Over 99% people have access to electricity

Kathmandu, May 27

Access to electricity in Nepal has reached 99.1 per cent of the population by mid-March 2026.

According to the Economic Survey 2025/26 presented at the Parliament by Finance Minister Dr. Swarnim Wagle, total installed electricity capacity stands at 4,105 megawatts, including 3,798 MW hydropower and 142 MW solar energy.

Likewise, electricity generated by the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre is 106.24 MW, thermal energy (thermal plant) is 53.4 MW, and electricity co-generated through the sugar mill co-production method is 6.0 MW.

In the first eight months of the current Fiscal Year 2025/26, about 2,918 GWh of electricity was exported to India while 590 GWh of electricity was imported.

Last year, Nepal electricity export was 2,332 GWh, and import stood at 1,712 GWh.

It is estimated that an additional 666 MW of electricity will be generated from the construction of various projects by mid-July 2026. It will bring Nepal's electricity capacity to 4,626 MW.

“With the increased use of electricity, the consumption of petroleum products has slightly decreased. By mid-March of this fiscal year, imports of petrol and diesel decreased by 10.0 per cent and 9.9 per cent, respectively, compared to the corresponding period of the previous year,” noted the survey.

85^th in SDG ranking

According to the survey, in 2025, Nepal ranked 85^th among 167 nations by achieving a score of 68.58 on the Sustainable Development Goals Index. In Nepal's context, the ‘spillover score’ related to the SDGs is 94.85.

To achieve the SDGs, Nepal needs to make an annual average additional investment of 755 billion during the remaining period (about five years).

By mid-March, the number of beneficiaries receiving social security allowances had reached 3.6 million which includes 46.14 per cent senior citizens above 70 years of age.

Likewise, in the contribution-based Social Security Fund, 2.85 million workers have been registered. But more than three-quarters of these are Nepali migrant workers.

The government has collected the details of 21 million citizens for National Identity Cards, while only 4.03 million cards have been distributed.

Social indicators improve

The report maintained that social sectors indicators are showing positive improvements, with absolute poverty having dropped to 20.27 per cent and multidimensional poverty to 17.4 per cent, and the Gender Development Index standing at 0.885.

Nepal's Human Development Index (HDI) stands at 0.622. The average life expectancy of Nepalis has reached 71.3 years. The youth (15-24 years) literacy rate is 94.2 per cent.

The number of government health institutions has reached 8,976. The maternal mortality rate per 100,000 live births has dropped to 151, the infant mortality rate to 27 per 1,000 live births, and the under-five child mortality rate to 31.

The health insurance programme has expanded to all local levels. Up to mid-March, the number of citizens enrolled in this programme is more than 2.14 million.

Access to basic drinking water has reached 97.0 per cent of the population, but access to safe drinking water is limited to only 29.0 per cent.

Similarly, in the academic session 2025, the net enrollment rate at the basic level (grades 1-8) is 97.8 per cent, and secondary level (grades 9-12) 51.6 per cent. In terms of net enrollment rates, the Gender Parity Index is 1.02 per cent for the basic level and 0.9 for the secondary level.

Likewise, irrigation facilities are expanded to 44.6 per cent of agricultural land and 62.6 per cent of irrigable land. Now, forest covers 46.08 per cent of the total land area of Nepal while the global ratio is 32.0 per cent of the total land area.

Meanwhile, the number of members associated with a total of 32,325 cooperative societies reached 11 million. Those cooperatives are expected to mobilse savings of Rs. 1,029 billion.

Rs. 625 billion foreign investment approved

The government has approved investments worth Rs. 492 billion by mid-March, consisting of Rs. 389.74 billion from the Department of Industries and Rs. 02.26 billion from the Investment Board Nepal. Along with this, total approved investment in the industrial sector has reached Rs. 5444.06 billion.

Foreign investment worth Rs. 625.58 billion has been approved at the Department of Industries for a total of 7,951 projects. Among the approved foreign investments, the highest is in service industries at 28.3 per cent, and the lowest is in mineral industries at 1.3 per cent.

The number of registered companies reached 369,646, of which private limited companies are 97.5 per cent, while other companies comprise 2.5 per cent.

As public investment in the physical infrastructure sector increases gradually, the density of blacktopped roads built by the federal government has reached 138.7 meters per square km. A total of 104,906 km of roads have been expanded across the nation.

The report also mentioned that financial access is expanding. The number of deposit accounts in banks and financial institutions reached 620.06 million, while the number of loan accounts reached 2.04 million. Mobile banking users reached 29.4, while internet banking users reached 2.37 million.

For this year, the National Accounts Office has estimated the growth rate of 3.85 per cent while the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors are estimated to contribute 24.0 perc ent and 76.0 per cent respectively. With this, the Gross Domestic Product of the current fiscal year is estimated to be Rs. 6600.09 billion.

The survey also noted that the share of consumption in Nepal's economy remains high. The share of consumption is estimated to be 90.3 per cent this year. Within total consumption, the shares of the private sector, government sector, and non-governmental sector are estimated to be 91.26 per cent, 6.62 per cent, and 2.12 per cent, respectively.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 28 May 2026.