Surkhet District is the province capital of Karnali province. Surkhet is one of the ten districts of Karnali located about 600 kilometers (373 mi) west of the national capital Kathmandu. The district's area is 2,488.64 square kilometers (960.87 sq mi)which are the longest in Nepal. It had 288,527 population in 2001 and 350,804 in 2011 which male comprised 169,461 and female 181,381. It is the district headquarters of surkhet and commercial hub of the Karnali state of the new federal republic.