Nepal Military - 2022

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Military and security forces

Ministry of Defense: Nepali Army (includes Air Wing); Ministry of Home Affairs: Nepal Police, Nepal Armed Police Force (2022)

note: the Nepal Armed Police Force is paramilitary force that is responsible for border and internal security, including counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism, and assisting the Army in the event of an external invasion

Military expenditures

1.3% of GDP (2021 est.)

1.3% of GDP (2020 est.)

2.1% of GDP (2019) (approximately $1.1 billion)

2.3% of GDP (2018) (approximately $1.11 billion)

2.6% of GDP (2017) (approximately $1.12 billion)

Military and security service personnel strengths

approximately 95,000 active troops (including a small air wing of about 500 personnel) (2022)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the Army's inventory includes a mix of older equipment largely of British, Chinese, Indian, Russian, and South African origin; since 2010, Nepal has received limited amounts of newer hardware from several countries, including China, Italy, and Russia (2022)

Military service age and obligation

18 years of age for voluntary military service (including women); no conscription (2022)

note: as of 2020, women comprised about 5% of the active duty military

Military deployments

790 Central African Republic (MINUSCA); 1,150 Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO); 400 Golan Heights (UNDOF); 870 Lebanon (UNIFIL); 235 Liberia (UNSMIL); 175 Mali (MINUSMA); 1,750 (plus about 220 police) South Sudan (UNMISS) (May 2022)

Military - note

Nepal became a member of the UN in 1955 and has been an active participant in UN peacekeeping operations since, sending its first military observers to a UN peacekeeping mission in 1958 and its first peacekeeping military contingent to Egypt in 1974

the British began to recruit Nepalese citizens (Gurkhas) into the East India Company Army during the Anglo-Nepalese War (1814-1816); the Gurkhas subsequently were brought into the British Indian Army and by 1914, there were 10 Gurkha regiments, collectively known as the Gurkha Brigade; following the partition of India in 1947, an agreement between Nepal, India, and Great Britain allowed for the transfer of the 10 regiments from the British Indian Army to the separate British and Indian armies; four regiments were transferred to the British Army, where they have since served continuously as the Brigade of Gurkhas; six Gurkha (aka Gorkha in India) regiments went to the new Indian Army; a seventh regiment was later added; Gurkhas are also recruited into the Singaporean Police and a special guard in the Sultanate of Brunei known as the Gurkha Reserve Unit (2022)

NOTE: The information regarding Nepal on this page is re-published from the 2022 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Nepal 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Nepal 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.