Gwadar District (, ) is a district in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. The name Gwadar originates from Gwat and Dar ()ÃÂ which means the 'Door of air'. Gwadar was notified as a separate district on 1 July 1977. The city of Gwadar serves as the district headquarters.
It is located in the south of the Balochistan province. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the south, Lasbela district to the east, Kech and Awaran districts to the north, and the Sistan and Baluchestan province of Iran to the west.
Gwadar District has a long coastline along the Gulf of Oman of the Arabian Sea. The district is located in the coastal region on the Arabian Sea, south-west of the Quetta City, the provincial capital of Balochistan. District Lasbela is in the east and Kech and Awaran districts are in the north and sharing its boundaries in the west with Iran. It has a scenic coastal highway that originates from district Lasbela and passes through the Gwadar district. The most significant feature of the Gwadar District is Gwadar Port, a deep sea warm water port. It is located on the eastern bay of a natural hammer-head protrusion of land, from the coast, distended into the apex of Arabian Sea.Parts of Gwadar were once under the control of Oman and were purchased by Pakistan in 1958.
Gwadar District is situated on a thin strip of land along Pakistan's southwestern Arabian Sea coast in Balochistan province. The district is administratively divided into five Tehsils: the city of Jiwani in the southwest along the eastern edge of Gwatar Bay, bordered by Gwadar Tehsil to its north and east; Pasni Tehsil is further east, followed by the city of Ormara. The cities of Gwadar and Ormara are situated on natural hammerhead-shaped tombolo peninsulas which form two almost perfect, but naturally curved, semicircular bays on either side. The city is situated on a narrow and sandy isthmus which connects the Pakistani coast to rocky outcroppings in the Arabian sea known as the Gwadar Promontory, or Koh-e-Batil, which reach an elevation of and extend east to west with a breadth of . The wide isthmus upon which Gwadar is located separates the two almost perfect semicircular bays from one another. The western bay is known as the Paddi Zirr, and is generally shallow with an average depth of , and a maximum depth of . To the east of the isthmus is the deep-water Demi Zirr harbour, where the Gwadar Port was built.
Gwadar District is subdivided into five tehsils or sub-districts:
There are 18 Union Councils in Gwadar District:
Union Councils are given below:
As of the 2023 census, Gwadar district has 50,357 households and a population of 305,160. The district has a sex ratio of 111.33 males to 100 females and a literacy rate of 50.30%: 57.62% for males and 42.19% for females. 88,795 (29.32% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age. 159,035 (52.12%) live in urban areas.
According to 2023 census, 99.15% population of Gwadar district adheres to Islam. Religious minorities are split evenly between Hinduism, Christianity and 'Other' religions, namely Zikris. The Shri Krishna Mandir, also known as the Om mandir is the main Hindu temple in the district.
At the time of the 2023 census, 97.66% of the population spoke Balochi, 0.45% Sindhi, 0.42% Punjabi and 0.4% Urdu as their first language.
According to Pakistan District Education Rankings, a report by Alif Ailaan, district Gwadar is ranked nationally at 61, with an education score of 59.47 and learning score of 62.65. Enrollment levels are low in Gwadar because of fewer schools in the district, and the level of enrollment declines as the classes move up.
The school infrastructure score of Gwadar is 29.91, giving it a national rank of 122. 33% of all the schools in the district cater to girls as compared to 67% schools for boys, putting girls at a greater disadvantage. Lack of science labs and subject specialist teachers are also a major concern.
Overcrowding, teachers teaching two classes at the same time, and lack of playing grounds are the issues faced by the residents of Gwadar.