Provincial & District Capitals of Nepal: Full Directory of Seats

Nepal's 2015 Constitution (promulgated on 20 September 2015, 3 Ashwin 2072 BS) created a three-tier federal structure: one federal (national) government, seven provinces (pradesh) and 77 districts (jilla) sitting above 753 local levels. Each tier has a designated administrative seat. Kathmandu is the federal capital, named directly in the Constitution; each province has a single provincial capital fixed by a two-thirds vote of its provincial assembly; and each district has a headquarters (sadarmukam) — the town that hosts the District Administration Office, District Court and other district-level offices.

A 'capital' and a 'largest city' are not always the same place, which is the source of many quiz mistakes. Bagmati Province's capital is Hetauda, not Kathmandu, even though Kathmandu (the federal capital) lies inside Bagmati. Lumbini Province's permanent capital is Deukhuri in Dang district, not the larger cities Butwal or Nepalgunj. Sudurpashchim's capital is Godawari in Kailali, while its biggest city is nearby Dhangadhi.

This page is a directory: it lists the federal capital, the seven provincial capitals and all 77 district headquarters, pairing each with its province and the city it sits in. Populations are from the National Population and Housing Census 2021 (NPHC 2021), whose reference date was 25 November 2021 (10 Mangsir 2078 BS). Where a headquarters is a locality inside a larger municipality, both the common name and the municipality are given.

Kathmandu is the capital of Nepal, named as the national capital in the Constitution of Nepal 2015. It hosts the Federal Parliament (the House of Representatives and the National Assembly), the Office of the President, the Prime Minister's Office and the Supreme Court. Kathmandu Metropolitan City sits in the Kathmandu Valley within Bagmati Province.

Kathmandu district is also Nepal's most populous and most densely settled district. In the 2021 census the district recorded 2,041,587 people at about 5,169 persons per square kilometre — the highest density in the country. Kathmandu Metropolitan City alone had roughly 845,700 residents in 2021, making Kathmandu the primary urban and economic centre of Nepal.

Because Kathmandu is both the federal capital and the headquarters of Kathmandu district, it is the only city in Nepal that serves as a capital at the national level and a district seat at the same time — a useful fact for Loksewa (Public Service Commission) and general-knowledge questions.

Each of Nepal's seven provinces has one capital, fixed by its own provincial assembly. Several provinces used a temporary capital for years before settling a permanent one, and all seven province names were themselves decided by assembly vote between 2018 and 2023 (the provinces were originally numbered Province No. 1 to No. 7). Koshi was the last to be named, adopting 'Koshi' on 1 March 2023 (17 Falgun 2079 BS).

Three provincial capitals are also the headquarters of their district: Biratnagar (Morang), Janakpur (Dhanusha) and Birendranagar (Surkhet). Pokhara is the capital of Gandaki and headquarters of Kaski district as well. The remaining three are distinct from their district seats — Hetauda is the Bagmati capital but the Makwanpur seat, Deukhuri is the Lumbini capital within Dang district (whose district headquarters is Ghorahi), and Godawari is the Sudurpashchim capital within Kailali (whose district headquarters is Dhangadhi).

The full list of provincial capitals is: Koshi — Biratnagar; Madhesh — Janakpur (Janakpurdham); Bagmati — Hetauda; Gandaki — Pokhara; Lumbini — Deukhuri (Dang); Karnali — Birendranagar (Surkhet); and Sudurpashchim — Godawari (Kailali). Pokhara is the largest of the seven capital cities, a metropolitan city and one of Nepal's biggest urban areas.

A district headquarters (sadarmukam) is the town where the District Administration Office (led by the Chief District Officer), the District Court and other district offices are based. Many headquarters are small bazaar towns that share a name with the district, but a large number are localities inside a differently named municipality — for example, the Ramechhap headquarters is Manthali, and the Dhading headquarters is Dhading Besi in Nilkantha municipality.

Koshi Province (14 districts): Bhojpur — Bhojpur; Dhankuta — Dhankuta; Ilam — Ilam; Jhapa — Bhadrapur (Chandragadhi); Khotang — Diktel; Morang — Biratnagar; Okhaldhunga — Okhaldhunga (Siddhicharan); Panchthar — Phidim; Sankhuwasabha — Khandbari; Solukhumbu — Salleri (Solududhkunda); Sunsari — Inaruwa; Taplejung — Phungling; Terhathum — Myanglung; Udayapur — Gaighat (Triyuga).

Madhesh Province (8 districts): Bara — Kalaiya; Dhanusha — Janakpur (Janakpurdham); Mahottari — Jaleshwar; Parsa — Birgunj; Rautahat — Gaur; Saptari — Rajbiraj; Sarlahi — Malangwa; Siraha — Siraha. Bagmati Province (13 districts): Bhaktapur — Bhaktapur; Chitwan — Bharatpur; Dhading — Dhading Besi (Nilkantha); Dolakha — Charikot (Bhimeshwar); Kathmandu — Kathmandu; Kavrepalanchok — Dhulikhel; Lalitpur — Lalitpur (Patan); Makwanpur — Hetauda; Nuwakot — Bidur; Ramechhap — Manthali; Rasuwa — Dhunche; Sindhuli — Sindhulimadhi (Kamalamai); Sindhupalchok — Chautara.

The western half of Nepal contains the country's remotest headquarters, including hill and mountain seats reached by long road journeys or, in a few cases such as Humla's Simikot, historically only by air. Several district names carry the local word 'Khalanga' (fort/bazaar), so the headquarters is written with both the local name and the municipality, for example Jajarkot — Khalanga (Bheri municipality) and Jumla — Jumla Khalanga (Chandannath).

Gandaki Province (11 districts): Baglung — Baglung; Gorkha — Gorkha; Kaski — Pokhara; Lamjung — Besisahar; Manang — Chame; Mustang — Jomsom; Myagdi — Beni; Nawalpur — Kawasoti; Parbat — Kusma; Syangja — Putalibazar; Tanahun — Damauli (Vyas). Lumbini Province (12 districts): Arghakhanchi — Sandhikharka; Banke — Nepalgunj; Bardiya — Gulariya; Dang — Ghorahi; Gulmi — Tamghas; Kapilvastu — Taulihawa; Nawalparasi West (Parasi) — Parasi (Ramgram); Palpa — Tansen; Pyuthan — Pyuthan (Khalanga); Rolpa — Liwang; Rukum East — Rukumkot; Rupandehi — Siddharthanagar (Bhairahawa).

Karnali Province (10 districts): Dailekh — Dailekh (Narayan); Dolpa — Dunai; Humla — Simikot; Jajarkot — Khalanga (Bheri); Jumla — Jumla Khalanga (Chandannath); Kalikot — Manma (Khandachakra); Mugu — Gamgadhi (Chhayanath Rara); Rukum West — Musikot; Salyan — Salyan Khalanga (Sharada); Surkhet — Birendranagar. Sudurpashchim Province (9 districts): Achham — Mangalsen; Baitadi — Dasharathchand (Baitadi Khalanga); Bajhang — Chainpur (Jayaprithvi); Bajura — Martadi (Badimalika); Dadeldhura — Amargadhi (Dadeldhura); Darchula — Darchula Khalanga (Mahakali); Doti — Dipayal Silgadhi; Kailali — Dhangadhi; Kanchanpur — Mahendranagar (Bhimdatta).

Before 2015 Nepal had 75 districts. The federal restructuring raised the count to 77 by splitting two old districts. Old Nawalparasi was divided into Nawalpur (officially 'Nawalparasi Bardaghat Susta East', placed in Gandaki Province, headquarters Kawasoti) and Nawalparasi West or Parasi (officially 'Nawalparasi Bardaghat Susta West', placed in Lumbini Province, headquarters Parasi/Ramgram). Old Rukum was split into Rukum East (Lumbini, headquarters Rukumkot) and Rukum West (Karnali, headquarters Musikot).

These four newer districts are the ones most often mislabelled in quizzes and datasets, because sources use different spellings — Nawalpur appears as 'Nawalparasi East', and Rukum East and West are sometimes written 'Purbi Rukum' and 'Paschim Rukum'.

The 77 districts are grouped as follows: Koshi 14, Madhesh 8, Bagmati 13, Gandaki 11, Lumbini 12, Karnali 10 and Sudurpashchim 9. Every one of these 77 districts has exactly one designated headquarters, so there are 77 district seats, 7 provincial capitals and 1 federal capital in Nepal today.

The following figures are 2021 NPHC census populations. For provincial and federal capitals we give the municipality population; for district seats that are localities inside a municipality the figure refers to the surrounding municipality. Populations of small headquarters towns should be read as indicative of the local municipality, not the bazaar core, and census municipal boundaries can be much larger than the built-up town.

Among the capitals, Kathmandu Metropolitan City (federal capital, roughly 845,700) is the largest municipality, followed by the provincial capitals in the Tarai and valleys: Pokhara Metropolitan City (Gandaki capital, about 513,000), Biratnagar Metropolitan City (Koshi capital, about 244,000), Bharatpur (Chitwan headquarters, about 369,000, the largest metropolitan city by area) and Birgunj (Parsa headquarters). Hill and mountain headquarters are far smaller — Manang's Chame and Mustang's Jomsom serve districts of only a few thousand people each.

Because populations change and municipal boundaries are periodically revised, always cite a figure with its census year. The durable, official source is the National Statistics Office (NSO, formerly the Central Bureau of Statistics), whose 2021 National Report is the reference used throughout this directory.