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Dera Ghazi Khan District

ضلع ڈيره غازى خان
ضلع دیرہ غازی خان
Dera Ghazi Khan District ضلع ڈيره غازى خان; ضلع دیرہ غازی خان
District of Punjab
	Top to bottom: Shrine of Mullah Qaid Shah, Hills of Fort Munro.
	Map of Dera Ghazi Khan District
Country	Pakistan
Province	Punjab
Division	Dera Ghazi Khan
Headquarters	Dera Ghazi Khan
Government
• Type	District Administration
• Deputy Commissioner	Sardar Abdullah Dasti
• District Police Officer	N/A
• District Health Officer	N/A
Area
• District of Punjab	3,814 km2 (1,473 sq mi)
Population (2023)
• District of Punjab	2,348,245
• Density	620/km2 (1,600/sq mi)
• Urban	807,412
• Rural	2,586,293
Literacy
• Literacy rate	Total:; (43.98%); Male:; (47.78%); Female:; (35.64%);
Time zone	UTC+5 (PST)
Area code	064
Number of Tehsils	3
Website	dgkhan.punjab.gov.pk

Dera Ghazi Khan (Urdu: ضلع ڈيره غازى خان, Saraiki: ضلع دیرہ غازی خان) is a district in Punjab, Pakistan. Its administrative capital is Dera Ghazi Khan.

The district lies to the west of the Indus River. The Sulaiman Mountains rise to a height of 10,000 feet (3,000 m) in the north of the district. Popular tourist destinations are Fort Munro, Yakbai Hill station and Mubarki Top.

Administration

The district is divided into two tehsils^[4]^[5] which are divided into a total of sixty Union Councils:^[6]

Tehsil^[7]	Area (km²)^[8]	Pop. (2023)	Density (ppl/km²) (2023)	Literacy rate (2023)^[9]	Union Councils
Dera Ghazi Khan	2,012	1,443,409	717.40	47.25%	41
Kot Chutta	1,802	904,836	502.13	38.61%	24

History

The region around Dera Ghazi Khan was inhabited by Mallian people in late antiquity. Then it was part of the wider Multan region.^[10] Buddhist artifacts dating to the 1st to 3rd centuries CE have been found in Dillu Roy in Kot Chhutta tehsil.^[11]

The town of Dera Ghazi Khan was founded at the close of the 15th century and named after Nawab Ghazi Khan Mirani, son of Nawab Haji Khan Mirani, the city was founded when Shah Hussain of the Langah Sultanate of Multan invited the Baloch people to settle the region. Together with two other Deras i.e. settlements, Dera Ismail Khan and Dera Fateh Khan, it gave its name to Derajat. Derajat eventually came into the possession of the British after the Sikh War in 1849 and was divided into two districts: Dera Ghazi Khan and Dera Ismail Khan.^[12] After the independence, many of the city's Hindu residents settled in Derawal Nagar colony of Delhi, India.^[13] The district of Rajanpur was later carved out of the Dera Ghazi Khan district.

Based on the surveys of 2004–2005, Dera Ghazi Khan district is considered one of the 20 poorest districts of Pakistan with about 51% of its population living under the poverty line.^[14]

Demographics

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1951	380,393	—
1961	472,600	+2.19%
1972	686,057	+3.45%
1981	943,663	+3.61%
1998	1,643,118	+3.32%
2017	2,872,631	+2.98%
2023	3,393,705	+2.82%
Sources:^[15] Note: Includes present Taunsa district, which has since become a separate district

As of the 2023 census, residual Dera Ghazi Khan district has 292,658 households and a population of 2,348,245.^[16] The district has a sex ratio of 100.71 males to 100 females and a literacy rate of 43.98%: 47.78% for males and 35.64% for females.^[2]^[3] 797,634 (34.06% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age.^[17] 649,290 (27.65%) live in urban areas.^[2]

Religion

As per the 2023 census, the vast majority of the population was Muslim and made up nearly the entire population with 99.62%. Christians made up the largest minority (0.30%), followed by Ahmadis (0.07%) with Hindus and Sikhs making up the rest.^[18]

Religion in Dera Ghazi Khan District
Religious group	1941^[19]^[a]		2017^[20]		2023^[18]
Religious group	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
Islam	192,278	85.94%	1,979,213	99.85%	2,332,785	99.62%
Hinduism	31,052	13.88%	198	0.01%	138	~0%
Christianity	37	0.02%	310	0.02%	6,946	0.30%
Ahmadiyya	—	—	2,371	0.12%	1,607	0.07%
Others	368	0.16%	102	~0%	162	0.01%
Total Population	223,735	100%	1,982,194	100%	2,341,638	100%

Religious groups in Dera Ghazi Khan District (British Punjab province era)
Religious group	1881^[21]^[22]^[23]		1891^[24]		1901^[25]		1911^[26]^[27]		1921^[28]		1931^[29]		1941^[19]
Religious group	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
Islam	315,240	86.76%	349,587	86.52%	412,012	87.45%	442,234	88.47%	411,431	87.72%	432,911	88.16%	512,678	88.19%
Hinduism ^[b]	46,697	12.85%	52,903	13.09%	57,815	12.27%	56,485	11.3%	56,346	12.01%	57,217	11.65%	67,407	11.59%
Sikhism	1,326	0.36%	1,424	0.35%	1,027	0.22%	1,042	0.21%	932	0.2%	760	0.15%	1,072	0.18%
Christianity	82	0.02%	117	0.03%	152	0.03%	76	0.02%	47	0.01%	31	0.01%	87	0.01%
Jainism	0	0%	0	0%	143	0.03%	23	0%	296	0.06%	125	0.03%	106	0.02%
Zoroastrianism	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%
Buddhism	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%
Judaism	—	—	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%
Others	1	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%
Total population	363,346	100%	404,031	100%	471,149	100%	499,860	100%	469,052	100%	491,044	100%	581,350	100%
Note: British Punjab province era district borders are not an exact match in the present-day due to various bifurcations to district borders — which since created new districts — throughout the historic Punjab Province region during the post-independence era that have taken into account population increases.

Religion in the Tehsils of Dera Ghazi Khan District (1921)^[28]
Tehsil	Islam		Hinduism		Sikhism		Christianity		Jainism		Others^[c]		Total
Tehsil	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
Dera Ghazi Khan Tehsil	167,687	86.53%	25,272	13.04%	507	0.26%	27	0.01%	296	0.15%	0	0%	193,789	100%
Sanghar Tehsil	74,548	87.95%	10,207	12.04%	4	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	84,759	100%
Rajanpura Tehsil	94,148	89.66%	10,444	9.95%	415	0.4%	1	0%	0	0%	0	0%	105,008	100%
Jampur Tehsil	75,048	87.78%	10,423	12.19%	6	0.01%	19	0.02%	0	0%	0	0%	85,496	100%
Note: British Punjab province era tehsil borders are not an exact match in the present-day due to various bifurcations to tehsil borders — which since created new tehsils — throughout the historic Punjab Province region during the post-independence era that have taken into account population increases.

Religion in the Tehsils of Dera Ghazi Khan District (1941)^[19]
Tehsil	Islam		Hinduism ^[b]		Sikhism		Christianity		Jainism		Others^[d]		Total
Tehsil	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
Dera Ghazi Khan Tehsil	192,278	85.94%	31,052	13.88%	221	0.1%	37	0.02%	106	0.05%	41	0.02%	223,735	100%
Sanghar Tehsil	97,234	89.08%	11,875	10.88%	34	0.03%	6	0.01%	0	0%	0	0%	109,149	100%
Rajanpura Tehsil	122,849	90.18%	12,591	9.24%	791	0.58%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	136,231	100%
Jampur Tehsil	100,317	89.38%	11,889	10.59%	26	0.02%	3	0%	0	0%	0	0%	112,235	100%
Note1: British Punjab province era tehsil borders are not an exact match in the present-day due to various bifurcations to tehsil borders — which since created new tehsils — throughout the historic Punjab Province region during the post-independence era that have taken into account population increases. Note2: Tehsil religious breakdown figures for Christianity only includes local Christians, labeled as "Indian Christians" on census. Does not include Anglo-Indian Christians or British Christians, who were classified under "Other" category.

Languages

Languages of Dera Ghazi Khan district (2023)^[30]

Saraiki (87.90%)

Balochi (7.68%)

Urdu (3.40%)

Others (1.02%)

At the time of the 2023 census, 87.90% of the population spoke Saraiki, 7.68% Balochi and 3.40% Urdu as their first language.^[30]

Notable people

Farooq Leghari, former President of Pakistan
Usman Buzdar, former Chief Minister of Punjab

References

^ "D.G.Khan | Punjab Portal".
^ ^a ^b ^c "7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 1" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
^ ^a ^b "7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 12" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
^ "Tehsils & Unions in the District of D.G. Khan – Government of Pakistan". Nrb.gov.pk. Archived from the original on 9 February 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
^ Pakistan Government – List of Tehsils Archived 5 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine
^ Tehsils & Unions in the District of D.G. Khan Archived 9 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
^ Divisions/Districts of Pakistan Archived 2006-09-30 at the Wayback Machine Note: Although divisions as an administrative structure has been abolished, the election commission of Pakistan still groups districts under the division names
^ "TABLE 1 : AREA, POPULATION BY SEX, SEX RATIO, POPULATION DENSITY, URBAN POPULATION, HOUSEHOLD SIZE AND ANNUAL GROWTH RATE, CENSUS-2023, PUNJAB" (PDF).
^ "LITERACY RATE, ENROLMENT AND OUT OF SCHOOL POPULATION BY SEX AND RURAL/URBAN, CENSUS-2023" (PDF).
^ Durrani, Ashiq Muhammad Khān (1991). History of Multan: From the Early Period to 1849 A.D. Vanguard. ISBN 978-969-402-045-7.
^ Butt, Shafiq (27 February 2020). "Mound Dillu Roy site: Archaeologists find 'around 2,000-year-old' clay statue". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Dera Ghazi Khan" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 64.
^ "Colonies, posh and model in name only!". NCR Tribune. Retrieved 16 December 2007.
^ Haroon Jamal (June 2007). Income Poverty at District Level: An Application of Small Area Estimation Technique (PDF) (Report). Social Policy and Development Centre. pp. 15–18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
^ "Population by administrative units 1951-1998" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
^ "7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 20" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
^ "7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 5" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
^ ^a ^b "Population by Sex, Religion and Rural/Urban, Census-2023" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. 2023. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Census of India, 1941. Vol. 6, Punjab". 1941. p. 42. JSTOR saoa.crl.28215541. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
^ "Population by Sex, Religion and Rural Urban" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
^ "Census of India, 1881 Report on the Census of the Panjáb Taken on the 17th of February 1881, vol. I." 1881. JSTOR saoa.crl.25057656. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
^ "Census of India, 1881 Report on the Census of the Panjáb Taken on the 17th of February 1881, vol. II". 1881. p. 14. JSTOR saoa.crl.25057657. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
^ "Census of India, 1881 Report on the Census of the Panjáb Taken on the 17th of February 1881, vol. III". 1881. p. 14. JSTOR saoa.crl.25057658. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
^ "The Punjab and its feudatories, part II--Imperial Tables and Supplementary Returns for the British Territory". 1891. p. 14. JSTOR saoa.crl.25318669. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
^ "Census of India 1901. [Vol. 17A]. Imperial tables, I-VIII, X-XV, XVII and XVIII for the Punjab, with the native states under the political control of the Punjab Government, and for the North-west Frontier Province". 1901. p. 34. JSTOR saoa.crl.25363739. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
^ "Census of India 1911. Vol. 14, Punjab. Pt. 2, Tables". 1911. p. 27. JSTOR saoa.crl.25393788. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
^ Kaul, Harikishan (1911). "Census Of India 1911 Punjab Vol XIV Part II". p. 27. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
^ ^a ^b "Census of India 1921. Vol. 15, Punjab and Delhi. Pt. 2, Tables". 1921. p. 29. JSTOR saoa.crl.25430165. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
^ "Census of India 1931. Vol. 17, Punjab. Pt. 2, Tables". 1931. p. 277. JSTOR saoa.crl.25793242. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
^ ^a ^b "7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 11" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

^ Dera Ghazi Khan tehsil of erstwhile Dera Ghazi Khan district, which roughly corresponds to the present district. Historic district borders may not be an exact match in the present-day due to various bifurcations to district borders — which since created new districts — throughout the historic Punjab Province region during the post-independence era that have taken into account population increases.
^ ^a ^b 1931-1941: Including Ad-Dharmis
^ Including Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Tribals, others, or not stated
^ Including Anglo-Indian Christians, British Christians, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Tribals, others, or not stated