Located in the north of Fujian and on the southeast side of the north segment of Wuyi Mount, Nanping lies on the borders of Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi, which is called "North Fujian", and is situated at latitude 26°15'-28°19' north and longitude 117°00'- 119°17' east.  Covering an area of 26,280.6 square kilometers, it is the biggest municipality in Fujian. With a total population of 3,040,800, Nanping governs Yanping District, Shaowu City, Wuyishan City, Jian'ou City and Jianyang City, as well as five counties as Shunchang, Pucheng, Guangze, Songxi and Zhenghe. The Min-Gan (Fujian and Jiangxi) dialect is the native language of Shaowu, Guangze, Shunchang, while Wu dialect is popular in Pucheng and Min-Dong (East Fujian) dialect is popular in Nanping (this dialect is the official dialect in North Fujian). The Min-Bei (North Fujian) dialect is spoken in all other places.

As a major grain-producing area of Fujian, 8 out of 10 counties (cities) under the jurisdiction of Nanping are national or provincial marketable grain producing base counties. The annual output of marketable grain accounts for 1/3 of the total output of Fujian. Also known as one of major forest regions of South China, Nanping is also famed as "Green Treasury". With a forest cover rate of 68.3%, Nanping accounts for 30% of the total timber reserves of Fujian. Meanwhile, the North Fujian is also a major bamboo production area, while Jian'ou and Shunchang are both listed among the top ten hometowns of bamboo in China.