Bannu Division


Bannu Division is one of seven divisions in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It consists of three districts: Bannu, Lakki Marwat, and North Waziristan. According to the 2017 Pakistani Census, the division had a population of 2,656,801, making it the least populous division in the province, but it spans of area, and this makes it the third-smallest division by area in the province. Lakki Marwat is the largest city of Bannu Division, with around 60,000 people, while the division's namesake and second-largest city is Bannu, with just under 50,000 people. The division borders Dera Ismail Khan Division to the south and west, Kohat Division to the north and east, and the province of Punjab, Pakistan to its east.

Districts

Districts are the administrative unit one level below divisions in the administrative hierarchy of Pakistan. Bannu Division consists of the following three districts:
DistrictPopulation Total AreaPopulation Density Map
Bannu District1,211,006
Lakki Marwat District902,541
North Waziristan District543,254
Bannu Division2,656,801

History

In 1941, Bannu Division was one of five trans-Indus districts in the North-West Frontier Province of British India. It was split into the Bannu and Marwat Tehsils, which would later on become Bannu District and Lakki Marwat District. Here is a description of the area given by the Imperial Gazetteer of India.
North Waziristan, on the other hand, was an agency in the province bordering Bannu District. It is also described in the Gazetteer.
By 1998, Bannu District and Lakki Marwat District had been upgraded to district status and were in the same division, called Bannu Division. In August 2000, Bannu Division was abolished along with every other division in the country, but was reinstated eight years later after the elections of 2008.
In 2018, the 25th Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan was passed by the Parliament of Pakistan and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly. This entirely and fully merged the seven agencies of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the six Frontier Regions with the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. With this merger, Bannu Division gained the agency of North Waziristan, which became a district, the Frontier Region Bannu, and the Frontier Region Lakki Marwat.

Geography

Bannu Division has a total area of. North Waziristan District is the largest district in the division, with of area, which means it takes up 47.19% of the area of the entire division! Lakki Marwat District is the second-largest district of the division, and it takes up an area of, or 33.04% of the area of the division. Bannu District only has an area of, which means it barely takes up a fifth of the division's area.
The important Kurram River flows through the division, flowing through North Waziristan District, Bannu District, and Lakki Marwat District, before it exits the division through the border with Punjab, where it will join the Indus.

Surrounding areas

To Bannu Division's northwest, you will find Kohat Division, to the division's west and southwest, Dera Ismail Khan Division can be found. To the southeast of Mardan Division, Sargodha Division in the province of Punjab can be found, and Bannu Division borders the country of Afghanistan to its west.

Demographics

As of the 2017 Census of Pakistan, the division had a population of 2,656,801, out of which there were 1,351,450 males, 1,305,326 females, and 25 people who identified as Transgender; this made the sex ratio of the division 1,035 males for every 1,000 females. The division had 284,583 households, making the average household size of the division 9.34; 143,746 people in the division lived in an urban area, but the overwhelming majority lived in a rural area, making the urbanization rate of the division a mere 9.46% While geographically, it is the third-smallest division in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it is the least populated, with a population density of, making it the second-least densely populated division in the province.
Bannu Division had four urbanized areas in 2017, the lowest amount out of any division in the entire province, and it's most populous city, Lakki Marwat, had a population of 59,465, and that made it the smallest city in the province that was classified as the largest city of its own division, and it only was the 20th largest city in the entire province. Bannu, the namesake of the division, in Bannu District, was the second-largest city in the division and the 25th largest in the province, with a population of 49,965. The city of Bannu, though, was the largest city in the division, in 1998, but its population stagnated throughout the period of time between 1998 and 2017, growing only 0.25% every year. The other two urbanized areas in the province are the town of Naurang of Lakki Marwat District, with a population of 29,955, and the only urbanized area in North Waziristan District, Miranshah, which had a population of 4,361 in 2017.
The division has one cantonment, the Bannu Cantonment, adjacent to the city of Bannu which had a population of 8,320, making up the division's entire military population. This made 0.31% of the entire population of the division active military personnel.