Headquarters Matta · notified after the 19 December 2025 cabinet decision · three tehsils from old Swat
Bar Swat is the official name on the January 2026 revenue notification. Upper Swat is the English name people already use. Headquarters is Matta. The three tehsils taken out of old Swat are Matta, Bahrain (Behrain) and Khwazakhela. Mingora, Saidu Sharif and Gulkada stay in Swat district.
PBS has not published a new district book. The figures below are the 2023 tehsil rows added together. That sum is about 1,130,354 people (Matta 552,431 + Khwazakhela 307,300 + Bahrain 270,623).
Matta — 684 km², 552,431 people. Headquarters town, east-bank bazaar.
Khwazakhela — 392 km², 307,300 people. Mid-valley town on the road toward Bahrain.
Bahrain — 2,899 km², 270,623 people. Largest land, thinnest settlement. Madyan and Kalam sit in this tehsil.
University of Swat and Saidu Group of Teaching Hospitals remain in the other district. Matta is where the new offices are supposed to sit. Tourism in Kalam and Bahrain is the cash and the pressure: crowds, riverbed building, and a thin winter road.
Sources: KP cabinet 19 December 2025; Board of Revenue notification January 2026 (Dawn, 28 January 2026); PBS 2023 tehsil rows. September 2026.