About Nepal

Country (long form)	Kingdom of Nepal
Capital	Kathmandu
Total Area	54,363.18 sq mi 140,800.00 sq km (slightly larger than Arkansas)
Population	25,284,463 (July 2001 est.)
Estimated Population in 2050	53,293,874
Languages	Nepali (official; spoken by 90% of the population), about a dozen other languages and about 30 major dialects note: many in government and business also speak English (1995)
Literacy	27.5% total, 40.9% male, 14% female (1995 est.)
Religions	Hinduism 86.2%, Buddhism 7.8%, Islam 3.8%, other 2.2% note: only official Hindu state in the world (1995)
Life Expectancy	58.65 male, 57.77 female (2001 est.)
Government Type	parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy
Currency	1 Nepalese rupee (NR) = 100 paisa
GDP (per capita)	$1,360 (2000 est.)
Industry	tourism, carpet, textile; small rice, jute, sugar, and oilseed mills; cigarette; cement and brick production
Agriculture	rice, corn, wheat, sugarcane, root crops; milk, water buffalo meat
Arable Land	17%
Natural Resources	quartz, water, timber, hydropower, scenic beauty, small deposits of lignite, copper, cobalt, iron ore