Abbottabad District (

Hindko Hindko (, , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken by several million people of various ethnic backgrounds in northwestern Pakistan, primarily in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and northern Pun ...

, ) is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

in the

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...

province of

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. It is part of the

Hazara Division Hazara Division is an administrative Divisions of Pakistan, division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is located along the Indus River and comprises eight districts: Abbottabad District, Abbottabad, Mansehra District, Mansehr ...

and covers an area of 1,969 km², with the city of

Abbottabad Abbottabad is a city in the Hazara Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. It is the 40th largest city in the country and 6th largest in the province by population, and serves as the headquarter of its namesake tehsil and district ...

being the principal town. Neighbouring districts include

Mansehra Mansehra (Urdu, ) is a city in the Hazara Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. By population, it is the List of largest cities in Pakistan, 71st largest city in the country and the List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, ...

to the north and Haripur to the west in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Muzaffarabad to the east in

Azad Jammu and Kashmir Azad Jammu and Kashmir (), abbreviated as AJK and colloquially referred to as simply Azad Kashmir ( ), is a region administered by Pakistan as a nominally self-governing entitySee: * * * and constituting the western portion of the larger ...

and

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, third-largest city in the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is a commercial and industrial hub, being the list of cities in P ...

to the south in the

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

province. According to

2023 Pakistani census The 2023 Census of Pakistan was the detailed enumeration of the Pakistani population and the seventh national census in the country. It was conducted by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. It was also the first ever digital census to be held in ...

population of Abbottabad district is 1,397,587 (1.39 million).

History

Origin of name

The district is named after Major James Abbott, the first deputy commissioner of Hazara (1849–1853).IUCN Pakistan (2004). Abbottabad – State of the environment and Development. IUCN Pakistan and Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa: Karachi, p. 2.

Hazara

During British rule, Abbottabad became the capital of the Hazara division, which was named after and contained the Hazara valley, a small valley in the outermost

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

, between the

Indus The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans- Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in the Western Tibet region of China, flows northwest through the dis ...

in the west and

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

in the east. The current Abbottabad District was originally a

tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a Zila (country subdivision), district including the designated populated place that ser ...

of Hazara, the Imperial Gazetteer of India described it as follows: In 1976, the tehsils of

and Battagram were separated into the new

Mansehra District Mansehra District (Urdu, ) is a district in the Hazara Division, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, northern Pakistan. Mansehra city serves as the headquarters of the district. The district has a Hindkowan majority, with a significant Pashtun and Kohista ...

, while the tehsil of Haripur became a separate district in 1991.

Administration

Abbottabad district is divided into four

s: Abbottabad district has one urban administration area – Nawanshehr.

Election 2008

With the announcement by the Election commission of Pakistan that elections would be held on 8 January 2008, more than a dozen candidates filed their nomination papers in Abbottabad.

Political campaigns

Abbottabad was the centre of the Sooba Hazara movement that started after the national assembly passed the 18th amendment to change the name of the province from North West Frontier Province (NWFP) to

. The former governor of the province has been vocal in this opposition to the new name

Provincial assembly

The district is represented in the provincial assembly by four elected MPAs (PK-36 to PK-39):

Demography

Population

As of the 2023 census, Abbottabad district has 236,789 households and a population of 1,419,072. The district has a sex ratio of 100.77 males to 100 females and a literacy rate of 77.34%: 86.20% for males and 68.42% for females. 334,274 (23.92% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age. 332,315 (23.42%) live in urban areas.

Language

At the time of the 2023 census, 87.43% (1,221,957) of the population spoke

, 5.85% (81,731)

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

, 3.06% (42,734)

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

, 11,744 Kohistani, 10,401 Punjabi, 1,971 Shina, 1,722 Saraiki, 1,080 Kashmiri as their first language. Other languages, namely the Kohistani (11,744), are also spoken in this district.

Religion

The major language of the area is

, which in the 1981 census, was the mother tongue of % of households. The data is specifically for Abbottabad ''Tehsil''; the only other tehsil of the district has since been promoted into the separate district of Haripur. The variety spoken in the city of Abbottabad has formed the basis of a literary language. It is very close to the Hindko varieties of

: the two share 86% of their basic vocabulary. In the Galliat region in the southeast of the district, the language is still known as ''Hindko'' but becomes more distinct and gradually transitions into the dialects of Pahari. Other languages, such as Pashto, Urdu and Punjabi, are found more in urban than rural areas.

Parks and protected areas

Under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Wildlife (Protection, Preservation, Conservation and Management) Act of 1975, two areas have been designated with the district: Ayubia National Park and Qalandarabad game reserve.IUCN Pakistan (2004). Abbottabad – State of the environment and Development. IUCN Pakistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Karachi, p. 50. Both areas cover only 6% of the landed area of the district. The Ayubia National Park was established in 1984, this park covers an area of over 3,312 ha. The Qalandarabad game reserve was established in 1980 with an area of 8,940ha.

Education

According to the ''Alif Ailaan Pakistan District Education Rankings'' ''2015'', Abbottabad is ranked 31 out of 148 districts in terms of education. For facilities and infrastructure, the district is ranked 72 out of 148.The literacy rate of Abbottabad is 69%.

References

{{Authority control Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa