District of Nepal · Madhesh Province
Sarlahi District: land cover, map and municipalities
Agriculture land is the largest land cover in Sarlahi District, at 70.2% of its area. Forest covers 4.6% (less than the national 41.4%), farmland 70.2%, rangeland 7.2%, built-up land 9.5%, bare land, rock and snow 3.0% and water 5.5%.
Land cover of Sarlahi District
Show the numbers
| Class | Share (%) | 95% interval | Area (km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Urban land | 9.5 | 2.8–16.2 | 120 |
| Agriculture land | 70.2 | 45.7–94.6 | 887 |
| Rangeland | 7.2 | 0.0–20.7 | 91 |
| Forest land | 4.6 | 2.4–6.7 | 58 |
| Water | 5.5 | 0.0–16.0 | 70 |
| Barren land | 3.0 | 0.0–10.0 | 38 |
Latest high-resolution imagery (captured 2011–2026, median 2025-11). Estimated from 9 randomly placed 1.2 km sample windows classified by the Nepal-adapted U-Net; intervals are 95% confidence. How it works.
Sarlahi District year by year
Largest changes in the reference map from 2017 to 2025: agriculture land −4.5 points, water +4.4 points, urban land +2.2 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 Sarlahi District
| Local unit | Area (km²) | Forest % | Farmland % | Built-up % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bagmati | 101 | 25.0 | 45.2 | 14.3 |
| Balara | 49 | 3.2 | 77.1 | 13.5 |
| Barahathawa | 107 | 2.6 | 76.4 | 15.9 |
| Basbariya | 29 | 3.8 | 84.1 | 9.9 |
| Bishnu | 28 | 5.8 | 82.6 | 11.1 |
| Brahmapuri | 34 | 10.1 | 76.3 | 10.6 |
| Chakraghatta | 25 | 7.6 | 76.8 | 14.5 |
| Chandranagar | 48 | 5.6 | 74.6 | 10.5 |
| Dhanakaul | 46 | 1.3 | 87.6 | 9.6 |
| Godaita | 49 | 3.7 | 83.0 | 13.0 |
| Haripur | 67 | 31.8 | 54.0 | 8.5 |
| Haripurwa | 31 | 7.9 | 76.9 | 14.4 |
| Hariwan | 95 | 41.0 | 38.2 | 16.3 |
| Ishworpur | 164 | 49.4 | 34.1 | 8.1 |
| Kabilashi | 48 | 8.2 | 77.4 | 11.6 |
| Kaudena | 25 | 7.3 | 79.2 | 12.1 |
| Lalbandi | 238 | 61.6 | 17.5 | 7.8 |
| Malangawa | 30 | 3.3 | 74.6 | 21.7 |
| Parsa | 23 | 10.8 | 75.3 | 12.3 |
| Ramnagar | 26 | 0.8 | 80.3 | 16.0 |
Local-unit land cover is from the 10 m Impact Observatory map (2025), clipped to each boundary.
Fires in Sarlahi District each year
Satellite fire detections (NASA FIRMS, VIIRS S-NPP) inside Sarlahi District: about 257 a year on average, most in 2016 (439).
Questions about Sarlahi District
- What is the forest cover of Sarlahi District?
- About 4.6% of Sarlahi District is forest (95% interval 2.4–6.7%), roughly 57.7 km², according to the Nepal-adapted U-Net applied to 9 sample sites. That ranks 75th of 77 districts.
- How much of Sarlahi District is built-up or urban?
- Built-up land covers about 9.5% (120 km²). Sarlahi District ranks 21st of 77 districts for built-up share.
- How big is Sarlahi District?
- Sarlahi District covers 1,263 km² and has 20 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.