Dera Ismail Khan Division is an administrative division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. It is the southernmost division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. CNIC code of Dera Ismail Khan Division is 12.
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Location
Dera Ismail Khan Division borders Bannu Division (also Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) in the north, Dera Ghazi Khan Division and Sargodha Division (both Punjab) in the south-east and east respectively, Zhob Division (Balochistan) province in the south, and Afghanistan in the west.
History
It was formed after the implementation of the One Unit Scheme in 1954, according to which the North-West Frontier Province was divided into Dera Ismail Khan and Peshawar Divisions reforms of 2000 abolished the third tier of government. Until the 1990s, it also contained Bannu Division. After the passing of the 25th Amendment in 2018, the South Waziristan Tribal Agency was added to the division.
Demographics
According to 2023 census, Dera Ismail Khan division had a population of 3,188,779 roughly equal to the country of Qatar or the US state of Iowa.
In the 1951 Census of Pakistan, 74.8% of population of Dera Ismail Division was reported to be speaker of Saraiki (labelled as Punjabi), forming a majority. The share of Pashto speakers was 22%.