Chakwal District (Punjabi, ) is a district in Punjab province of Pakistan. It is located on the Pothohar Plateau in the northwestern part of the Punjab, bordered by Talagang to its west, Rawalpindi to its northeast, Jhelum to its east, Khushab to its west. The district was created out of parts of Jhelum and Attock in 1985.
During British rule, Chakwal was a tehsil of Jhelum district. The population, according to the 1891 census of India, was 164,912, which had fallen to 160,316 in 1901. It contained the towns of Chakwal and Bhaun and 248 villages. The land revenue and cesses amounted in 1903-4 to 3âÂÂ300,000. The predominantly Muslim population supported the All-India Muslim League and the Pakistan Movement. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the minority Hindus and Sikhs migrated to India. It was upgraded to a District on 1 July 1985.
The district of Chakwal, which covers an area of 6,524 km<sup>2</sup>, is subdivided into five tehsils. These tehsils were formerly part of neighbouring districts:
Now the district is administratively subdivided into five tehsils and 45 union councils. The district Talagang has been recognized as a separate by department of revenue with tehsil Lawa and tehsil Talagang, but it is still non-functional.
There is one district council, one municipal committees â Chakwal â and two town committees â Choa Saidan Shah and Kallar Kahar.
The district is represented in the National Assembly by two constituencies: NA-60 and NA-61. The district is represented in the provincial assembly by four elected MPAs and in National Assembly by two MNAs who represent the following constituencies:
Chakwal district borders the districts of Rawalpindi and Attock in the north, Jhelum in the east, Khushab in the south and Mianwali in the west. The total area of Chakwal district is 6,609 square kilometres, which is equivalent to .
The southern portion runs up into the Salt Range and includes the Chail peak, above the sea, the highest point in the district. Between this and the Sohan river, which follows more or less the northern boundary, the country consists of what was once a fairly level plain, sloping down from at the foot of the hills to in the neighbourhood of the Sohan; the surface is now much cut up by ravines and is very difficult to travel over.
As of the 2023 census, residual Chakwal district has 187,476 households and a population of 1,132,608. The district has a sex ratio of 99.23 males to 100 females and a literacy rate of 77.79%: 86.12% for males and 69.52% for females and stands out as 5th highest literate district in Punjab and 11th in Pakistan. As per census 2023, the district has 60,787 out of school children (OOSC). 266,804 (23.62% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age. 334,755 (29.56%) live in urban areas. All over Pakistan, the district Chakwal has least (9%) OOSC with highest NER in Matric (49%) and highest GER in Matric (95%)
Muslims formed the overwhelming majority at 1,722,147 (99.37%) while 0.63% of the population were from religious minorities, mainly Christians, who mostly live in Chakwal town.
At the time of the 2023 census, 89.93% of the population spoke Punjabi, 7.01% Pashto and 2.15% Urdu as their first language.
The local Punjabi dialects are Dhani and Awankari.
Chakwal has a total of 1,140 government schools out of which 52.63% (600 schools) are for female students. The district has an enrollment of 181,574 in public sector schools.
Educational institutions in the Chakwal District include: