Rural population in Nepal
Nepal: Rural population was 9.77 million in 2025. ▼ Falling
Rural population in Nepal, 1960–2025
Source: World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN).
Analysis
Nepal recorded 9.77 million for rural population in 2025.
The figure is down 0.8% on the previous year and up 0.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, rural population in Nepal peaked at 17.05 million in 1998 and was at its lowest, 9.60 million, in 2018.
Nepal ranks 54th of 215 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 66 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 10.68 million | 9.77 million | 11.70 million | 10 |
| 1970s | 12.68 million | 11.95 million | 13.15 million | 10 |
| 1980s | 14.30 million | 13.28 million | 15.40 million | 10 |
| 1990s | 16.61 million | 15.67 million | 17.05 million | 10 |
| 2000s | 14.40 million | 10.91 million | 16.91 million | 10 |
| 2010s | 9.86 million | 9.60 million | 10.39 million | 10 |
| 2020s | 9.90 million | 9.77 million | 10.01 million | 6 |
Countries ranked near Nepal
More agriculture & rural data for Nepal
- Agricultural raw materials exports 1.6% (2022)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 1.3% (2022)
- Rural population 33.0% (2025)
- Rural population growth -0.8% (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 21.6% (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 9.81 billion current US$ (2025)
- Land under cereal production 3.33 million hectares (2023)
- Cereal yield 3,344 kg per hectare (2023)
- Cereal production 11.15 million metric tons (2023)
- Fertilizer consumption 67.84 kilograms per hectare of arable land (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is rural population in Nepal?
- Rural population in Nepal was 9.77 million in 2025, according to World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN).
- What is the highest rural population recorded in Nepal?
- The highest recorded value was 17.05 million in 1998.
- What is the lowest rural population recorded in Nepal?
- The lowest recorded value was 9.60 million in 2018.
- How does Nepal rank for rural population?
- Nepal ranks 54th out of 215 countries with data for 2025.
- Is rural population rising or falling in Nepal?
- Over the last ten years it is up 0.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Nepal data come from?
- The figures come from World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN), published as part of Rural population. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 66 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Rural population refers to people living in rural areas as defined by national statistical offices. It is calculated as the difference between total population and urban population. Aggregation of urban and rural population may not add up to total population because of different country coverages.