Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa


The province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the third-largest province of Pakistan by population and the smallest province by area, is divided into 35 districts and seven divisions. Below, you will find an overview of the recent history of districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 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.

Recent History

During the 1998 Census of Pakistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had 24 districts. No changes occurred to this setup for over a decade, until 2011, when 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. Kohistan District was bifurcated into Upper Kohistan District and Lower Kohistan District in 2014, but tensions on the bifurcation did not resolve until 2017, when Kolai-Palas District was formed as well.
On May 31, 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. This raised the number of districts in the province to 35, where it stands to this day.

Current Map

Divisions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

In Pakistan, the division is the administrative unit which is higher in hierarchy than a district, but lower in hierarchy than a province. There are seven divisions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, each of which have anywhere between two and nine districts. They are separated by color on the map above, and you can find a list of them below.
DivisionDistrictsPopulation Total AreaPopulation Density Map
Bannu Division
  • Bannu District
  • Lakki Marwat District
  • North Waziristan District
2,656,801
Dera Ismail Khan Division
  • Dera Ismail Khan District
  • South Waziristan District
  • Tank District
    		• 2,803,147
    Hazara Division
  • Abbottabad District
  • Batagram District
  • Haripur District
  • Kolai-Palas District
  • Lower Kohistan District
  • Mansehra District
  • Tor Ghar District
  • Upper Kohistan District
    		• 5,325,121
    Kohat Division
  • Hangu District
  • Karak District
  • Kohat District
  • Kurram District
  • Orakzai District
    		• 3,211,458
    Malakand Division
  • Bajaur District
  • Buner District
  • Lower Chitral District
  • Lower Dir District
  • Malakand District
  • Shangla District
  • Swat District
  • Upper Chitral District
  • Upper Dir District
    		• 8,608,378
    Mardan Division
  • Mardan District
  • Swabi District
    		• 3,997,677
    Peshawar Division
  • Charsadda District
  • Khyber District
  • Mohmand District
  • Nowshera District
  • Peshawar District
    		• 8,922,465

    List of Districts

    Below you will find a list of all 35 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.
    NameDivisionPopulation Total AreaPopulation Density Average Annual Population Growth Rate Map
    Abbottabad DistrictHazara Division1,332,9122.20%
    Bajaur DistrictMalakand Division1,093,684 3.25%
    Bannu DistrictBannu Division1,211,006 2.96%
    Batagram DistrictHazara Division476,6122.33%
    Buner DistrictMalakand Division897,3193.05%
    Charsadda DistrictPeshawar Division1,616,1982.43%
    Dera Ismail Khan DistrictDera Ismail Khan Division1,695,688 3.43%
    Hangu DistrictKohat Division518,7982.66%
    Haripur DistrictHazara Division1,003,0311.97%
    Karak DistrictKohat Division706,2992.63%
    Khyber DistrictPeshawar Division986,973 3.15%
    Kohat DistrictKohat Division1,112,452 2.85%
    Kolai-Palas DistrictHazara Division275,461 N/AN/A2.71%
    Kurram DistrictKohat Division619,553 1.71%
    Lakki Marwat DistrictBannu Division902,541 3.18%
    Lower Chitral DistrictMalakand Division278,122 2.17%
    Lower Dir DistrictMalakand Division1,435,9173.71%
    Lower Kohistan DistrictHazara Division202,913 N/AN/A2.70%
    Malakand DistrictMalakand Division720,2952.47%
    Mansehra DistrictHazara Division1,556,4602.47%
    Mardan DistrictMardan Division2,373,0612.58%
    Mohmand DistrictPeshawar Division466,984 1.77%
    North Waziristan DistrictBannu Division543,254 2.17%
    Nowshera DistrictPeshawar Division1,518,5402.94%
    Orakzai DistrictKohat Division254,356 0.64%
    Peshawar DistrictPeshawar Division4,333,770 3.93%
    Shangla DistrictMalakand Division757,8102.96%
    South Waziristan DistrictDera Ismail Khan Division679,185 2.43%
    Swabi DistrictMardan Division1,624,6162.44%
    Swat DistrictMalakand Division2,309,5703.24%
    Tank DistrictDera Ismail Khan Division428,274 2.54%
    Tor Ghar DistrictHazara Division171,395-0.10%
    Upper Chitral DistrictMalakand Division169,240 1.24%
    Upper Dir DistrictMalakand Division946,4212.64%
    Upper Kohistan DistrictHazara Division306,337 2.69%