Mianwali District


The Mianwali District is a district located in the Sargodha Division of the Punjab province of Pakistan. Mianwali District remained part of Rawalpindi Division until 1963, when Mianwali District became part of Sargodha Division. According to 2023 Pakistani census, population of Mianwali District is 1.79 million.
It has borders with the Talagang, Attock, Kohat, Karak, Lakki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan, Bhakkar, and Khushab districts.

History

The town of Mianwali was made tehsil headquarters of Bannu District then part of Dera Ismail Khan Division of Punjab province of British India. The population of Mianwali, according to the 1901 census of India, was 3,591.
In November 1901, the North-West Frontier Province was carved out of Punjab and the tehsils of Mianwali and Isa Khel, and were separated from Bannu District. A new district was made with the headquarters in Mianwali city and placed in Punjab. The district became a part of Rawalpindi Division. There were four tehsils: Mianwali, Isa Khel, Bhakkar, and Layyah. Layyah was included in the Muzaffargarh District in 1909. The district became a part of Sargodha Division in 1963. Bhakkar Tehsil was separated from Mianwali and was made a separate district inside Sargodha Division w.e.f. 01-07-1982.
On January 14, 2023, CM Pervaiz Elahi announced that Mianwali and Bhakkar districts upgraded to divisional status, carved from the Sargodha Division. Newly formed Talagang district from the northern Rawalpindi Division would also be part of the division.

Geography

Mianwali district covers an area of. The area in the north is a continuation of the Pothohar Plateau and the Kohistan-e-Namak. Southern side of the district is a part of Thal desert. Indus River flows through the district.

Climate

has an extreme climate with a long hot summer season and dry cold winters. Summer lasts from May to September and winter lasts from November till February. June is the hottest month with average temperature of 42 °C ; in winter, the average temperature can be as low as 3 to 4 °C, particularly in December and January. The average rainfall in the district is about 385 mm.

Administration

The municipal committee was founded in December 1993 and has remained operational since then. The district is administratively divided into three tehsils 7 Municipal Committees and 51 union councils:
TehsilArea
Pop.
Density
Literacy rate
Union CouncilsMunicipal Committees
Isakhel1,863414,100222.2855.02%133
Mianwali2,689908,405337.8266.09%262
Piplan1,288475,763369.3863.46%122
Total517

Urban areas

Demographics

Language

At the time of the 2023 census, 73.69% of the population spoke Saraiki language, 11.35% Pashto, 7.79% Punjabi, 3.5% Hindko and 3.15% Urdu as their first language.

Population

As of the 2023 census, Mianwali district has 296,339 households and a population of 1,798,268. The district has a sex ratio of 104.32 males to 100 females and a literacy rate of 62.87%: 77.58% for males and 47.63% for females. 454,517 are under 10 years of age. 363,453 live in urban areas.

Religion

As per the 2023 census, Muslims made up almost the entire population with 99.32%, although there is a small mainly urban minority of Christians numbering 11,951.

People