Metropolitan & Sub-Metropolitan Cities of Nepal (2021 Census)

A metropolitan city (Nepali: महानगरपालिका, mahanagarpalika) is the highest tier of urban local government in Nepal. There are exactly 6 metropolitan cities, all designated during the 2017 (Bikram Sambat 2074) restructuring that reorganised the country into 753 local units. In descending order of 2021 census population they are Kathmandu, Pokhara, Bharatpur, Lalitpur, Birgunj and Biratnagar. Three of the six — Kathmandu, Bharatpur and Lalitpur — lie in Bagmati Province, underscoring how urban weight is concentrated in and around the central hills and the Kathmandu Valley.

Kathmandu Metropolitan City is by far the largest, with a 2021 population of roughly 862,400 across 49.45 square kilometres and 32 wards, giving one of South Asia's highest urban densities at over 17,000 people per square kilometre. Pokhara, the tourism gateway to the Annapurna region, is second with about 513,504 people but spreads across a vast 464 square kilometres and 33 wards, so its density is far lower. Bharatpur (Chitwan district, about 369,268 people) is Nepal's third-largest city and a fast-growing Terai–inner-Terai hub on the East–West Highway.

The remaining three metros are Lalitpur, historically known as Patan and famed for its Durbar Square and Newar metal-craft (about 294,098 people, 29 wards); Birgunj in Parsa district, the 'Gateway of Nepal' and its busiest land customs point with India at Raxaul (about 272,382 people, 32 wards); and Biratnagar in Morang district, Koshi Province's capital and Nepal's historic industrial capital (about 244,000 people, 19 wards). Each metropolitan city is governed by an elected mayor, deputy mayor and ward chairs, and runs its own municipal executive office.

A sub-metropolitan city (Nepali: उपमहानगरपालिका, upamahanagarpalika) sits one rung below a metropolis in the local-government hierarchy. Nepal has 11 sub-metropolitan cities, also fixed in the 2017 restructuring. They are spread more evenly across the country than the metros, giving several provinces a large regional centre: Lumbini Province alone hosts four sub-metros (Ghorahi, Butwal, Tulsipur and Nepalgunj), while Koshi Province has two (Itahari and Dharan) and Madhesh Province has three (Janakpur, Kalaiya and Jitpursimara).

By 2021 population, Ghorahi in Dang district is the largest sub-metro (about 200,530 people), followed by Dhangadhi (Kailali, Sudurpashchim Province, ~198,792), Itahari (Sunsari, ~197,241), Janakpur (Dhanusha, ~194,556) and Butwal (Rupandehi, ~194,335). Janakpur, birthplace-of-Sita in the Ramayana tradition and site of the Janaki Temple, is a major Hindu pilgrimage centre; Butwal and Dhangadhi are key highway commercial hubs; and Itahari is a fast-rising road-junction city in the eastern Terai.

The remaining sub-metros are Hetauda (Makawanpur, seat of Bagmati Province, ~193,576), Tulsipur (Dang, ~179,755), Dharan (Sunsari, a hillside garrison-and-education town, ~166,531), Nepalgunj (Banke, the main city of the mid-western Terai, ~164,444), Kalaiya (Bara, ~136,222) and Jitpursimara (Bara, an industrial corridor city, ~127,307). Like metros, each sub-metropolitan city elects a mayor and deputy mayor and is divided into 19 to 27 wards.

Nepal's urban tiers are set by the Constitution of Nepal 2015 (BS 2072) and operationalised by the Local Government Operation Act, 2017 (Sthaniya Sarkar Sanchalan Ain, 2074), which came into force on 29 Ashwin 2074 BS (15 October 2017). Under this framework the country's 753 local levels comprise 6 metropolitan cities, 11 sub-metropolitan cities, 276 municipalities (nagarpalika) and 460 rural municipalities (gaunpalika), grouped under 77 districts and 7 provinces.

Classification is not based on population alone. The Act weighs a bundle of criteria: population size, annual internal revenue, and the availability of urban infrastructure such as motorable roads, drinking water, electricity, communications, and solid-waste management and landfill capacity. As indicative benchmarks, a metropolitan city is generally expected to have a population of about 500,000 and substantial annual revenue, while a sub-metropolitan city is expected to reach roughly 200,000, with lower minimum population thresholds for ordinary municipalities that vary by geography (mountain, hill, inner Terai, Terai and the Kathmandu Valley).

Because these thresholds are targets applied alongside revenue and infrastructure tests — and because the 2017 designations drew on the earlier local-body structure — a few sub-metros sit just below the 200,000 population mark in the 2021 census without losing their status. The Government of Nepal, through the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, can create, upgrade, merge or adjust local units, so the count and boundaries are periodically reviewed rather than fixed permanently.

It is easy to mix up a metropolitan city with a district or with a simple map coordinate, but they are three different things. A metropolitan or sub-metropolitan city is a municipality — an elected local government with a mayor, wards and a defined boundary. A district (jilla) is a larger administrative grouping that contains several municipalities and rural municipalities and is used mainly for deconcentrated central administration, land records and the courts.

Names often overlap because a city is frequently the headquarters of its district. Bharatpur, for example, is both a metropolitan city and the headquarters of Chitwan district, yet Chitwan district also contains Ratnanagar, Khairahani and other municipalities that are not part of Bharatpur Metropolitan City. Likewise, Kathmandu Metropolitan City is only one of several municipalities inside Kathmandu district; the metro's 49 square kilometres are much smaller than the district's roughly 395 square kilometres.

This hub is also distinct from a distance or coordinate table that treats a city merely as a single latitude–longitude point for measuring how far apart places are. Here, each city is treated as a living administrative unit with a population, area, ward structure and elected office — the municipality itself, not the district around it and not a dot on a distance chart.

The 2021 National Population and Housing Census (the 12th national census, taken in BS 2078) recorded Nepal's total population at 29,164,578 and confirmed that about 66 percent of Nepalis now live in urban local units — metropolitan cities, sub-metropolitan cities and municipalities — even though many such units include substantial farmland. Nepal's national literacy rate (population aged five and above) rose to 76.3 percent, and it is markedly higher in urban municipalities, which typically report literacy well above the national average; Kathmandu Metropolitan City, for instance, reports a literacy rate above 90 percent.

Density varies enormously between the compact valley metros and the sprawling Terai and hill cities. Kathmandu and Lalitpur are extraordinarily dense because their boundaries are small and fully built up, whereas Pokhara, Bharatpur, Ghorahi and Tulsipur cover hundreds of square kilometres that include forest, farmland and hill terrain, so their per-square-kilometre figures are low. Comparing raw population is therefore more meaningful than comparing density when ranking these cities.

Growth is driven by rural-to-urban migration, highway-corridor development along the East–West (Mahendra) Highway, expanding education and health services, and the 2017 amalgamation of former village development committees into larger municipal boundaries. Terai and inner-Terai hubs such as Bharatpur, Itahari, Butwal and Dhangadhi are among the fastest-growing, while the Kathmandu Valley continues to absorb migrants despite already being densely settled.

Each city carries a distinct identity. Kathmandu, the national capital, holds Nepal's political heart and UNESCO World Heritage sites including Kathmandu Durbar Square, Swayambhunath and Pashupatinath. Lalitpur (Patan) is celebrated for Patan Durbar Square, the Krishna Mandir and a centuries-old Newar tradition of bronze and stone statuary. Together with neighbouring Bhaktapur (a municipality, not a metro) these form the historic core of the Kathmandu Valley.

Pokhara is Nepal's premier lakeside tourism city, framed by Phewa Lake, the Annapurna and Machhapuchhre peaks, the World Peace Pagoda and Davis Falls, and serves as the trailhead for many Annapurna-region treks. Bharatpur, beside Chitwan National Park, is a gateway to Terai wildlife tourism and home to Bishazari Tal, a Ramsar wetland. Janakpur's Janaki Mandir (Ram–Sita temple) is one of Nepal's most important Hindu pilgrimage destinations.

The border and industrial cities have their own draw. Birgunj, the 'Gateway of Nepal', is the country's main trade artery with India via Raxaul and the Birgunj Clock Tower is a local emblem; Biratnagar is remembered as the cradle of Nepali industry through the historic Biratnagar Jute Mills; Dharan is known for its hill setting, BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences and Dantakali temple; and Nepalgunj is the commercial gateway to the mid- and far-western regions and to the Bardiya wildlife area.