Abstract Like many countries, the increase in the population of older adults in Nepal has led to national policies and programs to address their needs. It would, however, also be fair to say that not enough is yet known about older adults and hence it is unclear if government programs truly address those needs. Nepal is a very poor country that is still largely rural and characterized by extremes of inequality based on caste/ethnicity, gender, region, and income/wealth. In this paper, we describe the demographic and social conditions of older adults in Nepal, inequality, sources, and limitations of the data about older adults, and public policy and programs for older adults. We believe that studies of older adults in Nepal would benefit from adopting social determinants of health, healthy aging, and life-course perspectives to both identify needs and formulate policy for older adults in Nepal.