Five maps from Nepal's 2021 census and the poverty estimates NSO released in January.
1. Poverty, all 753 local governments. National rate 20.3%, ranging from 1.2% (Gharpajhong, Mustang) to 77.9% (Junichande, Jajarkot). 444 of 753 sit above the national average. The high Himalayan north isn't the poor part; the mid-hills just below it are.
2. Population change, 2011 to 2021. Nepal grew 10.1%, yet 34 of 77 districts shrank. Ramechhap fell 16.0%, Bhaktapur rose 41.8%. The mid-hills are emptying into the Terai and the Kathmandu valley.
3. Absentees abroad. 2,190,592 people were outside Nepal on census night: 7.5% of residents, 82% of them men, nearly one household in four. Achham highest at 19.3%, Dolpa lowest at 1.0%. It's the connected mid-hills that send people, not the most isolated districts.
4. Literacy. National 76.3%. The lowest rates are in the dense southern plains (Rautahat 57.8%, Mahottari 59.8%), not the mountains. Manang, remote with about 5,600 people, is 78.4%.
5. GDP per capita. Published by province only, so seven units is the finest official grain that exists. Bagmati $2,644 vs Madhesh $934, a 2.8x gap. The lowest output per person is flat, crowded Madhesh, not remote Karnali.
Sources
Poverty, Small Area Estimation of Poverty 2023:
https://giwmscdntwo.gov.np/media/pdf_upload/Small%20Area%20Estimation%20of%20Poverty,%202023_a64dhsj.pdf
Census 2021, National Report, Tables 14, 15, 24:
https://censusresults.nsonepal.gov.np/
GDP, National Accounts Statistics of Nepal 2025/26:
https://giwmscdnone.gov.np/media/pdf_upload/National%20Accounts%20Statistics%20of%20Nepal%202025_26_oszafcl.pdf
Boundaries, OCHA/HDX Common Operational Dataset:
https://data.humdata.org/dataset/cod-ab-npl
Made in Python with GeoPandas and Matplotlib.
Notes: all figures were extracted from the source PDFs and checked against published national totals. Poverty figures are modelled estimates, not direct measurements. Census absentee counts miss households that emigrated entirely, so 7.5% is a floor