Upper Kohistan District

Population

As of the 2023 census, Upper Kohistan district has 63,712 households and a population of 422,947. The district has a sex ratio of 104.56 males to 100 females and a literacy rate of 19.05%: 27.46% for males and 10.28% for females. 159,357 (42.59% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age. The entire population lives in rural areas.^[1]

Languages

As of the 2023 census, 87.61% of the surveyed population identified their language as Kohistani and 11.05% Shina as their first language.^[10] However the designation Kohistani is applied equally to different unrelated languages in the region, including the Kohistani Shina (a Shina dialect), mainly spoken in the eastern side of the Indus River encompassing eastern Upper Kohistan, and Indus Kohistani, mainly spoken in the western side of the Indus River encompassing western Upper Kohistan. Speakers of Kohistani Shina commonly selected Kohistani as a single census option.^[11][12]

Religion

In the 2023 census, 775 (0.21% of the surveyed population) people in the district are from religious minorities, mainly Christians.^[13]

The literacy rate in the district is 59% and 5% for men and women respectively (2023). Source: Baseline study report, Dasu Hydropower Project.^{[citation needed]}

Provincial Assembly