Nepal is situated in the lap of Himalaya and is located between the latitude 26°22’
N to 30° 27’ North and latitude 80°4’ E to 88°12’ East and elevation ranges from
90 to 8848 meters. The average length being 885 km east to west and average
breadth is about 193 km north to south. The total land area of the country is
147,181 km2
. The country is bordering between two most populous country of the
world, India in the east, west and south and China in the north. Nepal is the land
country and home of natural beauty. The northern range is covered with snow
round the year where the highest peak of the world, Mount Everest, stands. The
country is divided into five-development regions- Eastern Development Region,
Central Development Region, Western Development Region, Mid-Western
Development Region and Far-Western Development Region accommodating
23.1, 34.7, 19.7, 13.0 and 9.5 percent of population respectively in 2001. There
are 14 zones and 75 administrative districts. Districts are further divided into
smaller units, called Village Development Committee (VDC) and Municipality.
Currently, there are 3,915 VDCs and 58 municipalities in the country. Each VDC
is composed of 9 wards and municipality wards ranges from 9 to 35. In addition,
the country is characterized by three distinct geographic areas running east to
west, referred to as the Mountains, the Hills and the Tarai accommodating 7.3
44.3 and 48.4 percent of the population respectively in 2001. The mountain areas
range in altitude from 4880 meters to 8848 meters above sea level and include
such mountains as Everest, Kanchanjunga, Makalu, Dhaulagiri and Annapurna.
The area accounts for almost 35% of the total land area of the country and 7.3