Dera Ghazi Khan District

Template:Pp Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Pakistani English Template:Template other Dera Ghazi Khan (Template:Langx, Punjabi: Template:Nq) 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 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 which are divided into a total of sixty Union Councils: Template:Static row numbers

Tehsil	Area (km²)	Pop. (2023)	Density (ppl/km²) (2023)	Literacy rate (2023)	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

Captured on 2013

Dera Ghazi Khan International Airport

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

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. Dera Ghazi Khan district was annexed by the British from its former Sikh rulers after the Second Anglo-Sikh War of 1848–1849. After the independence, many of the city's Hindu residents settled in Derawal Nagar colony of Delhi, India. 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.

Demographics

As of the 2023 census, residual Dera Ghazi Khan district has 292,658 households and a population of 2,348,245. 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. 797,634 (34.06% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age. 649,290 (27.65%) live in urban areas.

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.

Religion in contemporary Dera Ghazi Khan District

Religious group	1941		2017		2023
	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
Islam File:Star and Crescent.svg	192,278	85.94%	1,979,213	99.85%	2,332,785	99.62%
Hinduism File:Om.svg	31,052	13.88%	198	0.01%	138	~0%
Christianity File:Christian cross.svg	37	0.02%	310	0.02%	6,946	0.30%
Ahmadiyya File:Liwa-e-Ahmadiyya 1-2.svg	—	—	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%
Note: 1941 census data is for Dera Ghazi Khan tehsil of erstwhile Dera Ghazi Khan district, which roughly corresponds to contemporary Dera Ghazi Khan district. District and tehsil borders have changed since 1941.

Religious groups in Dera Ghazi Khan District (British Punjab province era)

Religious group	1881		1891		1901		1911		1921		1931		1941
	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
Islam File:Star and Crescent.svg	315,240		349,587		412,012		442,234		411,431		432,911		512,678
Hinduism File:Om.svgTemplate:Efn	46,697		52,903		57,815		56,485		56,346		57,217		67,407
Sikhism File:Khanda.svg	1,326		1,424		1,027		1,042		932		760		1,072
Christianity File:Christian cross.svg	82		117		152		76		47		31		87
Jainism File:Jain Prateek Chihna.svg	0		0		143		23		296		125		106
Zoroastrianism File:Faravahar.svg	0		0		0		0		0		0		0
Buddhism File:Dharma Wheel (2).svg	0		0		0		0		0		0		0
Judaism File:Star of David.svg	—	—	0		0		0		0		0		0
Others	1		0		0		0		0		0		0
Total population	363,346		404,031		471,149		499,860		469,052		491,044		581,350
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)

Tehsil	Islam File:Star and Crescent.svg		Hinduism File:Om.svg		Sikhism File:Khanda.svg		Christianity File:Christian cross.svg		Jainism File:Jain Prateek Chihna.svg		OthersTemplate:Efn		Total
	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
Dera Ghazi Khan Tehsil	167,687		25,272		507		27		296		0		193,789
Sanghar Tehsil	74,548		10,207		4		0		0		0		84,759
Rajanpura Tehsil	94,148		10,444		415		1		0		0		105,008
Jampur Tehsil	75,048		10,423		6		19		0		0		85,496
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)

Tehsil	Islam File:Star and Crescent.svg		Hinduism File:Om.svgTemplate:Efn		Sikhism File:Khanda.svg		Christianity File:Christian cross.svg		Jainism File:Jain Prateek Chihna.svg		OthersTemplate:Efn		Total
	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
Dera Ghazi Khan Tehsil	192,278		31,052		221		37		106		41		223,735
Sanghar Tehsil	97,234		11,875		34		6		0		0		109,149
Rajanpura Tehsil	122,849		12,591		791		0		0		0		136,231
Jampur Tehsil	100,317		11,889		26		3		0		0		112,235
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

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.

Notable people

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

See also

• Dera Ghazi Khan
• Dera Ghazi Khan Division
• Ghazi University
• Dera Ghazi Khan railway station
• Sulaiman Mountains
• Districts of Pakistan
• Punjab, Pakistan
• Kotri–Attock Line
• Basti Azeem
• Payala Lake Ghazi Ghat