Hindu Kush Himalaya

The geographic qualifier 'Hindu Kush Himalayan' is not very precise. ICIMOD's target area includes the Karakorum, the Pamir, and other neighbouring ranges. The Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region extends 3,500 km over all or part of eight countries from Afghanistan in the west to Myanmar in the east. It is the source of ten large Asian river systems -– the Amu Darya, Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra (Yarlungtsanpo), Irrawaddy, Salween (Nu), Mekong (Lancang), Yangtse (Jinsha), Yellow River (Huanghe), and Tarim (Dayan), - and provides water, ecosystem services, and the basis for livelihoods to a population of around 210.53 million people in the region. The basins of these rivers provide water to 1.3 billion people, a fifth of the world’s population.

The Himalayan range alone has the total snow and ice cover of 35,110 sq.km containing 3,735 cu.km of eternal snow and ice (Qin 2002). The total for the region is not yet calculated. Hills and mountains, particularly the Hindu Kush-Himalaya mountain system, have always constituted places where adaptation, mitigation, and resilience are hallmarks of the people and the landscape they inhabit. Since time immemorial, the people of the Himalaya have maintained a rich cultural identity, and have maintained food security and biogenetic diversity within the parameters of their own tradition.

HKH regional area (Total estimated area: 3,441,719 sq.km)

Estimated	Afghanistan	Bangladesh	Bhutan	China	India	Myanmar	Nepal	Pakistan
HKH part (sq.km)*	390,475	13,189	38,394	1,647,725	482,920	317,640	147,181	404,195
Proportion of country	60%	9%	100%	17%	14%	47%	100%	51%

Source: Sharma. P,, Pratap, T., 1994, Population, Poverty, and Development issues in the Hindu Kush-Himalayas, Development of Poor Mountain Areas, ICIMOD
* Estimate based on earlier definition of the HKH region, which is smaller than the area used for population estimates.

Population (Total estimated population: 210.53 million)

Estimated Population	Afghanistan	Bangladesh	Bhutan	China	India	Myanmar	Nepal	Pakistan
(millions)	28.48(2)	1.33(3)	0.71(1)	29.48(4)	72.36(5)	11.01(2)	27.8(1)	39.36(2)
Density (per sq.km)	73	100	15	17	150	34	189	97

Sources: ⁽¹⁾ Population Reference Bureau, 2007 World Population Data Sheet. ⁽²⁾ Estimated based on data and information from Population Reference Bureau, 2007 World Population Data Sheet and Banskota, m. 2004. The Hindu Kush-Himalayas: Searching for Viable Socioeconomic and Environmental Options, pp. 57-105, In: Banskota et al. (eds.) Growth, Poverty Alleviation and Sustainable Resource Management in the Mountain Areas of South Asia, ICIMOD, Nepal. ⁽³⁾ Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 2004. ⁽⁴⁾ China Population Information and Research Centre (CPIRC):(accessed on 5 June, 2008). ⁽⁵⁾ Census of India, Population Projection, 2007.

[HKH region and adjacent mountain areas include: Afghanistan – all provinces except Kandahar, Helmand, Nimroz, Farah, and Herat; Bangladesh – Chittagong Hill Tracts; Bhutan – whole country; China – parts of Yunnan (Diqing, Nujiang, Dali prefectures), Sichuan (Ganzi, Aba, Liangshan prefectures), Gansu (Gannan, Wuwei, Zhangye prefectures), Xinjiang (Kashigar, Kezilesu, Hetian, Altai prefectures), whole of Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai; India – the 11 mountain states (Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand; Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura) and Darjeeling district of West Bengal; Myanmar – the states of Kachin, Chin, Shan and Rakkhain; Nepal – whole country; Pakistan – North Western Frontier Province (NWFP), Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Northern Areas, Ajad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), and 12 districts of Baluchistan]

Major mountain ranges and peaks

Ten highest mountain peaks in the region

Name	Height (m)	Location	Lower slopes	Other names
Everest	8,848 (snow) 8,844 (rock)	Nepal	China/Nepal	Sagarmatha, Chomolungma
K2	8,611	Pakistan	China/Pakistan	Mt. Godwin-Austen, Qialogeli
Kangchenjunga	8,586	Nepal/India	Nepal/India	Kanchenjunga, Khangchendzonga
Lhotse	8,516	Nepal	China/Nepal	-
Makalu	8,462	Nepal	China/Nepal	Kumba karna
Cho Oyu	8,201	Nepal	China/Nepal	-
Dhaulagiri	8,167	Nepal	-	-
Manaslu	8,156	Nepal	-	Kutang
Nanga Parbat	8,125	Pakistan	-	Killer Mountain
Annapurna	8,091	Nepal	-	-

Highest peaks in countries

Country	Peak	Height (m)
Afghanistan	Nowshāk	7,482
Bangladesh	Tajingdong (Bijoy)	1,280
Bhutan	Gangkhar Puensum	7,541
China	Xixabangma	8,010
India	Kangchenjunga	8,586
Myanmar	Hkakabao Raz	5,881
Nepal	Everest (Sagarmatha)	8,848/8,844 (rock)
Pakistan	K2	8,611

Mountain ranges

Range	Countries
Ganhdise Shan	China
Hengduan Shan	China, Myanmar
Himalaya	Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, Pakistan
Hindu Kush	Afghanistan, Pakistan
Karakoram	China, India, Pakistan
Kulun Shan	China
Nyainqentanglha Shan	China
Pamir	Afghanistan, Pakistan, China
Qiantang Plateau	China
Qilian Shan	China
Tanggula	China
Tien Shan	China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan

The ten major river basins of the Himalayan region

	River Basin
Rivers	Basin Area (sq.km)	Countries	Population (X 1000)	Population density (per sq.km)
Amu Darya	534,739	Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan	20,855	39
Brahmaputra	651,335	China, India, Bhutan, Bangladesh	118,543	182
Ganges	1,016,124	India, Nepal, China, Bangladesh	407,466	401
Indus	1,081,718	China, India, Pakistan	178,483	165
Irrawaddy	413,710	Myanmar	32,683	79
Mekong	805,604	China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam	57,198	71
Salween	271,914	China, Myanmar, Thailand	5,982	22
Tarim	1,152,448	Kyrgyzstan, China	8,067	7
Yangtze	1,722,193	China	368,549	214
Yellow	944,970	China	147,415	156
Total	8,594,755		1,345,241

Source: IUCN/IWMI, Ramsar Convention and WRI, 2003.

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