Abbottabad
Abbottabad District
Population: Census 2023
Abbottabad is a hill city on the approach to the Karakoram Highway, known for its cool climate and dense concentration of colleges and universities.
Capital: Peshawar · Population: 40,856,097 (2023 baseline) · Area: 101,741 km² · Administrative units: 39 district pages.
Pashtunwali hospitality, Attan dance, rabab music and historic passes of Khyber and Malakand. Former FATA agencies are now districts of KP.
University of Peshawar, UET Peshawar, AWKUM and Gomal University.
Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar is a major referral centre; remote districts rely on DHQ hospitals.
Use the district pages below for headquarters, population notes, public services, history, geography and local places. Figures are based on public sources; check the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics for the latest official tables.
Population: Census 2023
Abbottabad is a hill city on the approach to the Karakoram Highway, known for its cool climate and dense concentration of colleges and universities.
Population: Census 2023
Bajaur was a tribal agency on the Afghan border until it became a settled KP district after the 2018 FATA merger.
Population: Census 2023
Bannu is a southern KP city on the route toward Waziristan, historically an important trading and garrison town.
Population: 335,984 (2023 census)
Battagram sits on the Karakoram Highway in Hazara Division, with a cool hill climate around its market-town headquarters.
Population: 218,149 (2023 census)
Allai became a full KP district in January 2023, when its tehsil was separated from Battagram in Hazara Division.
Population: Census 2023
Buner is a district of green valleys tucked between Swat and Mardan, with Daggar as its headquarters.
Population: Census 2023
Charsadda covers the fertile Hashtnagar plain just north of Peshawar, one of the province's most productive farming belts.
Population: Census 2023
Lower Chitral covers the Kalash valleys and Chitral town, sitting in the shadow of Trich Mir, Pakistan's highest peak outside the Karakoram.
Population: Census 2023
Upper Chitral covers the high valleys toward the Wakhan Corridor, with Booni as its headquarters.
Population: Census 2023
Dera Ismail Khan is a Saraiki-Pashtun city on the Indus in southern KP; it lost its northern Paharpur and Paniala tehsils to a new district in October 2025.
Population: About 406,000 (2023 census, Paharpur tehsil)
Paharpur became a new KP district in October 2025, carved out of Dera Ismail Khan's Paharpur and Paniala tehsils.
Population: Census 2023
Hangu is a small district west of Kohat, with a mostly rural upland population.
Population: Census 2023
Haripur is a Hazara district that combines farmland with industry at Hattar and proximity to Tarbela Dam.
Population: Census 2023
Karak is an oil-and-gas producing upland district south of Kohat.
Population: Census 2023
Khyber district takes its name from the historic Khyber Pass and was a tribal agency until the 2018 FATA merger.
Population: Census 2023
Kohat is a southern KP city built around a cantonment, with a long-established medical college.
Population: Census 2023
Kurram is a high valley district toward the Afghan border, long known for its apple orchards and its history as a tribal agency.
Population: Census 2023
Lakki Marwat covers the sandy southern plains of KP.
Population: Census 2023
Lower Dir covers the Panjkora valley below Upper Dir, with Timergara as its headquarters.
Population: Census 2023
Lower Kohistan is an Indus gorge district on the Karakoram Highway, with Pattan as its headquarters.
Population: Census 2023
Malakand district sits at the historic Malakand Pass, the gateway between the Peshawar valley and Swat.
Population: Census 2023
Mansehra is the Hazara gateway to the Kaghan valley and the Karakoram Highway.
Population: Census 2023
Mardan is KP's second-largest city, built on the sugar and farm economy of the Yousafzai plain.
Population: Census 2023
Mohmand district lies north of Peshawar and was a tribal agency until the 2018 FATA merger.
Population: Census 2023
Nowshera is a cantonment and industrial district on the Kabul River.
Population: Census 2023
North Waziristan was a tribal agency in western KP, home to the mountain towns of Miran Shah and Mir Ali, before becoming a settled district in 2018.
Population: Census 2023
Orakzai is a former tribal agency in the hills west of Kohat, now a settled KP district.
Population: About 4.3 million (2023)
Peshawar is the provincial capital and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the region, blending the historic Qissa Khwani bazaar with new housing developments.
Population: Census 2023
Shangla is a high district sitting between Swat and the Indus River, with Alpuri as its headquarters.
Population: Census 2023
Swabi sits on the Indus and Kabul river plains, bordering the Gadoon industrial zone and the edge of Tarbela Dam.
Population: About 2.7 million (2023, before the 2025 split)
Swat is the former princely state on the Swat River, known for its Buddhist archaeology and its role as one of Pakistan's most visited mountain valleys. In December 2025 the district was divided, with its Matta, Bahrain and Khwazakhela tehsils separated into a new Bar Swat (Upper Swat) district.
Population: About 1.13 million
Bar Swat, also called Upper Swat, was created in December 2025 when Swat district was divided, with Matta as its headquarters.
Population: About 367,000 (2017 census)
South Waziristan Upper was created in April 2022, when the former South Waziristan district was divided in two, with Spinkai Raghazai as its headquarters.
Population: About 308,000 (2017 census)
South Waziristan Lower was created alongside South Waziristan Upper in April 2022, with Wana as its headquarters.
Population: Census 2023
Tank is a small southern district sitting at the edge of Waziristan.
Population: Census 2023
Torghar is a small mountain district of Hazara Division, created out of Mansehra.
Population: Census 2023
Upper Dir covers the high country toward the Lowari Pass and the Kumrat valley.
Population: Census 2023
Upper Kohistan covers the Indus gorge around the Dasu Dam project.
Population: Census 2023
Kolai-Palas is one of KP's newest districts, formed from the left bank of the Indus in the Kohistan region.
Mountain access, climate shocks, and integrating newly merged districts into the provincial service system.