Dera Ismail Khan Division

Dera Ismail Khan Division is an administrative division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan.^[4] It is the southernmost division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. CNIC code of Dera Ismail Khan Division is 12.

Dera Ismail Khan Division ڈیرہ اسماعیل خان ڈویژن ډېره اسماعيل خان څانګه‎
Division
Dera Ismail Khan Division (red) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Country	Pakistan
Province	Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Capital	Dera Ismail Khan
Government
• Type	Divisional Administration
• Commissioner	Amir Latif (PAS) [1]
• Regional Police Officer	Nasir Memood Satti (PSP)
Area
• Division	18,854 km2 (7,280 sq mi)
Population  (2023)
• Division	3,188,779
• Density	169.13/km2 (438.0/sq mi)
• Urban	423,929 (13.29%)
• Rural	2,764,850
Ethnicities [2]
• People	Largest: Pashtun (58%) Others: Siraikis (40.09%)
Literacy [3]
• Literacy rate	Total: (41.73%) Male: (53.74%) Female: (28.52 %)
Website	cdk.kp.gov.pk

Location

Dera Ismail Khan Division borders Bannu Division (also Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) in the north, Dera Ghazi Khan Division and Sargodha Division (both Punjab) in the south-east and east respectively, Zhob Division (Balochistan) province in the south, and Afghanistan in the west.

History

It was formed after the implementation of the One Unit Scheme in 1954, according to which the North-West Frontier Province was divided into Dera Ismail Khan and Peshawar Divisions reforms of 2000 abolished the third tier of government. Until the 1990s, it also contained Bannu Division. After the passing of the 25th Amendment in 2018, the South Waziristan Tribal Agency was added to the division.^[5][6]

List of the Districts

#	District[7]	Headquarter	Area (km²)[8]	Pop. (2023)	Density (ppl/km²) (2023)[8]	Lit. rate (2023)
1	Upper South Waziristan	Spinkai	2,815	N/A	N/A	31.96%
2	Lower South Waziristan (محسود وزیرستان)	Wana	3,805	N/A	N/A	31.96%
3	Tank	Tank	2,900	470,293	162.2	40.67%
4	Dera Ismail Khan	Dera Ismail Khan	9,334	1,829,811	196.1	46.58%

List of the Tehsils

#	Tehsil	Area (km²)[8]	Pop. (2023)	Density (ppl/km²) (2023)[8]	Lit. rate (2023)[8]	Districts
1	Daraban Tehsil	1,540	149,447	97.04		Dera Ismail Khan District
2	Darazinda Tehsil	2,008	82,386	41.03
3	Dera Ismail Khan Tehsil	1,167	767,979	658.08
4	Kulachi Tehsil	1,229	102,595	83.48
5	Paharpur Tehsil	1,657	406,467	245.3
6	Paniala Tehsil
7	Paroa Tehsil	1,733	320,937	185.19
8	Birmil Tehsil	923	112,757	122.16		Lower South Waziristan District
9	Shakai Tehsil
10	Toi Khulla Tehsil	567	102,835	181.37
11	Wana Tehsil	2,315	184,645	79.76
12	Ladha Tehsil	289	108,344	374.89		Upper South Waziristan District
13	Makin Tehsil	404	66,042	163.47
14	Sararogha Tehsil	813	145,118	178.5
15	Sarwakai Tehsil	398	58,804	147.75
16	Shaktoi Tehsil	177	44,332	250.46
17	Shawal Tehsil
18	Tiarza Tehsil	734	65,798	89.64
19	Jandola Tehsil	1,221	44,794	36.69		Tank District
20	Tank Tehsil	1,679	425,499	253.42

Demographics

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1951	...	—
1961	...	—
1972	...	—
1981	635,494	—
1998	1,091,211	+3.23%
2017	2,019,017	+3.29%
2023	3,188,779	+7.91%
Sources:[9]

According to 2023 census, Dera Ismail Khan division had a population of 3,188,779^[10] roughly equal to the country of Qatar^[11] or the US state of Iowa.^[12]

Languages of Dera Ismail Khan Division (2023)^[13]

1. Pashto (58%)
2. Saraiki (40.1%)
3. Urdu (1%)
4. Others (0.9%)

In the 1951 Census of Pakistan, 74.8% of population of Dera Ismail Division was reported to be speaker of Saraiki (labelled as Punjabi), forming a majority. The share of Pashto speakers was 22%.^[14]

Religious groups in Dera Ismail Khan Division (British North-West Frontier Province era)

Religious group	1881[15]		1891[16]		1901[17]		1911[18]		1921[19]		1931[20]		1941[21][22]: 22
	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
Islam	385,244	87.23%	420,189	86.42%	218,338	86.51%	224,992	87.85%	218,315	83.72%	235,707	86%	255,757	85.79%
Hinduism	54,446	12.33%	62,961	12.95%	29,434	11.66%	28,617	11.17%	39,311	15.08%	35,822	13.07%	39,167	13.14%
Sikhism	1,691	0.38%	2,840	0.58%	4,362	1.73%	2,175	0.85%	1,904	0.73%	1,878	0.69%	2,390	0.8%
Christianity	253	0.06%	204	0.04%	230	0.09%	336	0.13%	1,237	0.47%	657	0.24%	810	0.27%
Zoroastrianism	13	0%	7	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%
Jainism	2	0%	0	0%	15	0.01%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	1	0%
Buddhism	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	5	0%
Judaism	—	—	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	1	0%
Others	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%
Total population	441,649	100%	486,201	100%	252,379	100%	256,120	100%	260,767	100%	274,064	100%	298,131	100%
Note: British North-West Frontier Province era figures are for Dera Ismail Khan District, which roughly corresponds to present-day Dera Ismail Khan Division.

Constituencies

Provincial Assembly Constituency	National Assembly Constituency	District
PK-109 Upper South Waziristan	NA-42 South Waziristan Upper-cum-South Waziristan Lower	Upper South Waziristan
PK-110 Lower South Waziristan		Lower South Waziristan
PK-108 Tank	NA-43 Tank-cum-Dera Ismail Khan	Tank
PK-111 Dera Ismail Khan-I		Dera Ismail Khan
PK-112 Dera Ismail Khan-II	NA-44 Dera Ismail Khan-I
PK-113 Dera Ismail Khan-III
PK-114 Dera Ismail Khan-IV	NA-45 Dera Ismail Khan-II
PK-115 Dera Ismail Khan-V