DG Khan Division · the river islands and the Suleiman wall
Rajanpur District is one of the 41 districts of Punjab, with its headquarters at Rajanpur. The 2023 census lists 4 administrative units in it: De-excluded Area, Jampur, Rajanpur and Rojhan. The 2023 census counted 2,381,049 people on 12,318 km², and 36.09% of residents aged 10 and over were literate.
| Name | Type | Population | Area (km²) | Urban | Literacy (10+) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| De-excluded Area | Area | 41,741 | 5,013 | – | 8.6% |
| Jampur | Tehsil | 1,012,039 | 2,322 | 30.11% | 38.07% |
| Rajanpur | Tehsil | 853,192 | 2,078 | 36.41% | 41.38% |
| Rojhan | Tehsil | 474,077 | 2,905 | 3.35% | 20.98% |
Rajanpur sits between the Suleiman foothills and the Indus katcha. The town was founded around 1770 by Makhdoom Sheikh Rajan Shah. The district was cut from Dera Ghazi Khan on 1 July 1982. Jampur is now listed as its own district on newer Punjab maps.
Rajanpur tehsil — 853,192 people, literacy 41.38 percent (women 33.4). Rojhan — 474,077 people, literacy 20.98 percent (women about 13 percent). Saraiki on the canal squares. Balochi large in Rojhan. Mazari, Gorchani, Dreshak country.
Katcha means the riverine belt: shifting banks, cane, tracks that vanish in a flood. For decades armed gangs used that ground — kidnapping for ransom, robbery, a tax on the farmer. This page will not describe hideouts or routes. It records that 2025–26 operations in the Rajanpur and Rahim Yar Khan katcha produced official counts of more than five hundred surrenders, about 340 on this side, plus destroyed bunkers. The government called the belt cleared in February 2026. Residents will test that sentence after the next flood. An atlas that hides the daku is lying. An atlas that turns him into folklore is also lying.
Rojhan’s 21 percent literacy is one of the worst tehsil rows in Punjab. The same katcha floods villages. The long road toward Kashmore has needed escorts. Dreshak, Mazari and Gorchani houses still organise the vote — Hafeez-ur-Rehman Dreshak is on recent National Assembly notices.
Census 2023. Operation figures from Punjab government statements of 2025–26.
The 7th Population and Housing Census (2023) by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) counted 2,381,049 people in Rajanpur District — 1,209,183 males and 1,171,748 females (sex ratio 103.19 males per 100 females). The 2017 census had counted 1,996,039, so the district gained 385,010 people in six years (difference calculated from the two PBS totals), an average annual growth rate of 2.99%. The district covers 12,318 km², giving a density of 193.30 people per km²; 26.51% of residents live in urban areas and the average household has 6.7 members.
| Tehsil / area | 2017 | 2023 | Annual growth % | Area km² | Density /km² | Sex ratio | Household size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| De-Excluded Area | 34,191 | 41,741 | 3.39 | 5,013 | 8.33 | 113.13 | 6.4 |
| Jampur Tehsil | 849,389 | 1,012,039 | 2.97 | 2,322 | 435.85 | 101.51 | 6.7 |
| Rajanpur Tehsil | 706,770 | 853,192 | 3.20 | 2,078 | 410.58 | 101.96 | 6.5 |
| Rojhan Tehsil | 405,689 | 474,077 | 2.64 | 2,905 | 163.19 | 108.35 | 7.0 |
PBS reports a literacy rate (age 10+) of 36.09% for Rajanpur District: 43.68% for males and 28.18% for females, 57.42% in urban areas against 27.39% in rural areas. Of 1,507,085 residents aged 10 and over, 543,915 were literate. The census also counted 442,819 children aged 5–16 who were out of school (207,550 boys and 235,255 girls).
| Tehsil / area | Literacy % | Male % | Female % | Urban % | Rural % | Out-of-school (5–16) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| De-Excluded Area Rajanpur | 8.60 | 12.36 | 4.14 | — | 8.60 | 12,417 |
| Jampur Tehsil | 38.07 | 46.11 | 29.86 | 56.53 | 29.63 | 183,129 |
| Rajanpur Tehsil | 41.38 | 49.09 | 33.40 | 58.63 | 30.85 | 140,109 |
| Rojhan Tehsil | 20.98 | 28.18 | 13.04 | 50.21 | 19.63 | 107,164 |
PBS Table 2 lists 9 urban localities in the district (MC = municipal committee, TC = town committee):
Source: Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Census 2023 — Table 1, Table 2, Table 12. Figures checked against the PBS tables on 2026-10-07.
The 2023 census counted 2,381,049 people in Rajanpur District, up from 1,996,039 in 2017 (annual growth 2.99%). 26.51% of the population lived in urban areas.
Rajanpur District covers 12,318 km² according to the 2023 census, a density of 193.3 people per km².
The 2023 census lists 9 urban localities in Rajanpur District: Jampur (155,243, municipal committee), Rajanpur (137,553, municipal committee), Fazalpur (98,627, municipal committee), Kot Mithan (74,479, municipal committee), Mohammad Pur (47,331, town committee), Dajal (40,666, town committee), Haji Pur (35,087, town committee), Kotla Mughlan (26,366, town committee) and Rojhan (15,871, municipal committee).
36.09% of people aged 10 and over were literate in the 2023 census (male 43.68%, female 28.18%).
The most common mother tongue in the 2023 census was Saraiki (76.67% of the 2,323,980 people in the mother-tongue table), followed by Balochi (17.77%), Urdu (2.61%), Punjabi (2.28%).
Rajanpur District is in Punjab. Its headquarters is Rajanpur.