Vehari District ( Punjabi: ضلع وہاڑی) is a district in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The city of Vehari is the capital of district while Burewala is the largest city and Jallah Jeem is the third largest city of the district.[3]
Vehari District
ضلع وہاڑی | |
|---|---|
.jpg)  | |
 Map of Punjab with Vehari District highlighted | |
| Country |  Pakistan |
| Province |  Punjab |
| Division | Multan |
| Headquarters | Vehari, Jallah Jeem, Mailsi |
| Government | |
| • Type | District Administration |
| • Deputy Commissioner | Syed Asif Shah |
| • District Police Officer | Muhammad Essa Khan Sukhera |
| • District Health Officer | N/A |
| Area | |
| 4,364 km2 (1,685 sq mi) | |
| Population | |
| 3,430,421 | |
| • Density | 790/km2 (2,000/sq mi) |
| • Urban | 782,915 |
| • Rural | 2,647,506 |
| Literacy | |
| • Literacy rate |
|
| Time zone | UTC+5 (PST) |
| Area code | 067 |
| Website | vehari |
Administrative divisions
editThe district of Vehari is administratively subdivided into following tehsils:[4]
| Tehsil[5] | Area
(km²)[6] |
Pop.
(2023) |
Density
(ppl/km²) (2023) |
Literacy rate
(2023)[7] |
Union Councils |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jallah jeem | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| Burewala | 1,295 | 1,204,255 | 929.93 | 63.98% | ... |
| Mailsi | 1,639 | 1,120,407 | 683.59 | 54.63% | ... |
| Vehari | 1,430 | 1,105,759 | 773.26 | 58.21% | ... |
History
editThe district was created on 1 July 1976 out of the four tehsils of Multan District (Vehari, Burewala, Jallah Jeem and Mailsi). The name Vehari means low-lying settlement by a flood water channel. The district lies along the right bank of the river Sutlej, which forms its southern boundary.[8]
Demographics
edit| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 1951 | 558,536 | — |
| 1961 | 703,197 | +2.33% |
| 1972 | 1,027,319 | +3.51% |
| 1981 | 1,328,808 | +2.90% |
| 1998 | 2,090,416 | +2.70% |
| 2017 | 2,902,081 | +1.74% |
| 2023 | 3,430,421 | +2.83% |
| Sources:[9] | ||
At the time of the 2017 census, Vehari had a sex ratio of 982 females per 1000 males and a literacy rate of 55.36% - 65.17% for males and 45.54% for females. 506,129 (17.44%) lived in urban areas. 802,881 (27.67%) were under 10 years of age.[11] In 2023, the district had 543,384 households and a population of 3,430,421.[1]
| Religion | Population (1941)[12]: 62–63 | Percentage (1941) | Population (2017) | Percentage (2017) | Population (2023)[13] | Percentage (2023) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Islam 
|
213,413 | 75.92% | 2,882,036 | 99.31% | 3,397,920 | 99.12% |
Hinduism  [b]
|
43,866 | 15.6% | 179 | 0.01% | 226 | 0.01% |
Sikhism 
|
21,131 | 7.52% | — | — | 66 | 0% |
Christianity 
|
2,679 | 0.95% | 18,928 | 0.65% | 29,043 | 0.85% |
| Ahmadi | — | — | 924 | 0.03% | 673 | 0.02% |
| Others [c] | 20 | 0.01% | 14 | 0% | 263 | 0.01% |
| Total Population | 281,109 | 100% | 2,902,081 | 100% | 3,428,191 | 100% |
At the time of the 2023 census, 74.1% of the population spoke Punjabi, 19.12% Saraiki and 5.83% Urdu as their first language.[14]
Geography
editThe district is located between 29°36′N 71°44′E / 29.600°N 71.733°E and 30°22′N 72°53′E / 30.367°N 72.883°E and borders with Bahawalnagar and Bahawalpur on the southern side, with Pakpattan on the eastern, with Khanewal and Lodhran on western and with Sahiwal and Khanewal on northern side.
The total area of the district is 4,364 square kilometres (1,685 sq mi). It is about 93 kilometres (58 mi) in length and approximately 47 kilometres (29 mi) in breadth and it is sloping gently from northeast to southwest.
Agriculture
edit141,000 acres of area was growing maize in 2015-16, increasing to 309,000 acres in 2019-20. The total production of maize stood at 428,000 tonnes in 2015-16, and rose to 1.1 million tonnes in 2019-20.[15]
Notable people
edit- Doctor Mazhar Hussain Mazhar, Urdu Poet (Jallah Jeem)
- Mohammad Irfan, cricketer
- Chaudhry Nazir Ahmed Jatt, politician, member National Assembly of Pakistan from Vehari District[16]
- Tufail Mohammad of Punjab Regiment, recipient of Nishan-e-Haider
- Saleem Sherwani, hockey player
- Waqar Younis, cricketer
Notes
edit- ^ 1941 figures are for Malsi tehsil of Multan District, which roughly corresponds to present-day Vehari 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.
- ^ 1941 census: Including Ad-Dharmis
- ^ Including Jainism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, or not stated
References
edit- ^ a b "TABLE 1 : HOUSEHOLDS, POPULATION, HOUSEHOLD SIZE AND ANNUAL GROWTH RATE" (PDF). www.pbscensus.gov.pk. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. 2023.
- ^ "Literacy rate, enrolments, and out-of-school population by sex and rural/urban, CENSUS-2023" (PDF).
- ^ "PAKISTAN: Punjab: Population of Districts". Citypopulation.de website. Archived from the original on 29 April 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
- ^ "Tehsils & Unions in the District of Vehari". National Reconstruction Bureau, Government of Pakistan website. Archived from the original on 5 August 2012. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
- ^ Divisions/Districts of Pakistan Archived 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
- ^ "TABLE 1 : AREA, POPULATION BY SEX, SEX RATIO, POPULATION DENSITY, URBAN POPULATION, HOUSEHOLD SIZE AND ANNUAL GROWTH RATE, CENSUS-2023, PUNJAB" (PDF).
- ^ "LITERACY RATE, ENROLMENT AND OUT OF SCHOOL POPULATION BY SEX AND RURAL/URBAN, CENSUS-2023" (PDF).
- ^ Khan, Ahmad Fraz (18 January 2021). "Multan's mangoes and multinationals". Dawn (newspaper). Retrieved 30 May 2023.
- ^ "Population by administrative units 1951-1998" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
- ^ a b "District Wise Results / Tables (Census - 2023)" (PDF). www.pbscensus.gov.pk. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. Cite error: The named reference "2023 census" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ "District Wise Results / Tables (Census - 2017)". www.pbscensus.gov.pk. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
- ^ "CENSUS OF INDIA, 1941 VOLUME VI PUNJAB PROVINCE". Retrieved 21 July 2022.
- ^ "Pakistan Census 2023" (PDF).
- ^ "Pakistan Census 2023" (PDF).
- ^ Khan, Ahmad Fraz (28 December 2020). "Vehari's tale of transition: from cotton to maize and livestock". Dawn (newspaper). Retrieved 30 May 2023.
- ^ "Eid-i-Milad celebrated with fervour". The Nation (newspaper). Archived from the original on 6 March 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
External links
edit