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Swat District (Pashto: سوات اولسوالۍ, Urdu: ضلع سوات) was an administrative district in the Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan from 1969 to 2025. The district was known for its natural sites, the district was a popular tourist destination. It had a population of 2,687,384 per the 2023 national census, and was the 15th-largest district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at the time.

Swat District was centred on the Swat Valley, usually referred to simply as Swat, which is a natural geographic region surrounding the Swat River.

History

In 1947, following the Partition of British India and subsequent independence of Pakistan, Swat princely state acceded to the Dominion of Pakistan continuing as a self-governing princely state until it was officially annexed and merged into West Pakistan and later became a part of North-West Frontier Province (later Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) in 1969, forming the Swat district. The former tehsil of Buner was granted the status of a separate district in 1991.[1] Shangla was separated into a district in 1995.[2]

In October 2025, the government divided the Swat District into two, the Upper Swat District and (lower) Swat District.[3]

Geography

Swat’s total area was 5,337 square kilometres (2,061 mi2). Swat District consisted of two well-defined geographic regions, Swat Kohistan and Swat Proper. Swat Kohistan formed the larger, northern part of the district, while Swat Proper formed the lower portion of the district.[4] In terms of administrative divisions, Swat was surrounded by Chitral, Upper Dir and Lower Dir to the west, Gilgit-Baltistan to the north, and Kohistan, Buner and Shangla to the east and southeast, respectively.

Demographics

Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1951 283,720—    
1961 344,859+1.97%
1972 520,614+3.82%
1981 715,938+3.60%
1998 1,257,602+3.37%
2017 2,308,624+3.25%
20232,687,384+2.56%
Sources:[5]

As of the 2023 census, Swat district had 381,212 households and a population of 2,687,384. The district had a sex ratio of 104.83 males to 100 females and a literacy rate of 48.13%: 61.83% for males and 33.95% for females. 808,888 (30.11% of the surveyed population) were under 10 years of age. 794,368 (29.56%) lived in urban areas.[6]

Languages

Languages of Swat district (2023)[7]
  1. Pashto (92.2%)
  2. Kohistani (1.47%)
  3. Others (mainly Gujari, Torwali, Gawri) (6.35%)

As of the 2023 census, Pashto speaking communities made up 92.18% of the population.[7] Kohistani languages were spoken by 1.47% of the population and languages classified as ‘Others’, mainly Gawri, Torwali and Gujari were spoken by 6.10% of the population, and formed the majority in the Swat Kohistan region of Upper Swat.[7]

Religions

Religion in Swat District
Religion 2017[8] 2023[9]
Pop. % Pop. %
Islam 2,306,813 99.92% 2,677,745 99.69%
Christianity 502 0.02% 7,219 0.27%
Hinduism 200 0.01% 117 ~0%
Sikhism N/a N/a 540 0.02%
Others 1,109 0.05% 455 0.02%
Total Population 2,308,624 100% 2,686,076[a] 100%

Economy

Approximately 38% of economy of Swat depended on tourism[10] and 31% on agriculture.[11]

Agriculture

Gwalerai, a village located near Mingora, is one of those few villages which produces 18 varieties of apples due to its agriculturally favourable temperate climate in summer. The apple produced here is consumed in Pakistan as well as exported to other countries. It is known as ‘the apple of Swat’.[12]

Education

According to the Alif Ailaan Pakistan Education Rankings for 2017, Swat with a score of 53.1, was ranked 86 out of 155 districts in terms of education. Furthermore, the Swat schools infrastructure scored 90.26 which ranked it on number 31 out of 155.[13]

Administrative divisions

The seven tehsils of the Swat District in 2020.[14]

Before it’s bifurcation in 2025, Swat was subdivided into seven administrative units, known as Tehsils:[15]

Tehsil Area

(km2)[16]

Pop.

(2023)

Density

(ppl/km2)

(2023)

Literacy rate

(2023)[17]

Union Councils
Behrain Tehsil 2,899 270,623 93.35 39.26%
Matta Tehsil 684 552,431 807.65 42.54%
Kabal Tehsil 485 480,827 991.4 49.26%
Barikot Tehsil 419 220,148 525.41 50.87%
Khwaza Khela Tehsil 392 307,300 783.93 42.63%
Babuzai Tehsil 297 696,697 2,345.78 56.06%
Charbagh Tehsil 161 159,358 989.8 50.01%

Each tehsil comprises certain numbers of union councils. Swat had 65 union councils: 56 rural and 9 urban.

According to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act, 2013, a new local governments system was introduced, in which Swat was included. This system has 67 wards, in which the total number of village councils is around 170, while neighbourhood councils number around 44.[18][19]

Politics

The region elects three male members of the National Assembly of Pakistan (MNAs), one female MNA, seven male members of the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (MPAs)[20] and two female MPAs. In the 2002 National and Provincial elections, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), an alliance of religious political parties, won all the seats.

Provincial Assembly

Member of Provincial Assembly Party affiliation Constituency Year
Sharafat Ali Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf PK-3 Swat-I 2024
Ali Shah Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf PK-4 Swat-II 2024
Akhtar khan Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf PK-5 Swat-III 2024
Fazal Hakeem Khan Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf PK-6 Swat-IV 2024
Amjad Ali Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf PK-7 Swat-V 2024
Hameed ur rahman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf PK-8 Swat-VI 2024
Sultan e room Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf PK-9 Swat-VII 2024
Muhammad Naeem Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf PK-10 Swat-VIII 2024

Notable people

See also

References

  1. ^ 1998 District Census report of Buner. Census publication. Vol. 98. Islamabad: Population Census Organization, Statistics Division, Government of Pakistan. 2000. p. 1.
  2. ^ Babakhel, Mohammad Ali (19 April 2018). “Before merger”. Dawn. Retrieved 15 April 2026.
  3. ^ “KP cabinet approves Ehsaas Rehribaan law, new Upper Swat district”. Associated Press of Pakistan. 19 December 2025. Retrieved 19 December 2025.
  4. ^ Rum, Sultan-i (2008). Swat State, 1915–1969, From Genesis to Merger: An Analysis of Political, Administrative, Socio-Political, and Economic Development. Karachi: Oxford University Press. pp. 15–20. ISBN 978-0-19-547113-7.
  5. ^ “Population by administrative units 1951-1998” (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 June 2023. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  6. ^ “7th Population and Housing Census – Detailed Results: Table 1” (PDF). www.pbscensus.gov.pk. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 July 2024. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  7. ^ a b c “7th Population and Housing Census – Detailed Results: Table 11” (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 August 2024. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  8. ^ “Pakistan Census 2017 District-Wise Tables: Swat”. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. Archived from the original on 24 August 2024.
  9. ^ “7th Population and Housing Census – Detailed Results: Table 9” (PDF). www.pbscensus.gov.pk. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 August 2024. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  10. ^ “Browse & Book Your Favorite Hotels Anywhere in Pakistan”. Archived from the original on 25 August 2024. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  11. ^ “Swat Economy”. kpktribune.com. Archived from the original on 1 March 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  12. ^ Amjad Ali Sahaab (17 August 2015). “Gwalerai — The little village behind Swat’s famous apples”. dawn.com. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  13. ^ “Pakistan District Education Rankings 2017” (PDF). elections.alifailaan.pk. Alif Ailaan. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 July 2018. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  14. ^ Shah, Qasim Ali; Nawab, Bahadar; Nyborg, Ingrid; Elahi, Noor (12 August 2020). “The Narrative of Militancy: A Case Study of Swat, Pakistan”. Journal of Human Security. 16 (2): 55–65. doi:10.12924/johs2020.16020055. hdl:11250/2827781. ISSN 1835-3800.
  15. ^ Village Neighbourhood Councils Archived 5 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine lgkp.gov.pk
  16. ^ “TABLE 1 : AREA, POPULATION BY SEX, SEX RATIO, POPULATION DENSITY, URBAN POPULATION, HOUSEHOLD SIZE AND ANNUAL GROWTH RATE, CENSUS-2023, KPK” (PDF).
  17. ^ “LITERACY RATE, ENROLMENT AND OUT OF SCHOOL POPULATION BY SEX AND RURAL/URBAN, CENSUS-2023, KPK” (PDF).
  18. ^ “Village/Neighbourhood Council”. Archived from the original on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  19. ^ Local government election rules 2013 Archived 13 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine lgkp.gov.pk
  20. ^ “Constituencies and MPAs – Website of the Provincial Assembly of the N-W.F.P”. Archived from the original on 28 December 2007.

Notes

  1. ^ Different from official population figure since it excludes sensitive areas where religion was not asked