Nepal

Nepal: strong, sustained growth, 1980–2025

A landlocked, largely agricultural economy heavily reliant on remittances and tourism, Nepal's growth has been constrained by weak infrastructure, political instability, and the aftermath of the devastating 2015 earthquake. Between 1980 and 2025, Nepal's GDP per capita grew from $125 to $1,536 (current US$), a compound annual growth rate of 5.7% — strong, sustained growth. Annual GDP growth averaged 4.3% with a year-to-year standard deviation of 2.7 points, reflecting relatively stable macroeconomic conditions. Structurally, agriculture's share of the economy moved from 57.9% to 21.6% of GDP (a classic decline as the economy industrialized/modernized), while services rose from 24.7% to 54.4% of GDP, underscoring a shift toward a services-driven economy. On human development, life expectancy rose from 48.3 to 70.6 years, while tertiary school enrollment moved from 3.4% to 21.3%, while the urban population share grew from 14.6% to 67.0%.

What this growth cost: Growth was not without cost: per-capita CO2 emissions rose from 0.04 to 0.54 tonnes CO2e per person; income inequality (Gini index) narrowed from 30.1 to 30.0; the poverty headcount ratio fell from 83.0% to 2.4%.