District of Nepal · Bagmati Province
Bhaktapur District: land cover, map and municipalities
Urban land is the largest land cover in Bhaktapur District, at 80.3% of its area. Forest covers 9.1% (less than the national 41.4%), farmland 6.5%, rangeland 4.1%, built-up land 80.3%, bare land, rock and snow 0.0% and water 0.0%.
Land cover of Bhaktapur District
Show the numbers
| Class | Share (%) | 95% interval | Area (km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Urban land | 80.3 | 67.2–93.4 | 99 |
| Agriculture land | 6.5 | 2.1–10.8 | 8 |
| Rangeland | 4.1 | 0.1–8.1 | 5 |
| Forest land | 9.1 | 0.0–19.3 | 11 |
| Water | 0.0 | 0.0–0.0 | 0 |
| Barren land | 0.0 | 0.0–0.0 | 0 |
Latest high-resolution imagery (captured 2011–2026, median 2025-11). Estimated from 8 randomly placed 1.2 km sample windows classified by the Nepal-adapted U-Net; intervals are 95% confidence. How it works.
Bhaktapur District year by year
Largest changes in the reference map from 2017 to 2025: urban land +33.6 points, agriculture land −24.5 points, forest land −5.8 points.
Coloured lines: the U-Net on each year's Sentinel-2 cloudless mosaic, with 95% intervals. Grey: the independent 10 m Impact Observatory map at the same sites. Differences of a few points between years can come from how each year's mosaic was processed, and the 2016 and 2018 mosaics are read less reliably (too little built-up land, too much bare land and water); compare from 2019 on.
Municipalities and rural municipalities of Bhaktapur District
| Local unit | Area (km²) | Forest % | Farmland % | Built-up % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bhaktapur | 7 | 0.1 | 2.3 | 96.5 |
| Changunarayan | 63 | 19.0 | 4.7 | 72.7 |
| Madhyapur Thimi | 11 | 1.6 | 0.0 | 96.5 |
| Suryabinayak | 43 | 25.4 | 1.7 | 68.9 |
Local-unit land cover is from the 10 m Impact Observatory map (2025), clipped to each boundary.
Fires in Bhaktapur District each year
Satellite fire detections (NASA FIRMS, VIIRS S-NPP) inside Bhaktapur District: about 2 a year on average, most in 2016 (11).
Questions about Bhaktapur District
- What is the forest cover of Bhaktapur District?
- About 9.1% of Bhaktapur District is forest (95% interval 0.0–19.3%), roughly 11.2 km², according to the Nepal-adapted U-Net applied to 8 sample sites. That ranks 71st of 77 districts.
- How much of Bhaktapur District is built-up or urban?
- Built-up land covers about 80.3% (98.8 km²). Bhaktapur District ranks 2nd of 77 districts for built-up share.
- How big is Bhaktapur District?
- Bhaktapur District covers 123 km² and has 4 local units (municipalities and rural municipalities).
Source: Nepal-adapted U-Net (Khadka & Pradhan 2026) on Esri and EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless imagery; Impact Observatory/Esri 10 m land cover; boundaries: Survey Department of Nepal via OCHA.