Nepal
May 2024
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Estimated Australian ODA: 2022-25: $26.1m
Gross National Income Per Capita: USD1,340 (2022)
Population: 30.5 mil (2022)
| Australian ODA | 2022-23 Actual ($m)* | 2023-24 Budget Estimate ($m)* | 2024-25 Budget Estimate ($m)* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Country Programs | 9.6 | 9.1 | 9.1 |
| Regional | 4.2 | 6.0 | 5.9 |
| Global/Other | 9.5 | 10.9 | 10.1 |
| Other Government Departments | 0.8 | 1.1 | 1.0 |
| Total Aust. ODA to Nepal | 24.1 | 27.2 | 26.1 |
*Due to rounding, discrepancies may occur between sums of the component items in totals.
Australia and Nepal celebrated 60 years of diplomatic relations in 2020. The relationship is built on a long-standing history of development partnership and close people-to-people links. We support Nepal’s transition to a middle-income country by 2026 and its contributions to a prosperous and stable Indo-Pacific region.
Strategic direction
In line with the Sustainable Development Goals, Australia's development cooperation program with Nepal aims to:
- support the roll-out of federalism, helping to improve intergovernmental coordination and clarify roles and responsibilities between the three tiers of government;
- build climate and disaster resilience, including through support to localise climate adaptation, promote green livelihoods and strengthen systems for early warning;
- promote gender, disability and social inclusion across all our programming and partnerships; and
- support human resource development through the Australia Awards Scholarships program.
Program highlights
- The Sub-National Governance Program has: supported over 15,000 Nepali citizens to engage in annual planning at the local level; provided technical support to municipalities to develop gender, disability and social inclusion policies; organised multi-stakeholder dialogues, benefiting close to 16,000 stakeholders; and resolved disputes related to the roll-out of federalism.
- Over 19 million people received voter education and over 100 accessible polling stations were constructed during the local, provincial, federal and by-elections between 2022 and 2024 under a partnership with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems.
- We continue to support Australian NGOs and their national counterparts to improve livelihood opportunities and health and education outcomes for the most marginalised and vulnerable communities in Nepal.
- Since 2009, we have provided over 300 long-term Australia Awards scholarships to Nepali students to undertake study in Australia; almost 50 per cent of beneficiaries were female.
