Lower Chitral District
موڑی ݯھیترارو ضلع ضلع چترالِ زیریں | |
|---|---|
  | |
 Lower Chitral District (red) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | |
| Country | Pakistan |
| Province | Khyber Pakhtunkhwa |
| Division | Malakand |
| Established | 2018 |
| Headquarters | Chitral town |
| Government | |
| • Type | District Administration |
| • Deputy Commissioner | Muhammad Ali Khan (BPS-20 PCS) |
| • District Police Officer | Iftikhar Shah (PSP)[1] |
| • District Health Officer | Doctor Muhammad Shamim |
| Area | |
• Total | 6,458 km2 (2,493 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• Total | 320,407 |
| • Density | 49.61/km2 (128.5/sq mi) |
| Literacy | |
| • Literacy rate |
|
| Time zone | UTC+5 (PST) |
| Number of Tehsils | 2 |
| Website | lowerchitral |
Lower Chitral District (Khowar: موڑی ݯھیترارو ضلع; Urdu: ضلع چترال زیریں) is a district in Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan.
Demographics
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 1961 | 54,844 | — |
| 1972 | 87,617 | +4.35% |
| 1981 | 121,641 | +3.71% |
| 1998 | 184,874 | +2.49% |
| 2017 | 278,328 | +2.18% |
| 2023 | 320,407 | +2.37% |
| Sources:[4] | ||
As of the 2023 census, Lower Chitral district has 46,028 households and a population of 320,407. The district has a sex ratio of 104.31 males to 100 females and a literacy rate of 66.10%: 76.81% for males and 54.77% for females. 87,378 (27.46% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age. 57,157 (17.84%) live in urban areas.[2]
87.76% of the population speaks languages classified as 'Others', namely Khowar (or Chitrali), the dominant language of Chitral as a whole. Pashto is spoken in the southeast of the district by 9.36% of the population, while Kalasha is spoken by 1.59% of the population.[5] There are some speakers of the Madaklasht dialect, a Persian dialect which is considered a mix of Dari and Tajik.[6]
Ethnic groups
The main ethnic groups in the district are:
Religion
| Religion | 1998[11] | 2017[12] | 2023[13] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | |
Islam 
|
182,169 | 98.54% | 274,426 | 98.60% | 313,101 | 98.39% |
| Kalash | 2,602 | 1.41% | 3,725 | 1.34% | 4,617 | 1.45% |
Christianity 
|
50 | 0.03% | 165 | 0.06% | 509 | 0.16% |
Hinduism 
|
2 | 0.00% | 9 | 0.00% | 4 | 0.00% |
| Ahmadi | 51 | 0.03% | 3 | 0.00% | 2 | 0.00% |
| Total | 184,874 | 100.00% | 278,328 | 100.00% | 318,234 | 100.00% |
Administrative Divisions
| Tehsil | Area
(km²)[14] |
Pop.
(2023) |
Density
(ppl/km²) (2023) |
Literacy rate
(2023)[15] |
Union Councils |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chitral Tehsil | 6,127 | 211,374 | 34.5 | 70.20% | |
| Drosh Tehsil | 331 | 109,033 | 329.4 | 57.38% |
National Assembly
The district along with Upper Chitral District is represented by one elected MNA (Member of National Assembly) in Pakistan National Assembly. Its constituency is NA-1.
| Member of National Assembly | Party affiliation | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Abdul Latif | PTI | 2024 |
Provincial Assembly
The district is represented by one elected MPA (Member of Provincial Assembly) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly. Its constituency is PK-2.
| Member of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly | Party affiliation | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Fateh-ul-Mulk Ali Nasir | PTI | 2024 |
References
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 20 January 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ a b "7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 1" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
- ^ "Literacy rate, enrolments, and out-of-school population by sex and rural/urban, CENSUS-2023, KPK" (PDF).
- ^ "Population by administrative units 1951-1998" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
- ^ "7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 11" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
- ^ "Madaklasht village of Ismaili Muslims sets an example of communal tolerance, harmony". 9 June 2014.
- ^ "Upper Chitral gets status of separate district". dawn.com. 21 November 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
- ^ a b "About". www.lowerchitral.kp.gov.pk. Archived from the original on 23 May 2025. Retrieved 19 July 2025.
- ^ Khan, Mohammad Afzal (1975). Chitral and Kafiristan: A Personal Study. Ferozsons. p. 86.
The Gujars who are found in Golen and Shishikuh valley in lower Chitral.
- ^ "Introduction". lowerchitral.kp.gov.pk. Archived from the original on 23 May 2025. Retrieved 19 July 2025.
Gujars: This is a nomad tribe that came from Dir, Swat, Hazara, Kohistan and Afghanistan during Katur rule and settled in the southern valleys of Chitral.
- ^ "1998 District Census Report of Chitral". May 1999. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
- ^ "Pakistan Census 2017 District-Wise Tables: Lower Chitral District". Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
- ^ "7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 9" (PDF). www.pbscensus.gov.pk. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
- ^ "TABLE 1 : AREA, POPULATION BY SEX, SEX RATIO, POPULATION DENSITY, URBAN POPULATION, HOUSEHOLD SIZE AND ANNUAL GROWTH RATE, CENSUS-2023, KPK" (PDF).
- ^ "LITERACY RATE, ENROLMENT AND OUT OF SCHOOL POPULATION BY SEX AND RURAL/URBAN, CENSUS-2023, KPK" (PDF).
