KOSI

Kosi is an open-access dataset that connects administrative, survey, and geospatial data on Nepal across space and time, using a universal geographic identifier — Kosid — that harmonizes shifting administrative boundaries and maps records across data sources into a single geographic frame. The dataset covers all 6,743 wards across 753 municipalities, spans over 25 years, and is designed to grow as researchers contribute new data using Kosid.

Named for the Kosi river basin, whose tributaries gather data from across Nepal into a single watershed.

[Download Kosi]

What is Kosi?

Kosi is built around  Kosid, a universal geographic identifier that does three things:

• Links data sources to a common frame. Each Kosid is associated with a shapefile/polygon that aligns with one of Nepal's 6,743 current wards — the smallest administrative unit since the federal restructuring of 2017 — together with Nepal's 12 national parks and other protected areas, jointly covering the country in its entirety.

• Bridges the pre- and post-federalization periods. Kosid maps current wards to the older administrative geography (36,020 wards across 3,973 VDCs and municipalities) that existed before 2017, allowing researchers to build consistent longitudinal panels that span both sides of the federal transition.

• Connects administrative wards to other spatial units. Each Kosid also carries crosswalks to districts, federal House of Representatives constituencies, and provincial assembly constituencies — making it possible to aggregate or analyze data at whichever level a research question demands.

Kosi is open-access. Researchers can use Kosi for their work and contribute new data back using Kosid, allowing the dataset to grow in depth and breadth over time. Data are released at the ward, municipality, district, and constituency levels, making them usable for academic researchers as well as donors, NGOs, and civil-society organizations working in Nepal.

Data currently linked through Kosi

Contributing

Kosi is open to contributions. If you have a Nepal dataset with geographic information — administrative records, survey data, satellite-derived indicators, anything else — we can help you link it to Kosid and add it as a module. Get in touch.

License & Citation

Kosi is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 International License. If you use Kosi in your research, please cite as:

Shrestha, Slesh A. (2026). Kosi: A Harmonized Geographic Platform for Nepal. Version 1.0.