Charsadda District

Charsadda District: Quick Answers

Charsadda District is one of the 38 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with its headquarters at Charsadda. It has 3 tehsils: Charsadda, Shabqadar and Tangi. The 2023 census counted 1,835,504 people on 996 km², and 53.94% of residents aged 10 and over were literate.

Population

1,835,504 (2023 census)

Area

996 km² · 1,842.88 people per km²

Urban population

15.93%

Annual growth 2017–2023

2.2%

Average household size

6.9

Population in 2017

1,610,960

Sex ratio

107.49 males per 100 females

Literacy rate (age 10+)

53.94% · male 66.55% · female 40.36%

Largest urban localities (2023)

Charsadda 120,170 · Shabqadar 102,340 · Tangi 35,659 · Utmanzai 34,257

Main mother tongues

Pashto 99.66%

Tehsils

3 – Charsadda, Shabqadar and Tangi

Headquarters

Charsadda

Province / territory

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Known for

Charsadda covers the fertile Hashtnagar plain just north of Peshawar, one of the province's most productive farming belts.

Culture

The Pashtun farm towns of Shabqadar and Tangi are the district's two other major population centres.

Education

Bacha Khan University, named after the district's most famous son, is the main higher-education institution here.

Healthcare

DHQ Charsadda serves the district.

Villages / local areas

Shabqadar and Tangi villages.

Charsadda District: 2023 census figures by tehsil

Name	Type	Population	Area (km²)	Urban	Literacy (10+)
Charsadda	Tehsil	909,438	445	16.98%	58.56%
Shabqadar	Tehsil	440,524	204	23.23%	49.65%
Tangi	Tehsil	485,542	347	7.34%	48.85%

Source: Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Census 2023, Table 1. Checked 2026-09-29.

Charsadda is the farm plain between Peshawar and the Swat–Kabul river system. People here say Hashtnagar — eight settlements of the old Yusufzai belt — more often than they say “district”. The town sits close enough to Peshawar that buses and vegetable trucks run all day, and far enough that the fields still decide the calendar.

PBS 2023: 1,835,504 people, 263,934 households, area 996 km². About 292,000 urban, 1.54 million rural. Literacy 53.94 percent overall — 66.55 percent for men, 40.36 percent for women. Pashto is the language of the plain.

Charsadda: Three municipal towns

1. Charsadda — municipal council about 120,170 in 2023 compilations. District headquarters. Bacha Khan University is the campus name students use.
2. Shabqadar — municipal council about 102,340. Tehsil of 440,524. The old Sikh-era fort name Sharkargarh still turns up in local talk. Seventeen miles or so from Peshawar.
3. Tangi — municipal council about 35,659. Tehsil of 485,542. Utmanzai municipal council (about 34,257) sits in the same district books as a fourth urban name.

Charsadda: Three tehsils (PBS 2023)

• Charsadda — 445 km², 909,438 people, literacy about 58.6 percent, 34 union councils on older lists.
• Tangi — 347 km², 485,542 people, literacy about 48.9 percent, 12 union councils.
• Shabqadar — 204 km², 440,524 people, literacy about 49.7 percent, 12 union councils.

Fifty-eight union councils in total on those lists. This page does not print all 58. Named towns first; add a village when you live there.

Pushkalavati / the old river-city archaeology sits in this same plain. That is a heritage note, not a claim that every field is a monument.

Schools and the hospital in Charsadda District

Bacha Khan University and the government colleges in Charsadda, Shabqadar and Tangi are the degree names. Many families still send a child into Peshawar for medicine or engineering. DHQ Charsadda is the first public hospital. Flood years on the Swat and Kabul systems close schools and roads; that is ordinary news here, not a one-line “issue” box.

Sources: PBS 2023 district and tehsil tables; municipal council rows for Charsadda, Shabqadar, Tangi and Utmanzai. Last checked September 2026.