Local Levels of Nepal by District and Province

The Constitution of Nepal, promulgated in 2015, reorganised the country into a federal democratic republic with three tiers of government: the federal (national) level, seven provinces, and the local level. Article 56 of the constitution defines the local level as comprising rural municipalities (gaunpalika), municipalities (nagarpalika) and district assemblies. Together these local units form the foundation of the federal state and are the layer of government closest to ordinary citizens.

The local level replaced the old structure that had existed before federalism, when local government consisted of fewer than 60 municipalities and around 3,900 Village Development Committees (VDCs). On 10 March 2017 the Government of Nepal dissolved the VDC system and reconstituted the country into 744 new local units; on the recommendation of the Supreme Court, nine further units were later added in the Madhesh (then Province No. 2) region, bringing the final total to 753.

Each local level is an autonomous body with its own elected assembly and executive. The first local elections under the new constitution were held in three phases on 14 May, 28 June and 18 September 2017 — the first local polls in roughly two decades — electing mayors/chairpersons, deputy mayors/vice-chairpersons, ward chairpersons and ward members across all 753 units.

Local levels are classified into four categories based on population, annual revenue, infrastructure and geographic region. From most to least urban, these are: metropolitan city (mahanagarpalika), sub-metropolitan city (upa-mahanagarpalika), municipality (nagarpalika) and rural municipality (gaunpalika). The first three classes are collectively counted as 'municipalities'; rural municipalities cover the more dispersed, less densely settled areas.

Classification thresholds reflect Nepal's varied geography. A metropolitan city broadly requires a very large population (on the order of 300,000–500,000 or more) and high annual revenue; a sub-metropolitan city requires a smaller but still substantial population and revenue. For municipalities the minimum population requirement scales by terrain — lower in mountain districts and higher in the Tarai and Kathmandu Valley — recognising that equal populations occupy very different areas in the high mountains versus the plains.

Nepal's six metropolitan cities are Kathmandu, Pokhara, Lalitpur, Bharatpur, Biratnagar and Birgunj. Three lie in the hills (Kathmandu and Lalitpur in the Kathmandu Valley, and Pokhara in the Pokhara Valley) and three in the Tarai plains (Bharatpur, Biratnagar and Birgunj). Pokhara Metropolitan City, formed by merging the former Pokhara and Lekhnath municipalities, is by far the largest by area, while Kathmandu is the most populous and the national capital.

The eleven sub-metropolitan cities are Itahari, Dharan, Janakpur, Jitpur Simara, Kalaiya, Hetauda, Butwal, Tulsipur, Ghorahi, Nepalgunj and Dhangadhi. These are regional hubs spread across the country, several of which serve as provincial capitals or major commercial gateways. Both metropolitan and sub-metropolitan cities are governed by a mayor and deputy mayor heading a municipal assembly and executive.

Every local level is subdivided into wards, the smallest unit of government in Nepal. Across the 753 local levels there are 6,743 wards in total. The number of wards in any single unit is fixed by law within a range: a rural municipality has between 5 and 21 wards, while a municipality (including metropolitan and sub-metropolitan cities) has between 9 and 35 wards. Kathmandu Metropolitan City, for example, is divided into 32 wards and Pokhara Metropolitan City into 33.

Each ward elects a ward chairperson and four ward members, of whom at least two must be women and at least one a Dalit woman, ensuring inclusive representation at the grassroots. The ward committee delivers front-line services such as vital registration (births, deaths and marriages), local recommendations and certificates, and small-scale ward-level development works, making the ward the point where most citizens interact with their government.

The 753 local levels are not evenly distributed; they are concentrated in the more populous eastern and central provinces. The figures below give each province's number of districts and total local levels. The local-level counts sum to exactly 753, and the district counts to 77.

Koshi and Madhesh provinces in the east and south-east hold the most local levels, reflecting dense Tarai settlement, while the mountainous Karnali Province in the north-west has the fewest. Bagmati Province, home to the Kathmandu Valley, contains three of the country's six metropolitan cities.

Each of Nepal's 77 districts contains a defined set of local levels. A district such as Kaski in Gandaki Province, for instance, includes Pokhara Metropolitan City alongside several municipalities and rural municipalities; smaller mountain districts may contain only a handful of rural municipalities. Listing a district's local levels typically shows each unit's name, its type (metropolitan city, sub-metropolitan city, municipality or rural municipality), its headquarters, and the number of wards it contains.

Because districts are nested inside provinces, a province's full list of local levels is simply the union of its districts' lists. This nesting — local level within district within province — is the structure used by Nepal's official statistics and the basis on which census populations, ward counts and administrative responsibilities are reported.

Local levels are not merely administrative subdivisions; they are constitutionally empowered governments. Schedule 8 of the Constitution of Nepal lists the exclusive powers of the local level, and Schedule 9 lists powers shared concurrently with the federal and provincial governments. Local governments are responsible for areas including town and village planning, local roads and basic infrastructure, basic and secondary education, basic health and sanitation, drinking water, local markets, agriculture and livestock extension, disaster management, and the collection of certain local taxes and fees.

The Local Government Operation Act, 2074 (2017), which came into force in October 2017, provides the detailed legal framework for how local levels exercise these legislative, executive and quasi-judicial functions. Among other things it establishes local assemblies as law-making bodies, defines the role of the executive headed by the mayor or chairperson, and creates judicial committees that mediate and adjudicate certain local disputes — giving each of the 753 local levels a genuine measure of self-government.