Bhakkar District

District of Punjab in Pakistan

Bhakkar

بهكّر

District of Punjab

Jamia Masjid, Mankera

Location of Bhakkar District within Punjab.

Coordinates: 31°37′23″N 71°03′45″E﻿ / ﻿31.6230°N 71.0626°E﻿ / 31.6230; 71.0626
Country|  Pakistan
Province|  Punjab
Division| Mianwali
Established| 1981
Headquarters| Bhakkar
Tehsils (4)|

List

* Bhakkar
* Darya Khan
* Kaloorkot
* Mankera

Government

• Type| District Administration
• Deputy Commissioner| Muhammad Ashraf
Area

[1]: 1

• District of Punjab

| 8,153 km2 (3,148 sq mi)
Population

(2023)[2]

• District of Punjab

| 1,957,470
• Density| 240/km2 (620/sq mi)
• Urban

| 352,434
• Rural

| 1,605,036
Literacy

[3]

• Literacy rate|

* Total:
(55.68%)
* Male:
(66.81%)
* Female:
(43.87%)

Time zone| UTC+5 (PKT)
Area code| 0453
Languages| Saraiki, Punjabi Urdu
Website| bhakkar.punjab.gov.pk

Bhakkar District (Urdu: ضِلع بهكّر), is a district in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. The district was created out of parts of Mianwali in 1982,[4] and has the city of Bhakkar as its headquarters. Part of its area consists of a riverine tract along the Indus, called Kaccha, while most of the district area lies in the desolate plain of the Thal Desert.[5]

Located in the west of the Punjab province, Bhakkar district is bordered by Layyah to the south, Jhang to the southeast, Dera Ismail Khan to the west, Khushab to the northeast, and Mianwali to the north.

## Administration

[edit]

The district is administratively divided into four Tehsils and 64 Union Councils. The Tehsils are:[6]

Tehsil[7] | Area

(km²)[8]

| Pop.

(2023)

| Density

(ppl/km²)

(2023)

| Literacy rate

(2023)[9]

| Union Councils

|
|
|
|
|

Bhakkar[6] | 2,427  | 809,789  | 333.66  | 58.56%  | ...
Darya Khan[6] | 1,719  | 421,309  | 245.09  | 51.09%  | ...
Kaloorkot[6] | 2,239  | 415,708  | 185.67  | 55.43%  | ...
Mankera[6] | 1,768  | 310,664  | 175.71  | 54.83%  | ...

Khansar Union Council is one of the major Union Councils in Bhakkar. Mari Shah Sakhira Union Council is very close to Bhakkar District boundary.

## Demographics

[edit]

Historical populationYear| Pop.| ±% p.a.

|
|

1951 | 233,733| —
1961 | 332,882| +3.60%
1972 | 500,498| +3.78%
1981 | 665,884| +3.22%
1998 | 1,051,456| +2.72%
2017 | 1,647,852| +2.39%
2023 | 1,957,470| +2.91%
Sources:[10]

As of the 2023 census, Bhakkar district has 313,311 households and a population of 1,957,470. The district has a sex ratio of 108.00 males to 100 females and a literacy rate of 55.68%: 66.81% for males and 43.87% for females.[11][12] 593,924 (30.35% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age.[13] 352,434 (18.00%) live in urban areas.[11]

### Religion

[edit]

Religion in Bhakkar District Religion  | 1941[14]: 62–63 [a] | 2017[15] | 2023[16]

|
|
|

Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop.  | %
Islam | 169,276  | 82.16%  | 1,646,014  | 99.89%  | 1,950,820  | 99.69%
Hinduism [b] | 32,740  | 15.89%  | 13  | 0%  | 17  | ~0%
Sikhism | 3,996  | 1.94%  | —  | —  | 30  | ~0%
Christianity | 23  | 0.01%  | 1,661  | 0.1%  | 5,913  | 0.3%
Ahmadi | —  | —  | 112  | 0.01%  | 124  | 0.01%
Others [c] | 0  | 0%  | 52  | 0%  | 59  | ~0%
Total Population | 206,035 | 100% | 1,647,852 | 100% | 1,956,971 | 100%

### Languages

[edit]

Languages of Bhakkar district (2023) [17]

Saraiki (79.42%)

Punjabi (9.73%)

Urdu (7.5%)

Pashto (2.41%)

Others (0.94%)

At the time of the 2023 census, 79.42% of the population spoke Saraiki, 9.73% Punjabi, 7.5% Urdu and 2.41% Pashto as their first language.[18]

## Education

[edit]

According to the census held in 2017, the literacy rate of Bhakkar is about 55%. There are 19 colleges, and 1300 primary, elementary, secondary, and higher secondary schools.

## Notable people

[edit]

* Rasheed Akbar Khan Nawani, member of Pakistan's National Assembly
* P. C. Gupta, writer and professor of English
* Amjad Qureshi, Cricket umpire
* Sanaullah Khan Mastikhel, member of Pakistan's National Assembly
* Inamullah Niazi, former member of Pakistan's National Assembly
* Lekh Raj Batra, a distinguished mycologist and linguist
* Asghar Khan Nawani, former policeman and MNA
* Amir Inayat Khan Shahani, MPA from Bhakkar

## See also

[edit]

* Bhakkar
* Sargodha Division
* Bhakkar railway station
* North Western State Railway
* Districts of Pakistan
* Punjab, Pakistan
* Kotri–Attock Line
* Mianwali Division

Portal:

* Geography

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ 1941 figures are for Bhakkar tehsil of the then Mianwali District, which roughly corresponds to present-day Bhakkar district. Historic district borders may not be 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.
2. ^ 1941 census: Including Ad-Dharmis
3. ^ Including Jainism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, or not stated

## References

[edit]

1. ^ 1998 District Census report of Bhakkar. Census publication. Vol. 74\. Islamabad: Population Census Organization, Statistics Division, Government of Pakistan. 2000.
2. ^ "TABLE 1 : HOUSEHOLDS, POPULATION, HOUSEHOLD SIZE AND ANNUAL GROWTH RATE" (PDF). www.pbscensus.gov.pk. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. 2023.
3. ^ "Literacy rate, enrolments, and out-of-school population by sex and rural/urban, CENSUS-2023" (PDF).
4. ^ "Bhakkar". Punjab Portal, Government of Punjab websitel. Archived from the original on 6 August 2022. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
5. ^ Bhakkar Tahsil - Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 8, p. 43
6. ^ a b c d e "Tehsils & Unions in the District of Bhakkar". Government of Pakistan website. 9 February 2012. Archived from the original on 9 February 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
7. ^ Divisions/Districts of Pakistan Archived 2006-09-30 at the Wayback Machine Note: Although divisions as an administrative structure has been abolished, the election commission of Pakistan still groups districts under the division names
8. ^ "TABLE 1 : AREA, POPULATION BY SEX, SEX RATIO, POPULATION DENSITY, URBAN POPULATION, HOUSEHOLD SIZE AND ANNUAL GROWTH RATE, CENSUS-2023, PUNJAB" (PDF).
9. ^ "LITERACY RATE, ENROLMENT AND OUT OF SCHOOL POPULATION BY SEX AND RURAL/URBAN, CENSUS-2023" (PDF).
10. ^ "Population by administrative units 1951-1998" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
11. ^ a b "7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 1" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
12. ^ "7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 12" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
13. ^ "7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 5" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
14. ^ "CENSUS OF INDIA, 1941 VOLUME VI PUNJAB PROVINCE". Retrieved 21 July 2022.
15. ^ "District Wise Results / Tables (Census - 2017)". www.pbscensus.gov.pk. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
16. ^ "Pakistan Census 2023 Table 9: Punjab" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
17. ^ "District Wise Results / Tables (Census - 2023)" (PDF). www.pbscensus.gov.pk. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
18. ^ "Pakistan Census 2023" (PDF).

## External links

[edit]

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Punjab (Pakistan).

* v
* t
* e

Places adjacent to Bhakkar District

|  | Mianwali District | Khushab District

|
|

|  |
Dera Ismail Khan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa |

Bhakkar district

|  |
| Layyah District | Jhang District

* v
* t
* e

Administrative divisions of Bhakkar District

Administrations: Bhakkar District and Sargodha Division

Capital|

* Bhakkar

Tehsils|

* Bhakkar Tehsil
* Darya Khan Tehsil
* Kaloorkot Tehsil
* Mankera Tehsil

* v
* t
* e

Districts of Punjab, Pakistan

Provincial capital: Lahore

Bahawalpur|

* Bahawalnagar
* Bahawalpur
* Rahim Yar Khan

Dera Ghazi Khan|

* Dera Ghazi Khan
* Jampur
* Kot Addu
* Layyah
* Muzaffargarh
* Rajanpur
* Taunsa

Faisalabad|

* Chiniot
* Faisalabad
* Jhang
* Toba Tek Singh

Gujranwala|

* Gujranwala
* Narowal
* Sialkot

Gujrat|

* Gujrat
* Hafizabad
* Mandi Bahauddin
* Wazirabad

Lahore|

* Kasur
* Lahore
* Nankana Sahib
* Sheikhupura

Mianwali|

* Bhakkar
* Mianwali
* Talagang

Multan|

* Khanewal
* Lodhran
* Multan
* Vehari

Rawalpindi|

* Attock
* Chakwal
* Jhelum
* Murree
* Rawalpindi

Sahiwal|

* Okara
* Pakpattan
* Sahiwal

Sargodha|

* Khushab
* Sargodha

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* United States

*[Pop.]: Population
*[±% p.a.]: Per annum growth rate
*[%]: percentage
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template