Rawalpindi Division

Rawalpindi Division is an administrative division of the Pakistani province of Punjab. Rawalpindi serves as the headquarters of the division which consists of 5 districts: Attock, Chakwal, Jhelum, Murree, and Rawalpindi.

Rawalpindi Division راولپنڈی ڈویژن
Division
Country	Pakistan
Province	Punjab
Capital	Rawalpindi
Government
• Type	Divisional Administration
• Commissioner	Engineer Aamir Khattak (BPS-20 PAS)
• Regional Police Officer	Syed Khurram Ali (BPS-20 PSP)
Area
• Division	18,823 km2 (7,268 sq mi)
Population  (2023)
• Division	10,804,250
• Density	570/km2 (1,500/sq mi)
• Urban	50.94%
• Rural	49.06%
Literacy [1]
• Literacy rate	Total: (79.62%) Male: (85.93%) Female: (73.14%)
Website	rawalpindidivision.punjab.gov.pk

Divisions are the third tier of government below the federal and provincial levels. In 2000, local government reforms abolished administrative divisions and raised the districts to become the new third tier of government.^[2] But in 2008, the division system was restored again.^[3][4]

List of the Districts

#	District	Headquarter	Area (km²)[5]	Pop. (2023)[5]	Density (ppl/km²) (2023)[5]	Lit. rate (2023)
1	Rawalpindi	Rawalpindi	4,547	5,745,964	1,868.79	83.06%
2	Jhelum	Jhelum	3,587	1,382,308	385.7	80.65%
3	Attock	Attock	6,858	2,170,423	316.7	70.22%
4	Murree	Murree	738	372,947	480	86.01%
5	Chakwal	Chakwal	3,593	1,132,608	314.42	79.36%
Rawalpindi Division			18,823	10,804,250	574.50	79.9%

List of the Tehsils

#	Tehsil	Area (km²)[5]	Pop. (2023)[5]	Density (ppl/km²) (2023)[5]	Lit. rate (2023)	Districts
1	Attock	1,002	516,277	515.25	74.80%	Attock District
2	Fateh Jang	1,249	374,726	300.02	66.94%
3	Hassan Abdal	350	253,670	724.77	70.22%
4	Hazro	348	386,544	1,110.76	66.45%
5	Jand	2,043	330,328	161.69	71.59%
6	Pindi Gheb	1,865	308,878	165.62	70.36%
7	Chakwal	2,167	768,622	354.69	79.63%	Chakwal District
8	Choa Saidan Shah	473	167,537	354.20	79.28%
9	Kallar Kahar	953	196,449	206.14	79.23%
10	Dina	678	277,182	408.82	84.75%	Jhelum District
11	Jhelum	586	507,788	866.53	83.45%
12	Pind Dadan Khan	1,176	371,971	316.30	73.98%
13	Sohawa	1,147	225,367	196.48	80.41%
14	Rawalpindi	1,682	3,744,590	2,226.27	83.97%	Rawalpindi District
15	Gujar Khan	1,457	781,578	536.43	79.72%
16	Kahuta	637	237,843	373.38	84.05%
17	Kallar Syedan	459	242,709	528.78	82.23%
18	Taxila	312	739,244	2,369.37	81.98%
19	Daultala	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
20	Kotli Sattian	304	120,421	396.12	88.20%	Murree District
21	Murree	434	252,526	581.86	84.79%

History

British rule

Following the British conquest of the region in 1849, the area around Rawalpindi became a division of the Punjab province of British India, primarily because of the strategic location of the city of Rawalpindi.

The Imperial Gazetteer of India describes the division as follows:

"North-western Division of the Punjab, lying between 31°35' and 34° 1' N. and 70° 37' and 74°29' E. The Commissioner's headquarters are at Rawalpindi and Murree. The total population of the Division increased from 2,520,508 in 1881 to 2,750,713 in 1891, and to 2,799,360 in 1901. Its total area was 25,000 Km Square (15,736) square miles, and the density of the population is 178 persons per square mile, compared with 209 for the Province as a whole"^[6]

The division was composed of four districts:

District	Area (sq mi)	Population (1901)
Shahpur	4,840	524,259
Jhelum	2,813	501,424
Rawalpindi	2,010	558,699
Attock	4,022	464,430
Total	13685	2,048812

After independence

On independence in 1947, the division was one of four divisions of the province of West Punjab but from 1955 to 1970, the divisions was one of twelve (later thirteen) divisions of West Pakistan province under the One Unit policy. On the dissolution of West Pakistan, the division was restored to the new Punjab province, but parts of the division were transferred with parts of Lahore Division to form the new Gujranwala Division.

Demographics

According to 2023 census, Rawalpindi division had a population of 11,406,496.^[7]

See also

• Divisions of Pakistan
• Divisions of Punjab, Pakistan
• Jhelum

References

1. "Literacy rate, enrolments, and out-of-school population by sex and rural/urban, CENSUS-2023" (PDF).
2. 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
3. "Division and district wise facilities" (PDF). health.punjab.gov.pk. 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 April 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
4. "Punjab Government Plans to Carve a New District from Lahore". 6 January 2009. Archived from the original on 3 June 2010.
5. "TABLE 1 : AREA, POPULATION BY SEX, SEX RATIO, POPULATION DENSITY, URBAN POPULATION, HOUSEHOLD SIZE AND ANNUAL GROWTH RATE, CENSUS-2023, PUNJAB" (PDF).
6. Rāwalpindi Division - Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 21, p. 262
7. https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/population/2023/tables/punjab/pcr/table_1.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}

33°10′N 73°00′E

This article incorporates text from the Imperial Gazetteer of India, a publication now in the public domain.