Bagmati, Bheri, Dhawalagiri, Gandaki, Janakpur, Karnali, Kosi, Lumbini, Mahakali, Mechi, Narayani, Rapti, Sagarmatha, Seti | 268 nations, dependent areas, other, and miscellaneous entries |
Age structure | 0-14 years: 39.4% (male 5,500,698; female 5,151,705)
15-64 years: 57% (male 7,912,553; female 7,518,430) 65 years and over: 3.6% (male 483,998; female 503,282) (2004 est.) |
0-14 years: 29.2% (male 932,581,592; female 885,688,851)
15-64 years: 63.7% (male 2,009,997,089; female 1,964,938,201) 65 years and over: 7.1% (male 193,549,180; female 247,067,032) (2002 est.) |
Agriculture - products | rice, corn, wheat, sugarcane, root crops; milk, water buffalo meat | - |
Airports | 46 (2003 est.) | - |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 9
over 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 7 (2004 est.) |
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Airports - with unpaved runways | total: 37
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 7 under 914 m: 29 (2004 est.) |
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Area | total: 140,800 sq km
land: 136,800 sq km water: 4,000 sq km |
total: 510.072 million sq km
land: 148.94 million sq km water: 361.132 million sq km note: 70.8% of the world's surface is water, 29.2% is land |
Area - comparative | slightly larger than Arkansas | land area about 16 times the size of the US |
Background | In 1951, the Nepalese monarch ended the century-old system of rule by hereditary premiers and instituted a cabinet system of government. Reforms in 1990 established a multiparty democracy within the framework of a constitutional monarchy. A Maoist insurgency, launched in 1996, has gained traction and is threatening to bring down the regime, especially after a negotiated cease-fire between the Maoists and government forces broke down in August 2003. In 2001, the crown prince massacred ten members of the royal family, including the king and queen, and then took his own life. In October 2002, the new king dismissed the prime minister and his cabinet for "incompetence" after they dissolved the parliament and were subsequently unable to hold elections because of the ongoing insurgency. While stopping short of reestablishing parliament, the king in June 2004 reinstated the most recently elected Prime Minister who formed a four-party coalition government, which the king subsequently tasked with paving the way for elections to be held in spring of 2005. | Globally, the 20th century was marked by: (a) two devastating world wars; (b) the Great Depression of the 1930s; (c) the end of vast colonial empires; (d) rapid advances in science and technology, from the first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (US) to the landing on the moon; (e) the Cold War between the Western alliance and the Warsaw Pact nations; (f) a sharp rise in living standards in North America, Europe, and Japan; (g) increased concerns about the environment, including loss of forests, shortages of energy and water, the decline in biological diversity, and air pollution; (h) the onset of the AIDS epidemic; and (i) the ultimate emergence of the US as the only world superpower. The planet's population continues to explode: from 1 billion in 1820, to 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1988, and 6 billion in 2000. For the 21st century, the continued exponential growth in science and technology raises both hopes (e.g., advances in medicine) and fears (e.g., development of even more lethal weapons of war). |
Birth rate | 31.96 births/1,000 population (2004 est.) | 21.16 births/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
Budget | revenues: $665 million
expenditures: $1.1 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (FY99/00 est.) |
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Capital | Kathmandu | - |
Climate | varies from cool summers and severe winters in north to subtropical summers and mild winters in south | two large areas of polar climates separated by two rather narrow temperate zones form a wide equatorial band of tropical to subtropical climates |
Coastline | 0 km (landlocked) | 356,000 km |
Constitution | 9 November 1990 | - |
Country name | conventional long form: Kingdom of Nepal
conventional short form: Nepal |
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Currency | Nepalese rupee (NPR) | - |
Death rate | 9.66 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.) | 8.93 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
Debt - external | $2.7 billion (2001) | $2 trillion for less developed countries (2001 est.) |
Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission: Ambassador James F. MORIARTY
embassy: Panipokhari, Kathmandu mailing address: use embassy street address telephone: [977] (1) 411179 FAX: [977] (1) 419963 |
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Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Kedar Bhakta SHRESTHA
chancery: 2131 Leroy Place NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 667-4550 FAX: [1] (202) 667-5534 consulate(s) general: New York |
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Disputes - international | joint border commission continues to work on small disputed sections of boundary with India; India has instituted a stricter border regime to restrict transit of Maoist insurgents and illegal cross-border activities | - |
Economic aid - recipient | $424 million (FY00/01) | official development assistance (ODA) $50 billion (2001 est.) |
Economy - overview | Nepal is among the poorest and least developed countries in the world with 42% of its population living below the poverty line. Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy, providing a livelihood for over 80% of the population and accounting for 40% of GDP. Industrial activity mainly involves the processing of agricultural produce including jute, sugarcane, tobacco, and grain. Security concerns in the wake of the Maoist conflict and the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the US have led to a decrease in tourism, a key source of foreign exchange. Nepal has considerable scope for exploiting its potential in hydropower and tourism, areas of recent foreign investment interest. Prospects for foreign trade or investment in other sectors will remain poor, however, because of the small size of the economy, its technological backwardness, its remoteness, its landlocked geographic location, its civil strife, and its susceptibility to natural disaster. The international community's role of funding more than 60% of Nepal's development budget and more than 28% of total budgetary expenditures will likely continue as a major ingredient of growth. | Growth in global output (gross world product, GWP) fell from 4.8% in 2000 to 2.2% in 2001. The causes: slowdowns in the US economy (21% of GWP) and in the 15 EU economies (20% of GWP); continued stagnation in the Japanese economy (7.3% of GWP); and spillover effects in the less developed regions of the world. China, the second largest economy in the world (12% of GWP), proved an exception, continuing its rapid annual growth, officially announced as 7.3% but estimated by many observers as perhaps two percentage points lower. Russia (2.6% of GWP), with 5.2% growth, continued to make uneven progress, its GDP per capita still only one-third that of the leading industrial nations. The other 14 successor nations of the USSR and the other old Warsaw Pact nations again experienced widely divergent growth rates; the three Baltic nations were strong performers, in the 5% range of growth. The developing nations also varied in their growth results, with many countries facing population increases that eat up gains in output. Externally, the nation-state, as a bedrock economic-political institution, is steadily losing control over international flows of people, goods, funds, and technology. Internally, the central government often finds its control over resources slipping as separatist regional movements - typically based on ethnicity - gain momentum, e.g., in many of the successor states of the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, in India, in Indonesia, and in Canada. In Western Europe, governments face the difficult political problem of channeling resources away from welfare programs in order to increase investment and strengthen incentives to seek employment. The addition of 80 million people each year to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution, desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Because of their own internal problems and priorities, the industrialized countries devote insufficient resources to deal effectively with the poorer areas of the world, which, at least from the economic point of view, are becoming further marginalized. The introduction of the euro as the common currency of much of Western Europe in January 1999, while paving the way for an integrated economic powerhouse, poses economic risks because of varying levels of income and cultural and political differences among the participating nations. The terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September 2001 accentuate a further growing risk to global prosperity, illustrated, for example, by the reallocation of resources away from investment to anti-terrorist programs. (For specific economic developments in each country of the world in 2001, see the individual country entries.) |
Electricity - consumption | 1.764 billion kWh (2001) | - |
Electricity - exports | 95 million kWh (2001) | - |
Electricity - imports | 227 million kWh (2001) | - |
Electricity - production | 1.755 billion kWh (2001) | - |
Electricity - production by source | - | fossil fuel: NA%
hydro: NA% nuclear: NA% other: NA% |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Kanchan Kalan 70 m
highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m (1999) |
lowest point: Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,540 m
note: in the oceanic realm, Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is the lowest point, lying -10,924 m below the surface of the Pacific Ocean highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m (1999 est.) |
Environment - current issues | deforestation (overuse of wood for fuel and lack of alternatives); contaminated water (with human and animal wastes, agricultural runoff, and industrial effluents); wildlife conservation; vehicular emissions | large areas subject to overpopulation, industrial disasters, pollution (air, water, acid rain, toxic substances), loss of vegetation (overgrazing, deforestation, desertification), loss of wildlife, soil degradation, soil depletion, erosion |
Environment - international agreements | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Marine Life Conservation |
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Ethnic groups | Brahman, Chetri, Newar, Gurung, Magar, Tamang, Rai, Limbu, Sherpa, Tharu, and others (1995) | - |
Exchange rates | Nepalese rupees per US dollar - 76.1414 (2003), 77.8766 (2002), 74.9492 (2001), 71.0938 (2000), 68.2394 (1999) | - |
Executive branch | chief of state: King GYANENDRA Bir Bikram Shah (succeeded to the throne 4 June 2001 following the death of his nephew, King DIPENDRA Bir Bikram Shah)
head of government: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur DEUBA (since 3 June 2004); note - Prime Minister THAPA resigned 7 May 2004 cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the monarch on the recommendation of the prime minister elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or leader of a majority coalition is usually appointed prime minister by the monarch note: King BIRENDRA Bir Bikram Shah Dev died in a bloody shooting at the royal palace on 1 June 2001 that also claimed the lives of most of the royal family; King BIRENDRA's son, Crown Price DIPENDRA, is believed to have been responsible for the shootings before fatally wounding himself; immediately following the shootings and while still clinging to life, DIPENDRA was crowned king; he died three days later and was succeeded by his uncle |
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Exports | NA (2001) | $6.3 trillion f.o.b. (2001 est.) |
Exports - commodities | carpets, clothing, leather goods, jute goods, grain | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
Exports - partners | India 50.7%, US 26%, Germany 6.6% (2003) | in value, about 75% of exports from the developed countries |
Fiscal year | 16 July - 15 July | - |
Flag description | red with a blue border around the unique shape of two overlapping right triangles; the smaller, upper triangle bears a white stylized moon and the larger, lower triangle bears a white 12-pointed sun | - |
GDP | purchasing power parity - $38.29 billion (2003 est.) | GWP (gross world product) - purchasing power parity - $47 trillion (2001 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 40%
industry: 20% services: 40% (2002 est.) |
agriculture: 4%
industry: 32% services: 64% (2001 est.) |
GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $1,400 (2003 est.) | purchasing power parity - $7,600 (2001 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | 3% (2003 est.) | 2.2% (2001 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 28 00 N, 84 00 E | - |
Geography - note | landlocked; strategic location between China and India; contains eight of world's 10 highest peaks, including Mount Everest - the world's tallest - on the border with China | the world is now thought to be about 4.55 billion years old, just about one-third of the 13-billion-year age estimated for the universe |
Highways | total: 13,223 km
paved: 4,073 km unpaved: 9,150 km (1999 est.) |
total: NA km
paved: NA km unpaved: NA km |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: 3.2%
highest 10%: 29.8% (1995-96) |
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA% |
Illicit drugs | illicit producer of cannabis and hashish for the domestic and international drug markets; transit point for opiates from Southeast Asia to the West | - |
Imports | NA (2001) | $6.3 trillion f.o.b. (2001 est.) |
Imports - commodities | gold, machinery and equipment, petroleum products, fertilizer | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
Imports - partners | India 22.9%, China 13.4%, UAE 12.5%, Singapore 7.1%, Saudi Arabia 5.5%, Kuwait 4.6% (2003) | in value, about 75% of imports into the developed countries |
Independence | 1768 (unified by Prithvi Narayan Shah) | - |
Industrial production growth rate | 8.7% (FY99/00) | 6% (2000 est.) |
Industries | tourism, carpet, textile; small rice, jute, sugar, and oilseed mills; cigarette; cement and brick production | dominated by the onrush of technology, especially in computers, robotics, telecommunications, and medicines and medical equipment; most of these advances take place in OECD nations; only a small portion of non-OECD countries have succeeded in rapidly adjusting to these technological forces; the accelerated development of new industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating already grim environmental problems |
Infant mortality rate | total: 68.77 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 67.1 deaths/1,000 live births female: 70.53 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.) |
51.55 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 2.9% (2002 est.) | developed countries 1% to 4% typically; developing countries 5% to 60% typically (2001 est.); national inflation rates vary widely in individual cases, from declining prices in Japan to hyperinflation in several Third World countries |
International organization participation | AsDB, CP, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO (correspondent), ITU, MICAH, MIGA, MONUC, NAM, ONUB, OPCW, SAARC, SACEP, UN, UNAMSIL, UNCTAD, UNDOF, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMEE, UNMIK, UNMIL, UNMISET, UNOCI, UNTSO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, WToO, WTrO (observer) | - |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | - | 10,350 (2000 est.) |
Irrigated land | 11,350 sq km (1998 est.) | 2,714,320 sq km (1998 est.) |
Judicial branch | Supreme Court or Sarbochha Adalat (chief justice is appointed by the monarch on recommendation of the Constitutional Council; the other judges are appointed by the monarch on the recommendation of the Judicial Council) | - |
Labor force | 10 million
note: severe lack of skilled labor (1996 est.) |
NA |
Labor force - by occupation | agriculture 81%, industry 3%, services 16% | agriculture NA%, industry NA%, services NA% |
Land boundaries | total: 2,926 km
border countries: China 1,236 km, India 1,690 km |
the land boundaries in the world total 250,472 km (not counting shared boundaries twice) |
Land use | arable land: 21.68%
permanent crops: 0.64% other: 77.68% (2001) |
arable land: 10.58%
permanent crops: 1% other: 88.42% (1998 est.) |
Languages | Nepali (official; spoken by 90% of the population), about a dozen other languages and about 30 major dialects; note - many in government and business also speak English (1995) | Chinese, Mandarin 14.37%, Hindi 6.02%, English 5.61%, Spanish 5.59%, Bengali 3.4%, Portuguese 2.63%, Russian 2.75%, Japanese 2.06%, German, Standard 1.64%, Korean 1.28%, French 1.27% (2000 est.)
note: percents are for "first language" speakers only |
Legal system | based on Hindu legal concepts and English common law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction | all members of the UN plus Switzerland are parties to the statute that established the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court |
Legislative branch | bicameral Parliament consists of the National Council (60 seats; 35 appointed by the House of Representatives, 10 by the king, and 15 elected by an electoral college; one-third of the members elected every two years to serve six-year terms) and the House of Representatives (205 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
elections: House of Representatives - last held 3 and 17 May 1999 (next election NA 2004) note: Nepal's Parliament was dissolved on 22 May 2002 election results: House of Representatives - percent of vote by party - NC 37.3%, CPN/UML 31.6%, NDP 10.4%, NSP 3.2%, Rastriya Jana Morcha 1.4%, Samyukta Janmorcha Nepal 0.8%, NWPP 0.5%, others 14.8%; seats by party - NC 113, CPN/UML 69, NDP 11, NSP 5, Rastriya Jana Morcha 5, Samyukta Janmorcha Nepal 1, NWPP 1 |
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Life expectancy at birth | total population: 59.4 years
male: 59.73 years female: 59.06 years (2004 est.) |
total population: 63.94 years
male: 62.28 years female: 65.67 years (2002 est.) |
Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 45.2% male: 62.7% female: 27.6% (2003 est.) |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 77% male: 83% female: 71% (1995 est.) |
Location | Southern Asia, between China and India | - |
Map references | Asia | Physical Map of the World, Political Map of the World, Standard Time Zones of the World |
Maritime claims | none (landlocked) | a variety of situations exist, but in general, most countries make the following claims: contiguous zone - 24 NM; continental shelf - 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation, or 200 NM or to the edge of the continental margin; exclusive fishing zone - 200 NM; exclusive economic zone - 200 NM; territorial sea - 12 NM; boundary situations with neighboring states prevent many countries from extending their fishing or economic zones to a full 200 NM; 43 nations and other areas that are landlocked include Afghanistan, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, Slovakia, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, West Bank, Zambia, Zimbabwe; two of these, Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan, are doubly landlocked |
Military branches | Royal Nepalese Army (includes Royal Nepalese Army Air Service), Nepalese Police Force | - |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | $295 million (FY03) | aggregate real expenditure on arms worldwide in 1999 remained at approximately the 1998 level, about three-quarters of a trillion dollars (1999 est.) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 1.6% (2003) | roughly 2% of gross world product (1999 est.) |
Military manpower - availability | males age 15-49: 6,865,849 (2004 est.) | - |
Military manpower - fit for military service | males age 15-49: 3,566,576 (2004 est.) | - |
Military manpower - reaching military age annually | males: 308,776 (2004 est.) | - |
National holiday | Birthday of King GYANENDRA, 7 July (1946) | - |
Nationality | noun: Nepalese (singular and plural)
adjective: Nepalese |
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Natural hazards | severe thunderstorms, flooding, landslides, drought, and famine depending on the timing, intensity, and duration of the summer monsoons | large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones), natural disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions) |
Natural resources | quartz, water, timber, hydropower, scenic beauty, small deposits of lignite, copper, cobalt, iron ore | the rapid depletion of nonrenewable mineral resources, the depletion of forest areas and wetlands, the extinction of animal and plant species, and the deterioration in air and water quality (especially in Eastern Europe, the former USSR, and China) pose serious long-term problems that governments and peoples are only beginning to address |
Net migration rate | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.) | - |
Political parties and leaders | Communist Party of Nepal/United Marxist-Leninist or CPN/UML [Madhav Kumar NEPAL, general secretary]; National Democratic Party or NDP (also called Rastriya Prajantra Party or RPP) [Surya Bahadur THAPA, chairman]; People's Front Nepal (Rastriya Jana Morcha) [Chitra BAHADUR, chairman]; Nepal Sadbhavana (Goodwill) Party or NSP [Bhadri Prasad MANDAL, acting party president]; Nepal Workers and Peasants Party or NWPP [Narayan Man BIJUKCHHE, party chairman]; Nepali Congress or NC [Girija Prasad KOIRALA, party president; Sushil KOIRALA, general secretary]; Nepali Congress-Democratic [Sher Bahadur DEUBA, president]; Samyukta Janmorcha Nepal [NA leader] | - |
Political pressure groups and leaders | Maoist guerrilla-based insurgency [Pushpa Kamal DAHAL, also known as PRAHANDA, chairman; Dr. Baburam BHATTARAI, from Communist Party of Nepal/Maoist, chief negotiator]; numerous small, left-leaning student groups in the capital; several small, radical Nepalese antimonarchist groups | - |
Population | 27,070,666 (July 2004 est.) | 6,233,821,945 (July 2002 est.) |
Population below poverty line | 42% (1995-96) | - |
Population growth rate | 2.23% (2004 est.) | 1.23% (2002 est.) |
Ports and harbors | none | Chiba, Houston, Kawasaki, Kobe, Marseille, Mina' al Ahmadi (Kuwait), New Orleans, New York, Rotterdam, Yokohama |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 6, FM 5, shortwave 1 (January 2000) | AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA |
Radios | - | NA |
Railways | total: 59 km
narrow gauge: 59 km 0.762-m gauge (2003) |
total: 1,201,337 km includes about 190,000 to 195,000 km of electrified routes of which 147,760 km are in Europe, 24,509 km in the Far East, 11,050 km in Africa, 4,223 km in South America, and 4,160 km in North America; note - fastest speed in daily service is 300 km/hr attained by France's Societe Nationale des Chemins-de-Fer Francais (SNCF) Le Train a Grande Vitesse (TGV) - Atlantique line
broad gauge: 251,153 km standard gauge: 710,754 km narrow gauge: 239,430 km |
Religions | Hinduism 86.2%, Buddhism 7.8%, Islam 3.8%, other 2.2%
note: only official Hindu state in the world (1995) |
Christians 32.88% (of which Roman Catholics 17.39%, Protestants 5.62%, Orthodox 3.54%, Anglicans 1.31%), Muslims 19.54%, Hindus 13.34%, Buddhists 5.92%, Sikhs 0.38%, Jews 0.24%, other religions 12.6%, non-religious 12.63%, atheists 2.47% (2000 est.) |
Sex ratio | at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.07 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.96 male(s)/female total population: 1.06 male(s)/female (2004 est.) |
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.78 male(s)/female total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2002 est.) |
Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | - |
Telephone system | general assessment: poor telephone and telegraph service; fair radiotelephone communication service and mobile cellular telephone network
domestic: NA international: country code - 977; radiotelephone communications; microwave landline to India; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) |
general assessment: NA
domestic: NA international: NA |
Telephones - main lines in use | 371,800 (2003) | NA |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 50,400 (2003) | NA |
Television broadcast stations | 1 (plus 9 repeaters) (1998) | NA |
Terrain | Terai or flat river plain of the Ganges in south, central hill region, rugged Himalayas in north | the greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m in the Pacific Ocean |
Total fertility rate | 4.29 children born/woman (2004 est.) | 2.7 children born/woman (2002 est.) |
Unemployment rate | 47% (2001 est.) | 30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment (2001 est.) |