Lower Kohistan District


Lower Kohistan District is a district in the Hazara Division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Pattan is the district headquarters of Lower Kohistan. Kohistani people form majority in the district.

Overview and history

Until 2014, this district was part of the larger Kohistan District. In 2014, the provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa bifurcated Kohistan District into the Upper Kohistan and Lower Kohistan districts. At that time, Lower Kohistan comprised two tehsils: Palas and Pattan. However, the tehsil of Palas was separated from the district of Lower Kohistan as another district. It was named as Kolai-Palas. On 31 May 2018, Ranovali Pinkhad, previously part of Pattan tehsil, was made a separate tehsil.

Demographics

As of the 2023 census, Lower Kohistan district has 47,347 households and a population of 340,017. The district has a sex ratio of 104.39 males to 100 females and a literacy rate of 22.05%: 33.32% for males and 10.32% for females. 135,723 are under 10 years of age. The entire population lives in rural areas. 945 people in the district are from religious minorities, mainly Christians.
92.26% of the surveyed population speak one of the many Kohistani languages as their first language. 5.67% are Pashto speakers.

Administrative Units

Lower Kohistan comprises two Tehsils:
TehsilName
Area
Pop.
Density
Literacy rate
Bankad Tehsil331205,851621.9120.14%
Pattan Tehsil311134,166431.424.61%