TEFL Reviews

TEFL Reviews

Country Facts

TEFL Trainees / ESL Teachers

Size
• Total area: 147,181km2
• Land: km²
• Water: 2.8%

Population
• 2009 estimate 29,331,000
• 2007 census 28,875,140

Neighboring country
The immediate countries of Nepal are Tibet, India, Bhutan, and China

Currency
• The official currency of Nepal: The rupee
• Sign: ₨
• Code: NPR
• Subdivision = paisa
• 1 rupee = 100 paisa
• Coins : 1, 5, 10, 25, 50 paisa
• Re.: 1, Rs. 2, Rs. 5, Rs. 10
• Banknotes: Re. 1, Rs. 2, Rs. 5, Rs. 10, Rs. 20, Rs. 50, Rs. 100, Rs. 500, Rs. 1000
• Central Bank: Nepal Rastra Bank

Politics
• Nepal has seen rapid political changes during the last two decades. Until 1990, Nepal was a monarchy running under the executive control of the king. Faced with a Communist movement against the absolute monarchy, King Birendra, in 1990, agreed to large-scale political reforms by creating a parliamentary monarchy with the king as the head of state and a prime minister as the head of the government. Nepal has also been noted for its recent speed of development, such as being one of the few countries in Asia to abolish the death penalty and the first country in Asia to rule in favor of same-sex marriage, which the government has a seven-person committee studying after a November 2008 ruling by the nation's Supreme Court, which ordered full rights for LGBT individuals, including the right to marry.
• Nepal's legislature was bicameral, consisting of a House of Representatives called the Pratinidhi Sabha and National Council called the Rastriya Sabha. The House of Representatives consisted of 205 members directly elected by the people.
• All Nepali citizens 18 years and older became eligible to vote.
• The executive comprised the King and the Council of Ministers. The leader of the coalition or party securing the maximum seats in an election was appointed as the Prime Minister. The Cabinet was appointed by the king on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. Governments in Nepal tended to be highly unstable, falling either through internal collapse or parliamentary dissolution by the monarch, on the recommendation of the prime minister, according to the constitution; no government has survived for more than two years since 1991.
• On August 15, 2008, Maoist leader Prachanda (Pushpa Kamal Dahal) was elected Prime Minister of Nepal, the first since the country's transition from a monarchy to a republic. On May 4, 2009, Mr. Pushpa Kamal Dahal resigned over on-going conflicts over sacking of the Army chief.

Language
Nepal's diverse linguistic heritage evolved from four major language groups: Indo-Aryan, Tibeto-Burman, Mongolian, and various indigenous language isolates.
The major languages of Nepal (percent spoken as mother tongue):
• Nepali (48.61%),
• Maithili (12.30%),
• Bhojpuri (7.53%),
• Tharu (5.86%),
• Tamang (5.19%),
• Newari/Nepal Bhasa (3.63%),
• Magar (3.39%),
• Awadhi (2.47%),
• Rai (2.79%),
• Limbu (1.47%), and
• Bajjika (1.05%).

Religion
Nepal was formerly the world's only constitutionally declared Hindu state, but following the movement for democracy in early 2006 and the breaking of King Gyanendra's power, the Nepali Parliament amended the constitution to make Nepal a secular state.

According to the 2001 census, 80.6 percent of Nepalese are Hindu, 10.7 percent are Buddhist, 10% are Muslim, 3.6 percent are Kirat (an indigenous religion with Hindu influence), 0.5 percent are Christian, and 0.4 percent are classified as other groups.

Culture
The rich cultural heritage of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal has evolved over centuries. This multi-dimensional cultural heritage encompasses within itself the cultural diversities of various ethics, tribal and social groups inhabiting different altitudes, and it manifests in various forms: music and dance, art and craft, folklores and folktales, languages and literature, philosophy and religion, festivals and celebrations and foods and drinks.

Sports
The principal Nepal sports are those that require individual effort.

Nepal popular sports include sporting activities like mountain flight, bungee jumping, paragliding, mountain biking and white water river rafting.

Imp cities
• Kathmandu (capital of Nepal)
• Pokhara (capital of the Western Development Region in Nepal)
• Bhaktapur
• Lumbini (the birthplace of Buddhism)
• Nagarkot (scenic city located in the Bhaktapur)