Dadeldhura, a part of Sudurpashchim Province, is one of the seventy-seven districts of Nepal. The district, with Dadeldhura as its district headquarters, covers an area of 1,538 km2 and had a population of 126,162 in 2001 and 142,094 in 2011. The region has a mountainous landscape that contains many religious temples. The district is seldom visited by tourists but contains local routes to Mt Kailash in Tibet, RaRa Lake in Mugu district (Typically this is not the route to Rara lake), and the last remaining remnants of the Far Western Malla Kingdom. Nagi Malla was the last royal to live here before the Nepalese unification. The spoken language is Doteli (Dotyali) and the majority of inhabitants are Hindu. Dadeldhura is one of the most developed district among the other hilly districts in the far western region. Dadeldhura is the hometown of former prime minister of Nepal Hon. Sher Bahadur Deuba.

Geography and climate

Demographics

At the time of the 2011 Nepal census, Dadeldhura District had a population of 142,094. As their first language, 92.6% spoke Doteli, 5.4% Nepali, 1.1% Magar, 0.2% Kham, 0.2% Raute, 0.1% Maithili and 0.1% other languages. Ethnicity/caste: 53.6% were Chhetri, 15.8% Hill Brahmin, 10.6% Kami, 4.5% Sarki, 3.8% Damai/Dholi, 3.6% Magar, 2.5% Thakuri, 1.8% Sanyasi/Dasnami, 1.6% Lohar, 0.9% Newar, 0.2% Badi, 0.2% other Dalit, 0.2% Raute, 0.2% Yadav, 0.1% Gurung, 0.1% Tharu, and 0.2% others. Religion: 98.9% were Hindu, 0.7% Buddhist and 0.3% Christian. Literacy: 65.0% could read and write, 2.6% could only read and 32.3% could neither read nor write.

Administration

The district consists of seven municipalities, out of which two are urban municipalities and five are rural municipalities. These are as follows:

Former village development committees

Prior to the restructuring of the district, Dadeldhura District consisted of the following Village development committees: