List of districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa


The province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the third-largest province of Pakistan by population and the smallest province by area, is divided into 40 districts and seven divisions.
Below, you will find a detailed overview of the history of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's districts and divisions, a map showing each district, the divisions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and their districts, and a list showing each district's name, the division the district belongs to, the district's area, the location of the district's headquarters, the district's population and population density, the average annual population growth rate of each district, and a map showing each district's location.

History

1901 to 2010

Districts have formed an integral part of civil administration in the subcontinent since colonial times. When the North-West Frontier Province formed in November 1901, it was divided into five "settled districts": Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Hazara, Kohat, and Peshawar, and a "trans-border tract" of land which encompassed five "Political Agencies": Khyber, Kurram, Malakand, Tochi, and Wano. The four districts Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Kohat, and Peshawar were considered "Trans-Indus" districts.
By the time of the 1941 census of British India, Tochi Agency had been renamed "North Waziristan Agency", Wana Agency had been renamed "South Waziristan Agency", and two tehsils of Peshawar District were split off to form Mardan District, which became the fifth "Trans-Indus" district. The six districts of the North-West Frontier Province had also all been given their own "Frontier Regions", which were tribal areas that were under the control of the deputy commissioner of an adjacent district.

1947 to 1954

Upon the independence of Pakistan, the six districts of the North-West Frontier Province retained their borders and status within the province, but the five tribal agencies and six frontier regions all split off from the province, creating the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The Federally Administered Tribal Areas was an administrative unit of Pakistan governed from Islamabad which had an area larger than the province itself.
In 1951, parts of Malakand Agency were split off to create the Mohmand Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

1954 to 1972

In 1954, the One Unit policy that consolidated all of West Pakistan into one province began. From 1954 to 1970, the North-West Frontier Province ceased to exist. The death of the province brought the rise of the area's first divisions. The area that once covered the North-West Frontier Province and Federally Administered Tribal Areas was split among two divisions: Dera Ismail Khan Division and Peshawar Division. Dera Ismail Khan Division covered Bannu District, Dera Ismail Khan District, North Waziristan Agency, and South Waziristan Agency, and Peshawar Division covered Hazara District, Kohat District, Mardan District, Peshawar District, Kurram Agency, Khyber Agency, Malakand Agency, and Mohmand Agency. The frontier regions which had previously existed were absorbed into their respective districts at this time.
The One Unit policy ended in 1970 and the provinces returned with their original forms. The divisions that had been created as a result of the policy stayed in the North-West Frontier Province, but were abolished entirely in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
By the time of the 1972 Census of Pakistan, many changes had been made to the administrative map:
  • Malakand Division had been created between 1961 and 1972 using the area that covered most of the now-defunct Malakand Agency, and was split up into the districts of Chitral, Dir, Malakand, Shangla and Swat;
  • The districts of Hazara and Mardan had absorbed their frontier regions;
  • The Bajaur Agency was created out of the areas of the now-defunct Malakand Agency that were not placed in Malakand Division.
This meant that at the North-West Frontier Province was divided into three divisions and ten districts, while the Federally Administered Tribal Areas were divided into six Political Agencies and four Frontier Regions. The administrative divisions of the region were as follows :
Province/territoryDivisionsDistricts
North-West Frontier ProvinceDera Ismail Khan Division
North-West Frontier ProvinceMalakand DivisionChitral DistrictDir District
  • Malakand District
  • Swat District
    • North-West Frontier ProvincePeshawar DivisionHazara District
  • Kohat District
  • Mardan District
  • Peshawar District
    • Federally Administered Tribal AreasPolitical Agencies
  • Bajaur Agency
  • Khyber Agency
  • Kurram Agency
  • Mohmand Agency
  • North Waziristan Agency
  • South Waziristan Agency
    • Federally Administered Tribal AreasFrontier Regions
  • Frontier Region Bannu
  • Frontier Region Dera Ismail Khan
  • Frontier Region Kohat
  • Frontier Region Peshawar

    • 1972 to 1981

    Throughout the years between 1972 and 1981, new divisions and districts kept on being divided and created and changes kept on being made to the administrative map:
    Hazara Division was created out of the area that covered the now-defunct Hazara District and parts of Swat District, in Malakand Division. Hazara Division was split up into three districts, which were Abbottabad District, Kohistan District, and Mansehra District.
    The agency of Orakzai was created out of parts of the Frontier Region Kohat in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
    This meant that by the time of the 1981 Census of Pakistan, the North-West Frontier Province had 12 districts organized into four divisions and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas had seven Political Agencies and four Frontier Regions. You can find a list of them below :
    Province/territoryDivisionsDistricts
    North-West Frontier ProvinceDera Ismail Khan Division
    North-West Frontier ProvinceHazara Division
  • Abbottabad DistrictKohistan District
  • Mansehra District
    • North-West Frontier ProvinceMalakand DivisionChitral DistrictDir District
  • Malakand District
  • Swat District
    • North-West Frontier ProvincePeshawar Division
  • Kohat District
  • Mardan District
  • Peshawar District
    • Federally Administered Tribal AreasPolitical Agencies
  • Bajaur Agency
  • Khyber Agency
  • Kurram Agency
  • Mohmand Agency
  • Orakzai Agency
  • North Waziristan Agency
  • South Waziristan Agency
    • Federally Administered Tribal AreasFrontier Regions
  • Frontier Region Bannu
  • Frontier Region Dera Ismail Khan
  • Frontier Region Kohat
  • Frontier Region Peshawar

    • 1981 to 1998

    Between the 1981 and 1998 censuses of Pakistan, many changes to the administrative map of the North-West Frontier Province:
    Dir District was split up into Lower Dir District and Upper Dir District ; the sub-divisions of Daggar/Buner and Alpuri were split off of Swat District to form the districts of Buner and Shangla respectively;
    Batagram Tehsil was separated from Mansehra District to form the new Batagram District and many union councils which were once part of Abbottabad District were absorbed into Mansehra District; what was left of Abbottabad District was divided into Haripur District and Abbottabad District ;
    Mardan Division was formed out of Mardan District and was split into the districts of Mardan and Swabi ;
    Kohat Division was formed out of Kohat District and was split into the districts of Karak, Kohat, and Hangu ;
    Peshawar District was split into three districts, Charsadda, Nowshera, and Peshawar ;
    Bannu Division was formed out of Bannu District, and was split into the districts of Bannu and Lakki Marwat ;
    Dera Ismail Khan District was bifurcated into Dera Ismail Khan District and Tank District.
    As for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the agencies remained the same and retained the exact same borders they had in 1981, but two more frontier regions were created: Frontier Region Lakki Marwat and Frontier Region Tank. These two frontier regions were created from parts of Frontier Region Dera Ismail Khan, which was, in 1981, split up into two non-contiguous sections. The northern section was divided into Frontier Region Lakki Marwat and Frontier Region Tank upon the creation of Lakki Marwat and Tank Districts, but Frontier Region Dera Ismail Khan retained the southern section.
    This meant that by the time of the 1998 Census of Pakistan, the North-West Frontier Province had 24 districts organized into seven divisions and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas had seven Political Agencies and six Frontier Regions. You can find a list of them below :
    Province/territoryDivisionsDistricts
    North-West Frontier ProvinceBannu Division
    North-West Frontier ProvinceDera Ismail Khan Division
  • Dera Ismail Khan District
  • Tank District
    • North-West Frontier ProvinceHazara Division
  • Abbottabad District
  • Battagram District
  • Haripur DistrictKohistan District
  • Mansehra District
    • North-West Frontier ProvinceKohat Division
  • Hangu District
  • Karak District
  • Kohat District
    • North-West Frontier ProvinceMalakand Division
  • Buner DistrictChitral District
  • Dir District
  • Malakand District
  • Shangla District
  • Swat District
  • Upper Dir District
    • North-West Frontier ProvinceMardan Division
  • Mardan District
  • Swabi District
    • North-West Frontier ProvincePeshawar Division
  • Charsadda District
  • Nowshera District
  • Peshawar District
    • Federally Administered Tribal AreasPolitical Agencies
  • Bajaur Agency
  • Khyber Agency
  • Kurram Agency
  • Mohmand Agency
  • Orakzai Agency
  • North Waziristan Agency
  • South Waziristan Agency
    • Federally Administered Tribal AreasFrontier Regions
  • Frontier Region Bannu
  • Frontier Region Dera Ismail Khan
  • Frontier Region Kohat
  • Frontier Region Lakki Marwat
  • Frontier Region Peshawar
  • Frontier Region Tank

    • 1998 to 2017

    In August 2000, all of the divisions throughout Pakistan were abolished, but were reinstated in their exact previous forms eight years later after the elections of 2008.
    On the other hand, no changes occurred to the 1998 district setup for over a decade, until 2010, when the North-West Frontier Province was renamed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. One year later, in 2011, Kala Dhaka Tehsil was separated from Mansehra District to become Torghar District, the 25th district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. These 25 districts were the only districts recorded as a part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the 2017 Census.
    This meant that by the time of the 2017 Census of Pakistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had 25 districts organized into seven divisions and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas had seven Political Agencies and six Frontier Regions. You can find a list of them below :
    Province/territoryDivisionsDistricts
    North-West Frontier Province
    		Bannu Division
    North-West Frontier ProvinceDera Ismail Khan Division
    North-West Frontier ProvinceHazara Division
    North-West Frontier ProvinceKohat Division
    North-West Frontier ProvinceMalakand Division
    North-West Frontier ProvinceMardan Division
    North-West Frontier ProvincePeshawar Division
    Federally Administered Tribal AreasPolitical Agencies
  • Bajaur Agency
  • Khyber Agency
  • Kurram Agency
  • Mohmand Agency
  • Orakzai Agency
  • North Waziristan Agency
  • South Waziristan Agency
    • Federally Administered Tribal AreasFrontier Regions
  • Frontier Region Bannu
  • Frontier Region Dera Ismail Khan
  • Frontier Region Kohat
  • Frontier Region Lakki Marwat
  • Frontier Region Peshawar
  • Frontier Region Tank

    • 2017 to present

    In 2014, Kohistan District was bifurcated into Upper Kohistan District and Lower Kohistan District, but tensions on the bifurcation did not resolve until late 2017, when Kolai-Palas District was formed as well. This meant that Kohistan District was still legally one administrative unit until after the time of the 2017 census.
    On 31 May 2018, the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan was put into force. This amendment merged the Federally Administered Tribal Areas with the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and changes the province's borders and layout drastically. Each of the seven agencies in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas was made into its own district and added into an adjacent division. The six Frontier Regions joined the districts they were adjacent to.
    In late 2018, Chitral District, formerly the largest district in the province by area, was bifurcated into Upper Chitral District, from Mastuj Tehsil, and Lower Chitral District, from Chitral Tehsil. In 2022, South Waziristan district was bifurcated into [Upper South Waziristan District|South Waziristan District|Upper South Waziristan] headquarter Spinkai Karzai and Lower South Waziristan headquarter Wana. In January 2023, Alai was given full district status from the tehsil of Battagram.
    In January 2023, Allai was elevated to full district status from the Allai Tehsil of Battagram. In October 2025, the KP government divided the Swat district into Upper Swat District and at the same time created Paharpur District from part of Dera Ismail Khan.

    List of the Districts by area, population, density, literacy rate etc.

    Below you will find a list of all 38 districts in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, along with the division it belongs to, the area of the district, the population and population density of the district, the average annual population growth rate of each district, and a map showing its location. The districts are initially listed in alphabetical order, but they can be sorted in different ways by clicking the headers of the table.
    DistrictHeadquarterArea
    		Pop.
    		Density
    		Lit.
    Rate
    		Average Annual Pop. Growth Rate MapDivision
    AbbottabadAbbottabad1,9671,419,072721.687.34%2.20% Hazara
    AllaiAllai Valley804218,149271.3335.71%2.10%Hazara
    BattagramBattagram497335,984676.0241.20%2.12%Hazara
    HaripurHaripur1,7251,174,783681.384.88%1.97% Hazara
    Kolai PalasKolai1,410280,162198.728.80%2.71% Hazara
    TorgharJudba454200,445441.639.74%-0.10% Hazara
    Upper KohistanDasu5,440422,94777.829.05%2.69% Hazara
    Lower KohistanPattan642340,017529.532.05%2.70% Hazara
    MansehraMansehra4,1251,797,177435.673.79%2.47% Hazara
    HanguHangu1,097528,902482.353.15%2.66% Kohat
    KarakKarak3,372815,878241.975.36%2.63% Kohat
    KohatKohat2,9911,234,661412.968.55%2.85% Kohat
    KurramParachinar3,380785,434232.445.22%1.71% Kohat
    OrakzaiKalaya1,538387,561252.043.57%0.64% Kohat
    BannuBannu1,9721,357,890688.651.75%2.96% Bannu
    Lakki MarwatLakki Marwat3,2961,040,856315.858.47%3.18% Bannu
    North WaziristanMiranshah4,707693,332147.342.82%2.17% Bannu
    KhyberLandi Kotal2,5761,146,267445.048.45%3.15% Peshawar
    MohmandGhalanai2,296553,933241.241.28%1.77% Peshawar
    NowsheraNowshera1,7481,740,705995.866.78%2.94% Peshawar
    PeshawarPeshawar1,5184,758,7623,135.663.28%3.93% Peshawar
    CharsaddaCharsadda9961,835,5041,843.163.94%2.43% Peshawar
    Dera Ismail KhanDera Ismail Khan9,3341,829,811196.156.58%3.43% Dera Ismail Khan
    Upper South WaziristanSpinkai.........41.96%...Dera Ismail Khan
    Lower South WaziristanWana.........41.96%...Dera Ismail Khan
    TankTank2,900470,293162.250.67%2.54% Dera Ismail Khan
    PaharpurPaharpurDera Ismail Khan
    MardanMardan1,6322,744,8981,681.465.79%2.58% Mardan
    SwabiSwabi1,5431,894,6001,228.068.48%2.44% Mardan
    Upper ChitralBooni8,392195,52823.383.83%1.24% Malakand
    Upper DirDir3,6991,083,566292.956.77%2.64% Malakand
    Lower ChitralChitral6,458320,40749.676.10%2.17% Malakand
    Lower DirTimergara1,5831,650,1831,042.467.36%3.71% Malakand
    MalakandBatkhela952826,250868.1...2.47% Malakand
    ShanglaAlpuri1,586891,252562.043.74%2.96% Malakand
    SwatSaidu Sharif5,3372,687,384503.658.13%3.24% Malakand
    Upper SwatMalakand
    BajaurKhar1,2901,287,960998.436.26%3.25% Malakand
    BunerDaggar1,8651,016,869545.153.75%3.05% Malakand
    Central Dir DistrictWari...............Malakand

    List of districts by population over the years

    DistrictHeadquarterPop.
    		Pop.
    		Pop.
    		Pop.
    		Pop.
    		Pop.
    		Pop.
    		Division
    AbbottabadAbbottabad1,419,0721,332,912880,666647,635524,826354,452318,775Hazara
    AllaiAllai Valley218,149180,414121,652134,95556,10021,963...Hazara
    BattagramBattagram335,984296,198307,278339,119174,00994,357...Hazara
    HaripurHaripur1,174,7831,003,031692,228479,031417,561273,507252,168Hazara
    Kolai PalasKolai280,162275,461165,613123,685.........Hazara
    TorgharJudba200,445171,395174,68283,927195,580151,718142,599Hazara
    Upper KohistanDasu422,947306,337184,746180,124121,529......Hazara
    Lower KohistanPattan340,017202,913122,211161,428.........Hazara
    MansehraMansehra1,797,1771,556,460978,157686,308552,842373,975260,631Hazara
    HanguHangu528,902518,798314,529182,474125,72187,16355,167Kohat
    KarakKarak815,878706,299430,796249,681191,204121,19999,908Kohat
    KohatKohat1,234,6611,112,452651,100383,862308,507209,817...Kohat
    KurramParachinar785,434619,553430,796249,681191,204121,19999,908Kohat
    OrakzaiKalaya387,561254,356225,441358,751283,557209,616...Kohat
    BannuBannu1,357,8901,211,006695,260485,240392,468......Bannu
    Lakki MarwatLakki Marwat1,040,856902,541...............Bannu
    North WaziristanMiranshah693,332543,254361,246238,910250,663159,470128,235Bannu
    KhyberLandi Kotal1,146,267986,973546,730284,256378,032301,319216,622Peshawar
    MohmandGhalanai553,933466,984334,453163,933382,922294,215129,300Peshawar
    NowsheraNowshera1,740,7051,518,540874,373537,638410,718276,937222,527Peshawar
    PeshawarPeshawar4,758,7624,333,7702,080,6921,150,364867,144......Peshawar
    CharsaddaCharsadda1,835,5041,616,1981,022,364630,811513,193364,088282,618Peshawar
    Dera Ismail KhanDera Ismail Khan1,829,8111,695,688891,985550,256430,051......Dera Ismail Khan
    Upper South WaziristanSpinkai...367,364...............Dera Ismail Khan
    Lower South WaziristanWana...307,851...............Dera Ismail Khan
    TankTank470,293428,274265,432171,245120,005......Dera Ismail Khan
    MardanMardan2,744,8982,373,0611,460,100881,465696,622481,297357,455Mardan
    SwabiSwabi1,894,6001,624,6161,026,804625,035507,631332,543272,279Mardan
    Upper ChitralBooni195,528169,240133,81586,91971,38358,213...Malakand
    Upper DirDir1,083,566946,421575,858362,565251,045......Malakand
    Lower ChitralChitral320,407278,122184,874121,64187,61754,844...Malakand
    Lower DirTimergara1,650,1831,435,917717,649404,844277,481......Malakand
    MalakandBatkhela826,250720,295452,291257,797185,872133,62789,699Malakand
    ShanglaAlpuri891,252757,810434,563251,546179,813121,528107,731Malakand
    SwatSaidu Sharif2,687,3842,309,5701,257,602715,938520,614344,859283,720Malakand
    BajaurKhar1,287,9601,093,684595,227289,206364,050280,200320,985Malakand
    BunerDaggar1,016,869897,319506,048265,517187,984123,217109,147Malakand
    Central Dir DistrictWari...595,227...............Malakand