Peshawar District ضلع پشاور‎ پېښور ولسوالۍ‎‎
District ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa
Top:Mahabat Khan Mosque Bottom: Entrance toGorkhatri
Peshawar District (red) inKhyber 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	3,135/km2 (8,119/sq mi)
• Urban	1,905,884 (40.05%)
• Rural	2,900,465 (59.95%)
Literacy [2]
• Literacy rate	Total: 53.28% Male: 64.91% Female: 41.09%
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 adistrict in thePeshawar Division of theKhyber Pakhtunkhwa province ofPakistan. It is located about 160 km west of the Pakistan's capitalIslamabad. The district headquarter is the city ofPeshawar, which is also the capital ofKhyber Paktunkhwa.^[3]

This district and the city has seen the rise and fall of many civilizations. It was once the center ofGandhara and has subsequently been ruled byPersians,Greeks,Buddhists,Kushans,Afghans,Mughals,Marathas,Sikhs and theBritish.^{[citation needed]} Peshawar district was annexed by the British from its formerSikh rulers after theSecond Anglo-Sikh War of 1848–1849.^[4] The original district of Peshawar was a district of theNorth-West Frontier Province ofBritish India.^[5]

After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the old Peshawar District becamePeshawar 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.^[6] 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 the2023 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%: 65% for males and 41% for females. 1,355,625 (28.54% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age. Approximately 1,905,975 (40.05%) live in urban areas.^[1]

At the time of the 2023, 93.07% of the district’s population spokePashto, 3.79%Hindko, 1.8%Urdu and 0.55%Punjabi as their first language.^[8] Due to the settlement of Afghan refugees and language shift Pashto has gained ground at the expense of Hindko.

According to linguists, the nearly-extinctTirahi language was likely spoken in the region before the arrival of the Afghans.^[9][10]

The main ethnic groups in Peshawar district:

• Pashtun

Minor ethnic groups

• Hindki
• Muhajjir
• Hazara

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

Religion in contemporary Peshawar District

Religious group	1941[12]		2017[13]		2023[11]
	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%	—N/a	—N/a	1,481	0.03%
Christianity	2,618	0.67%	25,125	0.58%	33,249	0.70%
Zoroastrianism	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	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%
Note: 1941 census data is for Peshawar tehsil of erstwhile Peshawar district, which roughly corresponds to contemporary Peshawar district sans former Frontier Region Peshawar. District and tehsil borders have changed since 1941.

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

Religious group	1881[14]		1891[15]		1901[16]		1911[17]		1921[18]		1931[19]		1941[12][20]: 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	—N/a	—N/a	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 district gazetteer, published during theBritish Raj, most people living in Peshawar valley werePathans and belonged to an agricultural community but there was also large number ofPunjabi andHindkowan communities living in the valley; all three ethnolinguistic groups religiously belonged toIslam,Hinduism andSikhism.^[21] Most people in thePeshawar city spoke and understoodUrdu, while economic elites from small towns such as big feudalKhan families, traders, alongside manyHindus also spokeUrdu.^[21]Persian was also spoken by elites of thePeshawar city and by traders fromKabul, despite a majority of the district population especially the agriculturists and Pathans only spokePashto.^[21]

At the time, during the late 19th century, approximately 92–93 percent of the total population of Peshawar Valley followed Islam, while the remaining 7–8 percent followedHinduism,Sikhism and other religions.^[21] Persons adhering to minority religions primarily lived in major urban centres, cities, towns, and cantonments such asPeshawar,Charsadda (now in theCharsadda District) andHoti (now in theMardan District).^[21] 97 percent of the population living in rural towns practiced Islam.^[22]

In recent years, Peshawar district hosts up to 20% of all Afghan refugees in Pakistan.^[23] In 2005, Peshawar district was home to 611,501 Afghan refugees who constituted 19.7% of the district's total population.^[23] Peshawar's immediate environs were home to large Afghan refugee camps, withJalozai camp hosting up to 300,000 refugees in 2001^[24] making it the largest refugee camp in Asia at the time.^[24] By 1980, 100,000 refugees a month were entering the province,^[25] with 25% of all refugees living in Peshawar district in 1981.^[25]

Afghan refugees began to be frequently accused of involvement with terrorist attacks that occurred during Pakistan'swar against radical Islamists.^[26] By 2015 the Pakistani government adopted a policy to repatriate Afghan refugees, including many who had spent their entire life in Pakistan.^[26] The policy of repatriation was also encouraged by the government of Afghanistan,^[27] though many refugees had not registered themselves in Pakistan. Un registered refugees returning to Afghanistan without their old Afghan identification documents now have no official status in Afghanistan either.^[27]

Peshawar District has many universities for various disciplines starting fromHumanities,General Sciences,Sciences,Engineering Sciences toMedical Sciences,Agriculture Sciences andManagement Sciences. Currently, there are nine medical colleges of which two are in the public sector, includingKhyber Medical University, and seven in the private sector, which all are recognised and approved by Pakistan Medical and Dental Association.^[28]

The first public sector university was theUniversity of Peshawar^[29] which was established in 1950. TheUniversity of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar^[30] and theUniversity of Agriculture, Peshawar^[31] were also established in 1980 and 1981 respectively. The first private sector universityCECOS University of IT and Emerging Sciences,^[32] started functioning in 1986. Soon after, another university by the name ofBrains^[33]Institute and post graduate college was established. In 1995, a public sector management institute named asInstitute of Management Sciences^[34] 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 areQurtuba University,^[35]Sarhad University of Science and IT,^[36]Fast University, Peshawar Campus^[37] andCity University of Science and IT.^[38]Gandhara University^[39] was established in 2002 whileAbasyn University^[40] was created in 2007.

In 2007,Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa established first public sector medical university,Khyber Medical University^[41][42] and the district also has 2 public sector medical colleges, one isKhyber Medical College^[42] and one for girls named asKhyber Girls Medical College.^[28]

The first women university was established in 2012, whenShaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University^[43] started working while private sectorIQRA National University^[44] was also established in 2012.

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

According to Pakistan District Education Rankings 2017 published byAlif 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 inTaleem 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 TehsilVillage Councils = 9 Neighbourhood Councils =121 Total Councils = 130.2. Badhaber tehsilVillage Councils = 37 Neighbourhood Councils = 0 Total Councils = 37. 3. Chamkani tehsilVillage Councils = 42 Neighbourhood Councils = 4 Total Councils = 46. 4. Shah Alam tehsilVillage Councils = 41 Neighbourhood Councils = 2 Total Councils = 43. 5. Pishtakhara tehsilVillage Councils = 34 Neighbourhood Councils = 2 Total Councils = 36. 6. Mathra tehsilVillage Councils = 53 Neighbourhood Councils = 1 Total Councils = 54.7. Hassan KhelVillage 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 thePakistan National Assembly by five (5) members.^[47]

• Union Councils of District Peshawar
• Districts of Pakistan
  • Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
• Tehsils of Pakistan
  • Tehsils of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
• Divisions of Pakistan
  • Divisions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

• 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 toPeshawar District at Wikimedia Commons

34°00′N71°45′E / 34.000°N 71.750°E /34.000; 71.750

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• Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

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