Demographics of Narowal

This article deals with the demographics of Narowal District, Punjab, Pakistan.

Population

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1951	512,475	—
1961	550,425	+0.72%
1972	834,501	+3.86%
1981	908,977	+0.95%
1998	1,265,097	+1.96%
2017	1,707,575	+1.59%
2023	1,950,954	+2.25%
Sources:^[1]

As of the 2023 census, Narowal district had a population of 1,950,954 which is roughly equal to the population of Santa Clara County, California, USA and Huangpu District, Guangzhou, China. There are 281,536 households. The district has a sex ratio of 104.40 males to 100 females and a literacy rate of 75.28%: 79.89% for males and 70.49% for females.^[2]^[3] 494,799 (25.36% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age.^[4] 349,095 (17.89%) live in urban areas.^[2] According to the 2017 census, total population of District Narowal is 1.709 million. Male population is 0.853 m (49.96%) and Female population is 0.855 m (50.04%).[1] According to the 1998 census of Pakistan, Narowal District's population was 1,256,097, of which only 12.11% were urban.^[5]

The total area of the district is approximately 2,337 square kilometres. Prior to the creation of Zafarwal Tehsil in July 2009,^[6] Narowal Tehsil occupied 1,065 square kilometres while the remaining area (1,272 square kilometres) fell in Shakargarh Tehsil.

Population breakdown

*Breakdown of population of Narowal District*
Censuses	Male	Female	Sex ratio	Rural	Rural %	Urban	Urban %	Total
1951^[7]				497,177	97.04%	15,298	2.96%	512,475
1961				509,921	92.64%	40,504	7.36%	550,425
1972				769,527	92.22%	64,974	7.78%	834,501
1981				818,283	90.01%	90,694	9.99%	908,977
1998	636,217	628,880	101.2	1,110,711	87.79%	154,386	12.21%	1,265,097
2017	839,934	867,472	96.82	1,450,918	84.96%	256,657	15.04%	1,707,575
2023	996,445	954,424	104.4	1,601,859	82.10%	349,095	17.90%	1,950,954

Religion

Religion in Narowal district (2023)^[8]
Religion			Percent
Islam			97.48%
Christianity			2.23%
Other or not stated			0.29%

As of 2023, 97.48% of population adheres to Islam whereas 2.22% adheres to Christianity. There is also a small Hindu population in the district.^[8]

Religion in contemporary Narowal District
Religious group	1941^[9]^: 60		2017^[10]		2023^[8]
Religious group	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
Islam	296,582	53.05%	1,663,508	97.42%	1,901,645	97.48%
Hinduism ^[a]	170,883	30.56%	657	0.04%	833	0.04%
Sikhism	67,267	12.03%	—	—	125	0.01%
Christianity	24,127	4.32%	37,910	2.22%	43,421	2.23%
Ahmadiyya	—	—	5,430	0.32%	4,491	0.23%
Others	244	0.04%	70	~0%	254	0.01%
Total Population	559,103	100%	1,707,575	100%	1,950,769	100%
Note: 1941 census data is for Narowal tehsil of Sialkot district and Shakargarh tehsil of Gurdaspur district, which roughly corresponds to contemporary Narowal district. District and tehsil borders have changed since 1941.