Nepal Economy & GDP: Growth, GDP per Capita and Key Indicators

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the total market value of all goods and services produced within Nepal in a year. For fiscal year (FY) 2081/82 BS (mid-July 2024 to mid-July 2025 AD), the National Statistics Office (NSO) estimated Nepal's nominal GDP at consumer prices at about Rs 6.17 trillion (Rs 61.7 kharba). In US dollar terms the World Bank puts the economy at roughly US$45 billion, making Nepal a lower-middle-income country and one of the smaller economies in South Asia.

GDP is measured two ways. 'Nominal' (or current-price) GDP values output at the prices of the year in question, so it rises with both real production and inflation. 'Real' GDP strips out price changes by valuing output at the prices of a fixed base year, which the NSO currently sets at 2010/11. Real GDP is therefore the correct measure of whether the economy actually grew, while nominal GDP in rupees is what people usually mean by 'the size of the economy'.

Nepal's national accounts are compiled and published annually by the NSO (formerly the Central Bureau of Statistics), with quarterly and preliminary estimates released during the year. Figures for the current fiscal year are typically 'preliminary' or 'estimated' because they combine actual data from the first eight or nine months (through Chaitra) with projections for the remaining months (Baisakh to Asar), and they are revised in later publications.

Real GDP growth is the headline number for the health of the economy. For FY 2081/82 the NSO estimated growth of 3.99% at basic prices (and about 4.61% at consumer/producer prices), an improvement on the previous year but still short of the government's 6% target set in the budget. Growth in the mid-2020s has been moderate rather than rapid, held back by weak capital spending, cautious bank lending after a liquidity squeeze, and soft private investment.

The recent path has been bumpy. Growth rebounded strongly to about 5.7% in FY 2078/79 (2021/22) as tourism, remittance-fuelled consumption and pent-up demand recovered from the COVID-19 shock. It then slowed sharply to around 1.9% in FY 2079/80 (2022/23) when Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) tightened monetary policy, import restrictions were imposed to defend foreign-exchange reserves, and global commodity prices spiked. Growth then recovered toward the mid-3% range in FY 2080/81 and FY 2081/82.

The multi-year trend table below summarises real GDP growth by fiscal year using NSO national-accounts estimates. Because the NSO periodically revises past figures and rebases series, small differences between publications are normal; the table shows widely reported estimates and should be read as indicative rather than final for the most recent year.

GDP per capita divides total output by the population and is the usual proxy for average living standards. For FY 2081/82 the NSO estimated Nepal's per-capita GDP at about US$1,496 and per-capita gross national income (GNI) at about US$1,517; the World Bank's comparable series put Nepal's GDP per capita at roughly US$1,450-1,540 for 2024-2025. This places Nepal firmly in the World Bank's lower-middle-income band.

GNI per capita is often higher than GDP per capita for Nepal because of the very large inflow of workers' remittances, which are income earned abroad and add to national income even though they are not produced inside the country. This is one reason remittances are central to any picture of the Nepali economy: they support household consumption, imports and the balance of payments far more than they show up directly in domestic production.

Per-capita figures should be treated with care. They are averages, so they mask large gaps between urban and rural areas, between provinces, and across income groups; Kathmandu Valley and the Bagmati Province generate far higher per-capita output than the Karnali or Sudurpashchim provinces. Dollar values also move with the exchange rate, so a weaker rupee can lower the dollar figure even when rupee incomes rise.

By value added, Nepal is a services-led economy. In recent years services (the tertiary sector) have contributed roughly 62% of GDP, agriculture (including forestry and fishing) around 25%, and industry (manufacturing, construction, mining, electricity and gas) about 13%. Within services, wholesale and retail trade is the single largest activity, followed by real estate and transport; within industry, construction and electricity are prominent, with hydropower a fast-growing bright spot.

The long-run shift has been away from agriculture. Around 2010/11 agriculture still made up roughly a third of GDP; that share has steadily fallen as trade, transport, real estate and remittance-financed services expanded. Even so, agriculture remains the largest source of employment, so its slow productivity growth and vulnerability to monsoon rainfall continue to shape rural incomes and food security.

The NSO also reports growth split between the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors, a distinction that matters because monsoon-dependent farming behaves very differently from the rest of the economy. In FY 2081/82 agriculture was estimated to grow about 3.28% while the non-agricultural sector grew about 4.28%, meaning most of the year's momentum came from services and industry rather than from farming.

Beyond GDP, a handful of indicators define the 'state of the economy'. Inflation (measured by the consumer price index) has generally run in the mid-single digits in the mid-2020s after peaking higher during the 2022 commodity shock. The trade balance is structurally in deep deficit because Nepal imports far more than it exports, but the current account has often been in surplus thanks to remittances, which are equivalent to roughly a quarter of GDP (about 25-27%).

The currency and external buffers are unusually stable for a developing economy. The Nepali rupee (NPR) has been pegged to the Indian rupee (INR) at Rs 1.60 = ₹1 since 1993, which anchors inflation to India and simplifies cross-border trade. Foreign-exchange reserves, managed by Nepal Rastra Bank, have generally been comfortable, typically covering well over a year of goods-and-services imports in the mid-2020s.

This hub is designed as a one-screen entry point to Nepal's economy. From here, related pages on the site go deeper into specific areas: foreign trade and top trading partners, the Nepali rupee and exchange-rate peg, remittances and foreign employment, the national budget and public finances, and infrastructure such as roads and hydropower. Use the trend table and facts box on this page for the top-line macro picture, then follow the relevant sub-page for detail.

Headline GDP figures drive a lot of policy and public debate in Nepal, from the annual budget's growth target to graduation from the United Nations 'least developed country' (LDC) category, which Nepal is scheduled to complete in 2026. A growth rate around 4% is enough to raise average incomes gradually but is below the 7-8% many analysts say Nepal needs to create jobs fast enough to reduce reliance on foreign employment.

When comparing sources, watch three things. First, the fiscal year: Nepal's fiscal year runs mid-July to mid-July and is written in Bikram Sambat (e.g. 2081/82), roughly equal to 2024/25 AD. Second, the price basis: 'basic prices' and 'consumer/producer prices' give slightly different growth numbers for the same year. Third, whether a figure is preliminary or revised, since the NSO updates estimates as more data arrive.

Finally, dollar and rupee figures can tell different stories. Rupee GDP can grow while dollar GDP stagnates if the rupee weakens against the US dollar (the NPR is pegged to the INR, not the dollar). For durable comparisons over time, prefer real GDP growth in percent and clearly dated per-capita figures, and always note the source and fiscal year, exactly as this page does.