Peshawar District

Peshawar District ضلع پشاور‎ پېښور ولسوالۍ‎‎
District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Top: Mahabat Khan Mosque Bottom: Entrance to Gorkhatri
Peshawar District (red) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Country	Pakistan
Province	Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Division	Peshawar
Headquarters	Peshawar
Government
• Type	District Administration
• Deputy Commissioner	N/A
• District Police Officer	N/A
• District Health Officer	N/A
Area
• Total	1,518 km2 (586 sq mi)
Population  (2023)[1]
• Total	4,758,762
• Density	3,100/km2 (8,100/sq mi)
• Urban	1,905,884 (40.05%)
• Rural	2,900,465
Time zone	UTC+5 (PST)
Languages	Pashto, Hindko
Website	peshawar.kp.gov.pk

Peshawar District (Pashto: پېښور ولسوالۍ, Hindko: ضلع پشور‎, Urdu: ضلع پشاور‎) is a district in the Peshawar Division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is located about 160 km west of the Pakistan's capital Islamabad. The district headquarter is the city of Peshawar, which is also the capital of Khyber Paktunkhwa.^[2]

This district and the city has seen the rise and fall of many civilizations. It was once the center of Gandhara and has subsequently been ruled by Persians, Greeks, Buddhists, Kushans, Afghans, Mughals, Marathas, Sikhs and the British.^{[citation needed]} The original district of Peshawar was a district of the North-West Frontier Province of British India.^[3]

After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the old Peshawar District became Peshawar Division comprising the current districts of Peshawar, Charsadda and Nowshera. In July 1988, the former Charsadda tehsil was separated and attained the status of a separate district. In 1990, the Nowshera tehsil also was upgraded to the status of a district.^[4] Under the latest revision of Pakistan's administrative structure, promulgated in 2001, Peshawar was also given the status of a city district.^{[citation needed]}

As of the 2023 census, Peshawar district has 690,976 households and a population of 4,758,762. The district has a sex ratio of 103.99 males to 100 females and a literacy rate of 53.28%: 64.91% for males and 41.09% for females. 1,355,625 (28.54% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age. 1,905,975 (40.05%) live in urban areas.^[1]

At the time of the 2023, 93.07% of the district’s population spoke Pashto, 3.79% Hindko, 1.8% Urdu and 0.55% Punjabi as their first language.^[6] Due to the settlement of Afghan refugees and language shift Pashto has gained ground at the expense of Hindko.

According to linguists, the nearly-extinct Tirahi language was likely spoken in the region before the arrival of the Afghans.^[7][8]

Muslims make up the majority in Peshawar. Peshawar once had significant minorities of Hindus and Sikhs living in the small towns and Peshawar city, but most fled during Partition. 1,800 Hindus and 1,400 Sikhs remain in the district. Christians however have continued to grow.

Religions in present-day Peshawar district

Religion	1941[10][a]		2017[11]		2023[9]
	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
Islam	335,871	86.27%	4,300,937	99.28%	4,713,004	99.21%
Hinduism	33,551	8.62%	1,811	0.04%	1,822	0.04%
Sikhism	15,454	3.97%	—	—	1,481	0.03%
Christianity	2,618	0.67%	25,125	0.58%	33,249	0.70%
Zoroastrianism	—	—	—	—	5	~0%
Others	1,835	0.49%	2,561	0.06%	827	0.02%
Total Population	389,329	100%	4,331,959	100%	4,750,388	100%

Religious groups in Peshawar District (British North-West Frontier Province era)

Religious group	1881[12]		1891[13]		1901[14]		1911[15]		1921[16]		1931[17]		1941[18][19]: 22
	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
Islam	546,117	92.14%	654,443	92.99%	732,870	92.92%	807,788	93.38%	836,222	92.16%	898,683	92.24%	769,589	90.35%
Hinduism	39,321	6.63%	35,417	5.03%	40,183	5.09%	35,367	4.09%	48,144	5.31%	42,321	4.34%	51,212	6.01%
Christianity	4,088	0.69%	4,742	0.67%	4,288	0.54%	5,604	0.65%	7,652	0.84%	8,974	0.92%	6,890	0.81%
Sikhism	3,103	0.52%	9,125	1.3%	11,318	1.44%	16,196	1.87%	15,326	1.69%	24,271	2.49%	24,030	2.82%
Zoroastrianism	39	0.01%	37	0.01%	46	0.01%	49	0.01%	20	0%	59	0.01%	24	0%
Jainism	3	0%	0	0%	0	0%	4	0%	3	0%	0	0%	0	0%
Buddhism	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	2	0%	18	0%
Judaism	—	—	4	0%	2	0%	1	0%	0	0%	11	0%	70	0.01%
Others	3	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%
Total population	592,674	100%	703,768	100%	788,707	100%	865,009	100%	907,367	100%	974,321	100%	851,833	100%
Note: British North-West Frontier 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 region during the post-independence era that have taken into account population increases.

According to the 1897 records during the British Raj, most people living in Peshawar valley were Pathans and belonged to an agricultural community but there was also large number of Punjabi and Hindkowan communities living in the valley; all three ethnolinguistic groups religiously belonged to Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism.^{[citation needed]} Most people in the Peshawar city spoke and understood Urdu. Elite belonging to small towns such as big feudal Khan families, traders and almost all of Hindus also spoke Urdu. Persian was also spoken by elites of the Peshawar city and by traders from Kabul. Majority of the population of the district especially the agriculturists and Pathans only spoke Pashto.

92% of the total population of Peshawar Valley followed Islam and remainder 8% followed Hinduism, Sikhism and other religions. People belonging to these minority religions primarily lived in major cities such as Peshawar, Charsadda (now in the Charsadda District) and Hoti (now in the Mardan District) and mostly in cantonment areas of these cities. 97% of the population living in rural towns practiced Islam.^[20]

Peshawar District has many universities for various disciplines starting from Humanities, General Sciences, Sciences, Engineering Sciences to Medical Sciences, Agriculture Sciences and Management Sciences. Currently, there are nine medical colleges of which two are in the public sector, including Khyber Medical University, and seven in the private sector, which all are recognised and approved by Pakistan Medical and Dental Association.^[21]

The first public sector university was the University of Peshawar^[22] which was established in 1950. The University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar^[23] and the University of Agriculture, Peshawar^[24] were also established in 1980 and 1981 respectively. The first private sector university CECOS University of IT and Emerging Sciences,^[25] started functioning in 1986. Soon after, another university by the name of Brains^[26] Institute and post graduate college was established. In 1995, a public sector management institute named as Institute of Management Sciences^[27] was established, which became degree awarding institute in 2005.

In 2001, four (4) new private sector universities started working in Peshawar. The name of these universities are Qurtuba University,^[28] Sarhad University of Science and IT,^[29] Fast University, Peshawar Campus^[30] and City University of Science and IT.^[31] Gandhara University^[32] was established in 2002 while Abasyn University^[33] was created in 2007.

In 2007, Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa established first public sector medical university, Khyber Medical University^[34][35] and the district also has 2 public sector medical colleges, one is Khyber Medical College^[35] and one for girls named as Khyber Girls Medical College.^[21]

The first women university was established in 2012, when Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University^[36] started working while private sector IQRA National University^[37] was also established in 2012.

Apart from excellent range of universities, Peshawar district also has huge numbers of further education (Post School) institutes both in public and private sectors. The most renowned are Islamia College Peshawar, which was established in 1913 and was upgraded to become university in 2008 and Edwardes College Peshawar, which is the oldest of all institutions in the district started functioning in 1900.

According to Pakistan District Education Rankings 2017 published by Alif Ailaan, Peshawar ranks 4th in Pakistan in terms of primary school infrastructure while it ranks 52nd in Pakistan for middle school infrastructure. In terms of education score, Peshawar ranks 64th in Pakistan with having a relatively low retention score. Beyond Primary Readiness in Peshawar is on the lower side as it ranks 62nd in Pakistan.

The main issues reported in Taleem Do! App for district Peshawar are overcrowded class rooms and lack of class rooms in schools.

Girls’ education is also one of the most reported issues in the app, with main focus on lesser number of Girls schools and also schools located at long distances.

Issues of lack of teachers, non-availability of science labs and lack of High Schools were also reported.

Issues regarding the high fee collections in private schools was also reported on multiple occasions.

The district Peshawar is administrated by Deputy commissioner who is chief administrative, land revenue officer and the representative of government in district. DC is assisted by Additional Deputy commissioner and Assistant commissioner. Peshawar is divided into seven tehsil which are further divided into village council (rural areas) and neighbourhood council (urban areas). There are total 357 councils in peshawar district out of which 130 are neighbourhood councils and 227 are village councils. Each tehsil has its own government known as tehsil municipal administration having an elected tehsil council and tehsil chairman except Peshawar city tehsil which is administrated by a city local government which is composed of an elected city council and an elected mayor.

1. Peshawar City Tehsil (Urdu: تحصیل پشاور شہر)(Pashto: پېښور ښار تحصیل‎)
2. Shah Alam Tehsil (Urdu: تحصیل شاہ عالم)(Pashto: شاه عالم تحصیل‎)
3. Mathra Tehsil (Urdu: تحصیل متھرا)(Pashto: متهرا تحصیل‎)
4. Chamkani Tehsil (Urdu: تحصیل چمکنی)(Pashto: چمکني تحصیل‎)
5. Badabher Tehsil (Urdu: تحصیل بڈبھیر)(Pashto: بډبیر تحصیل‎)
6. Peshtakhara Tehsil (Urdu: تحصیل پشتخرہ)(Pashto: پشتخرې تحصیل‎)
7. Hassan Khel Tehsil (Urdu: تحصیل حسن خیل)(Pashto: حسن خېل تحصیل‎)
   • Frontier Region Peshawar (Urdu: سرحدی علاقہ پشاور‎)(Pashto: پېښور سرحدي سیمه‎)

1. Peshawar City Tehsil Village Councils = 9 Neighbourhood Councils =121 Total Councils = 130. 2. Badhaber tehsil Village Councils = 37 Neighbourhood Councils = 0 Total Councils = 37. 3. Chamkani tehsil Village Councils = 42 Neighbourhood Councils = 4 Total Councils = 46. 4. Shah Alam tehsil Village Councils = 41 Neighbourhood Councils = 2 Total Councils = 43. 5. Pishtakhara tehsil Village Councils = 34 Neighbourhood Councils = 2 Total Councils = 36. 6. Mathra tehsil Village Councils = 53 Neighbourhood Councils = 1 Total Councils = 54. 7. Hassan Khel Village Councils = 11 Neighbourhood Councils = 0 Total Councils = 11.

Each Village and Neighborhood Council is composed of 7 Members which are as given below

1. Chairman of VC or NC

2. Vice Chairman of VC or NC

3. General Councilor

4. Women Councilor

5. Youth Councilor

6. Worker and Peasant Councilor

7. Minority Councilor

These members are elected by voter directly through local elections

According to new delimitation list made by election commission of Pakistan the district Peshawar is represented in provincial assembly through 14 constituencies. Currently all seats are empty because assembly is dissolved and new elections are going to happen soon.

The district is represented in the Pakistan National Assembly by five (5) members.^[38]

• Union Councils of District Peshawar

• 1981 District census report of Peshawar. Vol. 26. Islamabad: Population Census Organization, Statistics Division, Government of Pakistan. 1983. p. 86.
• 1998 District census report of Charsadda. Census publication. Vol. 68. Islamabad: Population Census Organization, Statistics Division, Government of Pakistan. 2000.
• 1998 District census report of Nowshera. Census publication. Vol. 55. Islamabad: Population Census Organization, Statistics Division, Government of Pakistan. 1999.
• 1998 District census report of Peshawar. Census publication. Vol. 33. Islamabad: Population Census Organization, Statistics Division, Government of Pakistan. 1999.

Media related to Peshawar District at Wikimedia Commons

34°00′N 71°45′E / 34.000°N 71.750°E / 34.000; 71.750