Dera Ghazi Khan District

Dera Ghazi Khan is a district in Punjab, Pakistan. The main city that governs the area is called Dera Ghazi Khan.

The district is found to the west of the Indus River. In the northern part of the district, the Sulaiman Mountains stand very tall, reaching up to about 10,000 feet or 3,000 meters.

Some popular places for visitors to see are Fort Munro, the Yakbai Hill station, and Mubarki Top. These spots draw people who like nature and exploring new places.

Administration

The Dera Ghazi Khan District is divided into three smaller areas called tehsils. These tehsils are then split into sixty Union Councils.

Tehsil	Area (km²)	Pop. (2023)	Density (ppl/km²) (2023)	Literacy rate (2023)	Union Councils
Dera Ghazi Khan	2,012	1,443,409	717.40	47.25%	41
Kot Chutta	1,802	904,836	502.13	38.61%	24
De-excluded Area DG Khan Tehsil

History

Dera Ghazi Khan International Airport

The area around Dera Ghazi Khan has been home to the Mallian people for a very long time. It was later part of the larger Multan region. Buddhist artifacts from the 1st to 3rd centuries CE have been found there.

The town of Dera Ghazi Khan was started near the end of the 15th century. It was named after Nawab Ghazi Khan Mirani. It was founded when Shah Hussain of the Langah Sultanate of Multan invited the Baloch people to live there. Together with two other settlements, Dera Ismail Khan and Dera Fateh Khan, it gave its name to Derajat. After a war in 1849, Derajat came under British control and was split into two districts: Dera Ghazi Khan and Dera Ismail Khan. After independence, many Hindu residents moved to Derawal Nagar colony in Delhi, India. Later, the district of Rajanpur was separated from Dera Ghazi Khan.

Demographics

As of the 2023 census, Dera Ghazi Khan district has 292,658 households and a population of 2,348,245 people. There are 100.71 males for every 100 females. The ability to read and write is 43.98% overall—47.78% for males and 35.64% for females. About 34% of the people, or 797,634, are younger than 10 years old. Roughly 28%, or 649,290, live in towns and cities.

Religion

The 2023 census shows that almost all of the people in Dera Ghazi Khan district are Muslim, making up 99.62% of the population. The largest group besides Muslims are Christians, who are 0.30% of the population. Small groups include Ahmadis (0.07%), along with Hindus and Sikhs.

Languages

Languages of Dera Ghazi Khan district (2023)

Saraiki (82.9%)
Balochi (12.7%)
Urdu (3.40%)
Others (1.02%)

In the 2023 census, 82.90% of people spoke Saraiki as their first language. Balochi was spoken by 12.68%, and Urdu by 3.40%.

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1951	380,393	—
1961	472,600	+2.19%
1972	686,057	+3.45%
1981	943,663	+3.61%
1998	1,643,118	+3.32%
2017	2,872,631	+2.98%
2023	3,393,705	+2.82%
Sources: Note: Includes present Taunsa district, which has since become a separate district

Religion in contemporary Dera Ghazi Khan District
Religious group	1941		2017		2023
Religious group	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
Islam	192,278	85.94%	1,979,213	99.85%	2,332,785	99.62%
Hinduism	31,052	13.88%	198	0.01%	138	~0%
Christianity	37	0.02%	310	0.02%	6,946	0.30%
Ahmadiyya	—N/a	—N/a	2,371	0.12%	1,607	0.07%
Others	368	0.16%	102	~0%	162	0.01%
Total Population	223,735	100%	1,982,194	100%	2,341,638	100%
Note: 1941 census data is for Dera Ghazi Khan tehsil of erstwhile Dera Ghazi Khan district, which roughly corresponds to contemporary Dera Ghazi Khan district. District and tehsil borders have changed since 1941.

Religious groups in Dera Ghazi Khan District (British Punjab province era)
Religious group	1881		1891		1901		1911		1921		1931		1941
Religious group	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
Islam	315,240	86.76%	349,587	86.52%	412,012	87.45%	442,234	88.47%	411,431	87.72%	432,911	88.16%	512,678	88.19%
Hinduism	46,697	12.85%	52,903	13.09%	57,815	12.27%	56,485	11.3%	56,346	12.01%	57,217	11.65%	67,407	11.59%
Sikhism	1,326	0.36%	1,424	0.35%	1,027	0.22%	1,042	0.21%	932	0.2%	760	0.15%	1,072	0.18%
Christianity	82	0.02%	117	0.03%	152	0.03%	76	0.02%	47	0.01%	31	0.01%	87	0.01%
Jainism	0	0%	0	0%	143	0.03%	23	0%	296	0.06%	125	0.03%	106	0.02%
Zoroastrianism	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%
Buddhism	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%
Judaism	—N/a	—N/a	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%
Others	1	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%
Total population	363,346	100%	404,031	100%	471,149	100%	499,860	100%	469,052	100%	491,044	100%	581,350	100%
Note: British Punjab 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 historic Punjab Province region during the post-independence era that have taken into account population increases.

Religion in the Tehsils of Dera Ghazi Khan District (1921)
Tehsil	Islam		Hinduism		Sikhism		Christianity		Jainism		Others		Total
Tehsil	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
Dera Ghazi Khan Tehsil	167,687	86.53%	25,272	13.04%	507	0.26%	27	0.01%	296	0.15%	0	0%	193,789	100%
Sanghar Tehsil	74,548	87.95%	10,207	12.04%	4	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	84,759	100%
Rajanpura Tehsil	94,148	89.66%	10,444	9.95%	415	0.4%	1	0%	0	0%	0	0%	105,008	100%
Jampur Tehsil	75,048	87.78%	10,423	12.19%	6	0.01%	19	0.02%	0	0%	0	0%	85,496	100%
Note: British Punjab province era tehsil borders are not an exact match in the present-day due to various bifurcations to tehsil borders — which since created new tehsils — throughout the historic Punjab Province region during the post-independence era that have taken into account population increases.

Religion in the Tehsils of Dera Ghazi Khan District (1941)
Tehsil	Islam		Hinduism		Sikhism		Christianity		Jainism		Others		Total
Tehsil	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
Dera Ghazi Khan Tehsil	192,278	85.94%	31,052	13.88%	221	0.1%	37	0.02%	106	0.05%	41	0.02%	223,735	100%
Sanghar Tehsil	97,234	89.08%	11,875	10.88%	34	0.03%	6	0.01%	0	0%	0	0%	109,149	100%
Rajanpura Tehsil	122,849	90.18%	12,591	9.24%	791	0.58%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	136,231	100%
Jampur Tehsil	100,317	89.38%	11,889	10.59%	26	0.02%	3	0%	0	0%	0	0%	112,235	100%
Note1: British Punjab province era tehsil borders are not an exact match in the present-day due to various bifurcations to tehsil borders — which since created new tehsils — throughout the historic Punjab Province region during the post-independence era that have taken into account population increases. Note2: Tehsil religious breakdown figures for Christianity only includes local Christians, labeled as "Indian Christians" on census. Does not include Anglo-Indian Christians or British Christians, who were classified under "Other" category.

Notable people

Dera Ghazi Khan has been home to many important people. Ghazi Khan helped found the city. Zartaj Gul served as a minister and was a member of the National Assembly. Hafiz Abdul Kareem was a senator and a federal minister.

The Khosa family includes Zulfiqar Ali Khosa, a former Governor of Punjab, and Dost Muhammad Khosa, a former caretaker Chief Minister of Punjab. The Leghari family is known for its influence in politics. Farooq Leghari was a former President of Pakistan. Awais Leghari is a senior member of PML(N) and a Federal Minister for Energy. Jamal Leghari and Muhammad Ahmad Khan Leghari have also served in the Punjab assembly.