Dailekh District (Nepali: दैलेख जिल्ला pronounced [dʌi̯lekʰ] ) a part of Karnali Province, is one of the 77 districts of Nepal. The district, with Dailekh as its district headquarters, covers an area of 1,502 km (580 sq mi) and had a population of 225,201 in 2001 and 261,770 in 2011.

It is said that the name Dailekh is derived from Dadhi Lekh. Dadhi stands for Dadhichi. Dadhichi was a sage in ancient time and Lekh mean hill. Etymologically ‘Dadhi Lekh’ means the hill where sage Dadhichi meditated. There is also another story about name that, in ancient time it was a place of Devatas, so it called "Daibalok" which later became 'Dailekh'.

Dailekh District was a part of Khasa kingdom during 12th to 14th century. Sinja Valley was the ancient capital city and powerful town of the Khasa Kingdom After the fall down of the Khasa Kingdom it divided into many small kingdoms. Before the unification of modern Nepal, the area of the Karnali region had a united kingdom named Baise Rajya (Twenty two principalities). Dailekh principality was one in twenty two principalities.

Dailekh is a high, hilly district out of ten districts of Karnali Province. It is situated at coordinates of 28° 35' 00" N to 29° 08' 00" N Latitudes and 81° 25' 00" E to 81° 53' 00" E of Longitudes. The lowest elevation is 544m and the highest elevation is 4,168m. The headquarter is situated at an elevation of 1448m. The district has covered 80% of mid-hill land and 21% of high-hill land. The total area of the district is 1,505 square kilometres (581 sq mi).

On the basis of altitude,this district can be classified into 4 different sub-categories:

Climate Zone	Elevation Range	% of Area
Upper Tropical	300 to 1,000 meters 1,000 to 3,300 ft.	16.7%
Subtropical	1,000 to 2,000 meters 3,300 to 6,600 ft.	64.5%
Temperate	2,000 to 3,000 meters 6,400 to 9,800 ft.	16.1%
Subalpine	3,000 to 5,500 meters 9,800 to 18,044 ft.	2.4%

Dailekh is connected with Birendranagar (the capital city of Karnali Province) with a road called Dailekh road (F-48). Dailekh road meets to Ratna Highway (NH-12) at Birendranagar (Surkhet). Ratna Highway is connected with Mahendra Highway (NH-1) at Kohalpur. Through Mahendra Highway one can get access to Kathmandu, Pokhara and other cities of Nepal.

There is another road connecting Dailekh to Karnali Highway (NH-13) via Dullu.

The national capital Kathmandu is at distance of 647.41 kilometres (402.28 mi) from Dailekh.

The nearest airport for Dailekh is Surkhet Airport which is about 70 kilometres (43 mi) at distance from Dailekh.

Historical population

Census year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1981	166,527	—
1991	187,400	+1.19%
2001	225,201	+1.85%
2011	261,770	+1.52%
2021	253,319	−0.33%
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Source: Citypopulation

At the time of the 2011 Nepal census, Dailekh District had a population of 261,770

As their first language, 97.9% spoke Nepali, 1.5% Magar, 0.2% Gurung, 0.1% Kham, 0.1% Tamang and 0.1% other languages.

Ethnicity/caste: 34.8% were Chhetri, 18.6% Kami, 14.1% Thakuri, 10.9% Hill Brahmin, 9.2% Magar, 5.0% Damai/Dholi, 3.1% Sarki, 1.5% Sanyasi/Dasnami, 1.3% Gurung, 0.3% Badi, 0.3% Newar, 0.2% other Dalit, 0.2% Musalman, 0.1% Kumal, 0.1% Tamang and 0.1% others.

Religion: 97.4% were Hindu, 1.9% Buddhist, 0.5% Christian and 0.2% Muslim.

Literacy: 62.3% could read and write, 3.3% could only read and 34.3% could neither read nor write.

Dailekh comprises 2 parliamentary seats and 4 provincial seats:

Constituency	Area	Seat	MP/MLA	Party
Dailekh 1	Narayan Mahabu Naumule Bhagawatimai Dungeshwar Gurans	Parliamentary	Rabindra Raj Sharma	Nepal Communist Party
Dailekh 2	Dullu Chamunda Bindrasaini Aathbiskot Thantikandh Bhairabi	Parliamentary	Raj Bahadur Buda Chhetri	Nepal Communist Party
Dailekh 1(A)	Dungeshwar Gurans Bhagawatimai	Provincial	Dharma Raj Regmi	Nepal Communist Party
Dailekh 1(B)	Narayan Mahabu Naumule	Provincial	Amar Bahadur Thapa	Nepal Communist Party
Dailekh 2(A)	Dullu Bhairabi	Provincial	Sushil Kumar Thapa	Nepal Communist Party
Dailekh 2(B)	Chamunda Bindrasaini Aathbis Thantikandh	Provincial	Raj Bahadur Shahi	Nepal Communist Party

As per the new constitution of Nepal 2015, the district is divided into 4 urban municipalities and 7 rural municipality;

#	Municipality	Type	Area	Population	Website
1	Narayan	Urban	110.63	27,037	narayanmun.gov.np
2	Dullu	Urban	156.77	41,540	dullumun.gov.np
3	Aathbis	Urban	168	29,227	aathbismun.gov.np
4	Chamunda Bindrasaini	Urban	90.6	26,149	chamundabindrasainimun.gov.np
5	Thantikandh	Rural	88.22	18,896	thantikandhmun.gov.np
6	Bhairabi	Rural	110.46	21,233	bhairabimun.gov.np
7	Mahabu	Rural	110.8	19,277	mahabumun.gov.np
8	Naumule	Rural	228.59	20,802	naumulemun.gov.np
9	Dungeshwar	Rural	105.19	15,883	dungeshwormun.gov.np
10	Gurans	Rural	164.79	22,033	guransmun.gov.np
11	Bhagawatimai	Rural	151.52	18,778	bhagawatimaimun.gov.np
	Dailekh	District	1505	260,855	ddcdailekh.gov.np

Awal Parajul Bada Bhairab Bada Khola Badalamji Baluwatar Bansi Baraha Basantamala Belaspur Belpata Bhawani Bindhyabasini Bisalla Chamunda Chauratha Dada Parajul Dullu Gamaudi Gauri Goganpani

Jaganath Jambukandh Kal Bhairab Kalika Kasikandh Katti Khadkawada Kharigera Kusapani Lakhandra Lakuri Lalikhanda Lyati Bindraseni Mairi Kalikathum Malika Meheltoli Narayan Municipality Naule Katuwal Nepa Nomule

Odhari Padukasthan Pagnath Piladi Pipalkot Pusakot Chiudi Rakam Karnali Raniban Rawalkot Rum Salleri Sattalla Saraswati Seri Sigaudi Singasain Tilepata Tolijaisi Toli Miya Toll Kuraha

• 
  An entrance gate to Dailekh District in Ranimatta Mid-western Nepal
• 
  Aerial view of Dailekh District (Mid Western Nepal) on the way to Surkhet from Humla
• 
  Aerial view of Dailekh District (Mid Western Nepal) on the way to Surkhet from Humla
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  River Karnali, an aerial view of Dailekh District (Mid Western Nepal) on the way to Surkhet from Humla

• Zones of Nepal
• "Districts of Nepal". Statoids.

• Volunteer Charity Work
• District Development Committee, Dailekh

28°50′15″N 81°42′28″E / 28.83750°N 81.70778°E / 28.83750; 81.70778