Kathmandu-With its low cost young workforce, ability to work in English, and expanding digital work ecosystem, Nepal is increasingly emerging as a promising destination in the global outsourcing market. The recently published ‘Global Outsourcing Statistics 2026’ report has ranked Nepal 19th among the world’s competitive outsourcing destinations.

The global outsourcing industry is currently estimated to be worth more than 328 billion US dollars. The sector has expanded rapidly as companies in developed countries increasingly outsource various services to external firms or foreign workers to reduce costs, access skilled manpower, and maintain 24 hour operations.

Companies from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia are particularly outsourcing software development, accounting services, customer support, digital marketing, data processing, and AI related work to countries in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Africa.

According to the report, the Philippines ranks first in outsourcing competitiveness, followed by Malaysia in second place and India in third. Chile, South Africa, Nigeria, Peru, Indonesia, Argentina, and Romania follow on the list. Nepal is also included in the rankings, making it the second South Asian country after India to feature on the list.

The report highlights Nepal’s low labor costs, English language capability, and growing digital workforce. It states that the rankings were based on factors such as labor costs, English proficiency, availability of skilled manpower, digital infrastructure, and political and business stability.

In recent years, Nepal has seen rapid growth in software outsourcing, virtual assistant services, accounting support, call center operations, and AI related data management work.

According to the Nepal Association for Software and IT Services Companies, Nepal earns an estimated one billion US dollars annually from information technology and outsourcing service exports. Various studies show that more than 60,000 Nepalis are directly engaged in the sector.

With the expansion of remote work culture, more Nepali youths are working from Nepal for American, European, and Australian companies. Nepali professionals are also increasing their presence on international digital labor platforms such as Upwork, Fiverr, and Toptal.

Industry experts say that while Nepal may not be able to compete with India or the Philippines in terms of scale, it has strong potential as a low cost destination offering skilled manpower for small and medium sized international companies.

However, industry stakeholders argue that for the sector’s long term expansion, Nepal needs to simplify international payment systems, introduce stable tax policies, formulate data protection laws, and strengthen digital infrastructure.