The district lies to the west of the Indus River. The Sulaiman Mountains rise to a height of 10,000 feet (3,000 m) in the north of the district. Popular tourist destinations are Fort Munro, Yakbai Hill station and Mubarki Top.
The region around Dera Ghazi Khan was inhabited by Mallian people in late antiquity. Then it was part of the wider Multan region.[10] Buddhist artifacts dating to the 1st to 3rd centuries CE have been found in Dillu Roy in Kot Chhutta tehsil.[11]
The town of Dera Ghazi Khan was founded at the close of the 15th century and named after Nawab Ghazi Khan Mirani, son of Nawab Haji Khan Mirani, the city was founded when Shah Hussain of the Langah Sultanate of Multan invited the Baloch people to settle the region. Together with two other Deras i.e. settlements, Dera Ismail Khan and Dera Fateh Khan, it gave its name to Derajat. Derajat eventually came into the possession of the British after the Sikh War in 1849 and was divided into two districts: Dera Ghazi Khan and Dera Ismail Khan.[12] After the independence, many of the city's Hindu residents settled in Derawal Nagar colony of Delhi, India.[13] The district of Rajanpur was later carved out of the Dera Ghazi Khan district.
Based on the surveys of 2004–2005, Dera Ghazi Khan district is considered one of the 20 poorest districts of Pakistan with about 51% of its population living under the poverty line.[14]
Demographics
Historical population
Year
Pop.
±% p.a.
1951
380,393
—
1961
472,600
+2.19%
1972
686,057
+3.45%
1981
943,663
+3.61%
1998
1,643,118
+3.32%
2017
2,872,631
+2.98%
2023
3,393,705
+2.82%
Sources:[15]
Note: Includes present Taunsa district, which has since become a separate district
As of the 2023 census, residual Dera Ghazi Khan district has 292,658 households and a population of 2,348,245.[16] The district has a sex ratio of 100.71 males to 100 females and a literacy rate of 43.98%: 47.78% for males and 35.64% for females.[2][3] 797,634 (34.06% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age.[17] 649,290 (27.65%) live in urban areas.[2]
Religion
As per the 2023 census, the vast majority of the population was Muslim and made up nearly the entire population with 99.62%. Christians made up the largest minority (0.30%), followed by Ahmadis (0.07%) with Hindus and Sikhs making up the rest.[18]
Note: British Punjab province era district borders are not an exact match in the present-day due to various bifurcations to district borders — which since created new districts — throughout the historic Punjab Province region during the post-independence era that have taken into account population increases.
Religion in the Tehsils of Dera Ghazi Khan District (1921)[28]
Note: British Punjab province era tehsil borders are not an exact match in the present-day due to various bifurcations to tehsil borders — which since created new tehsils — throughout the historic Punjab Province region during the post-independence era that have taken into account population increases.
Religion in the Tehsils of Dera Ghazi Khan District (1941)[19]
Note1: British Punjab province era tehsil borders are not an exact match in the present-day due to various bifurcations to tehsil borders — which since created new tehsils — throughout the historic Punjab Province region during the post-independence era that have taken into account population increases.
Note2: Tehsil religious breakdown figures for Christianity only includes local Christians, labeled as "Indian Christians" on census. Does not include Anglo-Indian Christians or British Christians, who were classified under "Other" category.
^Divisions/Districts of PakistanArchived 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
^Dera Ghazi Khan tehsil of erstwhile Dera Ghazi Khan district, which roughly corresponds to the present district. Historic district borders may not be an exact match in the present-day due to various bifurcations to district borders — which since created new districts — throughout the historic Punjab Province region during the post-independence era that have taken into account population increases.
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