District of Nepal · Bagmati Province
Chitawan District: land cover, map and municipalities
Forest land is the largest land cover in Chitawan District, at 63.5% of its area. Forest covers 63.5% (more than the national 41.4%), farmland 12.0%, rangeland 13.4%, built-up land 10.2%, bare land, rock and snow 0.1% and water 0.9%.
Land cover of Chitawan District
Show the numbers
| Class | Share (%) | 95% interval | Area (km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Urban land | 10.2 | 0.0–21.2 | 228 |
| Agriculture land | 12.0 | 0.0–25.2 | 269 |
| Rangeland | 13.4 | 2.2–24.6 | 300 |
| Forest land | 63.5 | 43.0–83.9 | 1,422 |
| Water | 0.9 | 0.0–2.4 | 21 |
| Barren land | 0.1 | 0.0–0.2 | 1 |
Latest high-resolution imagery (captured 2011–2026, median 2025-11). Estimated from 15 randomly placed 1.2 km sample windows classified by the Nepal-adapted U-Net; intervals are 95% confidence. How it works.
Chitawan District year by year
Largest changes in the reference map from 2017 to 2025: urban land +3.5 points, agriculture land −2.2 points, forest land −1.6 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 Chitawan District
| Local unit | Area (km²) | Forest % | Farmland % | Built-up % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bharatpur | 433 | 38.0 | 33.5 | 23.1 |
| Chitawan | 906 | 87.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| Ichchha Kamana | 167 | 68.6 | 1.1 | 1.5 |
| Kalika | 149 | 66.2 | 11.4 | 9.9 |
| Khairahani | 86 | 22.3 | 53.6 | 20.5 |
| Madi | 218 | 62.4 | 26.1 | 4.8 |
| Rapti | 212 | 61.1 | 14.1 | 7.0 |
| Ratnanagar | 69 | 9.3 | 50.3 | 36.0 |
Local-unit land cover is from the 10 m Impact Observatory map (2025), clipped to each boundary.
Fires in Chitawan District each year
Satellite fire detections (NASA FIRMS, VIIRS S-NPP) inside Chitawan District: about 1,349 a year on average, most in 2016 (2,396).
Questions about Chitawan District
- What is the forest cover of Chitawan District?
- About 63.5% of Chitawan District is forest (95% interval 43.0–83.9%), roughly 1,422 km², according to the Nepal-adapted U-Net applied to 15 sample sites. That ranks 19th of 77 districts.
- How much of Chitawan District is built-up or urban?
- Built-up land covers about 10.2% (228 km²). Chitawan District ranks 20th of 77 districts for built-up share.
- How big is Chitawan District?
- Chitawan District covers 2,240 km² and has 8 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.