> In Nepal, a $20-a-month AI plan costs 27% of the median living standard, 34 times the share it takes in the United States; for 96% of people it is over a tenth of what they live on. Claude, OpenAI's API and Gemini are all officially offered. 46% of people use the internet, and Claude use per working-age person is 0.41 times the world average.

[World](https://themodelindex.org/world/) /

Asia

AI access, cost and use · Southern Asia · Asia · data read 1 Oct 2026

# Nepal

In Nepal, a $20-a-month AI plan costs 27% of the median living standard, 34 times the share it takes in the United States; for 96% of people it is over a tenth of what they live on. Claude, OpenAI's API and Gemini are all officially offered. 46% of people use the internet, and Claude use per working-age person is 0.41 times the world average.

27%

of the median living standard for a $20 plan

Asia median 13% · United States 0.79%

96%

of people for whom the plan is over a tenth of their living standard

about 29 m people

3of 3

leading services officially offered

Claude · OpenAI · Gemini

46%

of people use the internet

world 74% · 30 m people

## The figures · Nepal

People

30 m

Median living standard

$884a year per person · consumption

A $20 plan takes

27%of that · 34× the US share

For whom it is over a tenth

96%of people

Survey

2022revalued at 2025 prices

GNI per person

$1,570plan is 15% of it

Claude use per person

0.41×world average = 1

Notable AI models built here

0

## Officially offered here · 3 of 3

[Run it yourself →](https://themodelindex.org/local/)

Claude · claude.ai app

Yes

OpenAI · API

Yes

Gemini · web app

Yes

From each lab's own published list: Anthropic's Claude.ai countries, OpenAI's API countries and Google's Gemini web app countries. Not listed means not officially served; open-weight models can be run anywhere.

## Against Asia and the world · regional figures are medians or population-weighted

| MEASURE | NEPAL | ASIA | WORLD |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| A $20 plan ÷ median living standard | 27% | 13% | 9.9% |
| People for whom it is over a tenth | 96% | 72% | 63% |
| Plan price ÷ GNI per person | 15% | 3.9% | 2.9% |
| People using the internet | 46% | 76% | 74% |
| Claude use per working-age person | 0.41× | 0.43× | 1.00× |
| Notable AI models built | 0 | 283 | 1,256 |

## What it is used for · Nepal against the world

[Report ↗](https://www.anthropic.com/research/economic-index-june-2026-report)

Nepal

Work 34%

Personal 34%

Coursework 32%

The world

Work 42%

Personal 41%

Coursework 17%

Share of the world's Claude use

0.19%0.36% of the world's people

Work

34%world 42%

Personal

34%world 41%

Coursework

32%world 17%

Handed over to the model (automation)

51%world 48%

Anthropic Economic Index, May 2026: Claude.ai conversations by country. One product from one lab, so read it as a signal of who is using frontier models, not a census.

## What people make with it · share of conversations

Explanation or answer

18%

Document or report

14%

Advice or recommendation

8%

Educational material

6%

The most common things people in Nepal ask Claude to produce.

## Neighbours · Southern Asia · lightest burden first

| COUNTRY | PEOPLE | ONLINE | $20 PLAN ÷ MEDIAN LIVING STANDARD | OVER A TENTH | CLAUDE USE PER PERSON | OFFICIAL LISTS |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Maldives](https://themodelindex.org/world/maldives/) | 530k | 85% | 5.9% | 14% | not reported | 3 of 3 |
| [Bhutan](https://themodelindex.org/world/bhutan/) | 797k | 91% | 14% | 75% | not reported | 3 of 3 |
| [Sri Lanka](https://themodelindex.org/world/sri-lanka/) | 22 m | 55% | 27% | 92% | 0.56× | 3 of 3 |
| Nepal | 30 m | 46% | 27% | 96% | 0.41× | 3 of 3 |
| [Bangladesh](https://themodelindex.org/world/bangladesh/) | 176 m | 53% | 31% | 97% | 0.11× | 3 of 3 |
| [India](https://themodelindex.org/world/india/) | 1.46 bn | 70% | 41% | 99%+ | 0.30× | 3 of 3 |
| [Pakistan](https://themodelindex.org/world/pakistan/) | 255 m | 57% | 55% | 99% | 0.31× | 3 of 3 |
| [Iran](https://themodelindex.org/world/iran/) | 92 m | 85% | no estimate | – | not reported | 0 of 3 |
| [Afghanistan](https://themodelindex.org/world/afghanistan/) | 44 m | 16% | no estimate | – | not reported | 1 of 3 |

[All countries →](https://themodelindex.org/world/)

## The foundations · Nepal against the world

[World Bank ↗](https://data.worldbank.org/indicator)

People using the internet

46%

world 74%

People with electricity

98%

world 92%

Mobile subscriptions per 100 people

100

world 112

Fixed broadband lines per 100 people

10.1

world 20.1

Enrolled in university-level education

21%

world 44%

Research spending, share of GDP

0.3%

world 2.6%

Researchers per million people

60

world 1,652

Secure internet servers per million people

541

world 16,381

The latest World Bank figure for each measure. The tick marks the world figure.

A $20-a-month plan ($240 a year, US list price) against the median household living standard per person in each country. The median is from the latest national household survey (World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform), revalued from 2021 purchasing-power dollars into US dollars at recent prices and official exchange rates, assuming real living standards have not changed since the survey. Some surveys measure income and others consumption, which includes food people grow and housing they own, so this is a living standard, not cash to spare. Countries with no survey since 2015 or no defensible exchange rate are left blank.

[World Bank household surveys ↗](https://pip.worldbank.org/) [Anthropic countries ↗](https://www.anthropic.com/supported-countries) [OpenAI countries ↗](https://platform.openai.com/docs/supported-countries) [Gemini countries ↗](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/13575153) [Anthropic Economic Index ↗](https://www.anthropic.com/research/economic-index-june-2026-report) [Epoch AI notable models ↗](https://epoch.ai/data/notable-ai-models)

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Source: https://themodelindex.org/world/nepal/ · The Model Index · data as of 2026-10-01