Nepal's main religion is Hinduism, followed by 81.19% of the population according to the 2021 census. Buddhism accounts for 8.21%, Islam 5.09%, the indigenous Kirat faith 3.17% and Christianity around 1.76%. Nepal was the world's only constitutionally Hindu state until 2006, when it declared itself secular. Despite being the birthplace of the Buddha, it has a large Hindu majority — and in practice the boundary between the two traditions is far less firm than the percentages imply.
What the 2021 census actually counted
Nepal's census records ten religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Kirat, Christianity, Prakriti, Bon, Jainism, Sikhism and the Baha'i faith. The headline distribution from the 2021 round:
- Hinduism — 81.19%, a small decline of about 0.11 points on the previous census.
- Buddhism — 8.21%, roughly 2.39 million people, down about 0.79 points.
- Islam — 5.09%, about 1.48 million, up 0.69 points and concentrated in the Terai districts along the Indian border.
- Kirat — 3.17%, about 924,000, up 0.17 points.
- Christianity — around 1.76%, up 0.36 points and the fastest-growing category in relative terms.
- Prakriti, Bon, Jain, Sikh and Baha'i — together well under 1%.
The direction of travel is worth noting: the two largest traditions each lost share, and the three smaller ones gained. But the movements are fractions of a percentage point over a decade, which is slow by regional standards.
One caveat applies to all of these figures. Census religion questions in Nepal have historically under-counted Buddhist and indigenous affiliation, partly because the state was formally Hindu until 2006 and enumerators worked within that frame, and partly because many respondents regard the categories as overlapping rather than exclusive. Estimates of Nepal's Buddhist population from other sources have run considerably higher than 8%, and the gap is a genuine methodological dispute rather than a rounding error.
From the world's last Hindu kingdom to a secular republic
Until the twenty-first century Nepal held a genuinely unusual constitutional status: it was the only state in the world that declared itself Hindu. The king was widely regarded as an incarnation of Vishnu, and that religious framing was part of the monarchy's legitimacy rather than decoration on top of it.
That arrangement ended quickly. After the decade-long Maoist insurgency and the 2006 people's movement, parliament declared Nepal a secular state. The monarchy was abolished in 2008, and the 2015 constitution confirmed secularism — while defining it in a specifically Nepali way, as protection of religion and culture practised since ancient times rather than as strict separation of religion and state. The distinction matters, and it has been argued over ever since.
Where Hinduism and Buddhism stop being separate things
The census asks people to pick one box, which makes Nepali religious practice look tidier than it is.
In the Kathmandu Valley in particular, the two traditions share sites, deities and festivals. Swayambhunath, the hilltop stupa above the city, is a Buddhist monument venerated by Hindus. Muktinath, high in Mustang, is a major pilgrimage destination for both — Hindus approach it as a shrine to Vishnu, Buddhists as a site associated with Guru Rinpoche. Newar religion, the tradition of the valley's indigenous population, includes communities that are recognisably both at once.
The result is that the 81/8 split describes self-identification more than it describes behaviour. A great many Nepalis who write "Hindu" on a form will make offerings at a Buddhist shrine without regarding it as a change of religion.
Lumbini, and the birthplace question
Lumbini, in Rupandehi district in the Terai, is where Siddhartha Gautama is held to have been born, in around 563 BCE. The Ashokan pillar erected there in 249 BCE carries an inscription identifying the site, which is the reason its identification is unusually well grounded. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997, and the Mayadevi Temple marks the traditional birth spot.
That Nepal is the Buddha's birthplace and yet overwhelmingly Hindu is less contradictory than it first appears. Buddhism receded across much of the subcontinent over the first millennium CE while establishing itself durably in Sri Lanka, Tibet, Southeast Asia and East Asia. Nepal retained Buddhism strongly in specific communities — the Newars of the valley, and the Tibetan-descended peoples of the high north such as the Sherpa, Thakali and Manangi — rather than across the population as a whole.
Pashupatinath, and the geography of Hindu Nepal
Nepal's Hindu majority has a physical centre. Pashupatinath, on the banks of the Bagmati river in eastern Kathmandu, is one of the most significant temples to Shiva anywhere and the largest temple complex in the country. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, draws pilgrims from across South Asia, and functions as the principal cremation ground for the valley — the ghats along the river are in continuous use.
Two other sites anchor the map. Janaki Mandir in Janakpur, in the eastern Terai, marks the traditional birthplace of Sita and ties Nepal directly into the Ramayana; the temple itself is a nineteenth-century Mughal-influenced structure and the town fills for the Vivaha Panchami festival marking Sita and Rama's marriage. Muktinath, at around 3,800 metres in Mustang, is one of the few major shrines held sacred by two religions at once, and its 108 water spouts draw pilgrims who complete a circuit under all of them.
The distribution matters: Hindu practice in Nepal is not concentrated in the Terai near India, as is sometimes assumed. It runs the length of the country, up to and past the tree line.
Caste, and why it survived a secular constitution
Any account of religion in Nepal that stops at percentages misses the organising structure underneath. The Muluki Ain, the legal code promulgated in 1854, formally ranked the entire population into a caste hierarchy that included Hindu, Buddhist and indigenous groups alike — folding communities that were not Hindu into a Hindu ordering.
Caste discrimination was outlawed in 1963 and untouchability is prohibited under the 2015 constitution, with additional criminal penalties added in 2011. It nonetheless persists in practice, particularly against Dalit communities and particularly around marriage, temple entry and water access, and enforcement is inconsistent. The 2015 constitution's provisions on proportional inclusion for Dalits, Janajati and Madhesi groups were among the most contested clauses in the drafting.
The point for understanding Nepali religion is that secularism changed the state's formal relationship to Hinduism without dissolving a social structure that Hinduism had supplied. That gap is where most of the country's live religious politics now sits.
Kirat Mundhum in the eastern hills
The Kirat faith, or Kirat Mundhum, is the indigenous tradition of the Rai, Limbu, Sunuwar and Yakkha peoples of the eastern hills, and it is the fourth-largest religion in the country at 3.17%.
It centres on ancestor veneration and nature, with oral scripture — the Mundhum — recited by ritual specialists. For much of the twentieth century many Kirat people were recorded as Hindu by default; part of the recent growth in the category reflects a deliberate reassertion of a separate identity rather than any change in practice. Prakriti, listed separately in the census, is a related nature-worship category with the same broad character.
Islam, Christianity and a law about conversion
Nepal's Muslim population, just over 5%, is concentrated in the central and eastern Terai districts bordering India, with communities long established there rather than recent arrivals.
Christianity is the smallest of the major categories but has grown fastest in proportional terms, from a very small base in the mid-twentieth century. That growth is the context for one of the more contested features of the secular settlement: the criminal code revised in 2017 makes attempting to convert another person an offence, punishable by up to five years' imprisonment and a fine, alongside provisions on hurting religious sentiment. Supporters present it as protecting social harmony; critics, including several international religious-freedom bodies, argue it criminalises ordinary religious expression.
The festival calendar that organises the year
Religion in Nepal is most visible in its festivals, and the two largest are Hindu but observed nationally.
Dashain, running roughly fifteen days in September or October, is the longest and most important — offices and schools close, and internal migration home for it is heavy enough to be visible in transport data. Tihar, the five-day festival of lights a fortnight later, includes days dedicated to crows, dogs and cows in turn. Buddha Jayanti marks the Buddha's birth. Indra Jatra in Kathmandu is a Newar festival with both Hindu and Buddhist elements. Chhath, dedicated to the sun, is central in the Terai.
The state observes public holidays across traditions, including Buddhist, Muslim, Kirat and Christian dates — one of the more concrete expressions of the secular settlement.
The living goddess
One tradition captures the country's religious layering better than any statistic. The Kumari is a pre-pubescent girl venerated as the living embodiment of the goddess Taleju. She is selected from the Shakya clan of the Newar Buddhist community, and worshipped by Hindus and Buddhists alike — including, historically, by the Hindu king, who sought her blessing.
A Buddhist girl embodying a Hindu goddess, blessing a Hindu monarch, in a state that is now constitutionally secular, is not an anomaly in Nepal. It is a fair summary of how the system works. For the wider context see our Nepal country guide, and for the comparison that makes the Buddhist question sharpest, Nepal versus Sri Lanka.