Wednesday 20 May 2020

128 - Demographics of North West Frontier Province According to the Census of 1941

The British reached this part of India in mid-nineteenth century when they defeated the Sikh state of Lahore in 1849. At that time Hazara, Peshawar valley and areas east of Waziristan were part of the Sikh state of Lahore. The British gave the status of a province to these newly conquered areas of Punjab. But the British did not stop there and kept on extending their influence north and westward and finally concluded an agreement with Afghanistan in 1893 and defined a border between British India and Afghanistan. These newly acquired areas were recognized as princely states or administered as tribal areas.

This arrangement remained in place till 1901, when the six trans Indus districts of Punjab were carved out as a new province and given the name of North West Frontier Province. After independence in 1947, the princely states and some tribal areas (Kohistan etc) were gradually merged into NWFP province. However, the tribal agencies bordering Afghanistan were only merged in 2018. In the meanwhile, the province was renamed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2010.

However, in this post our concern is only the census conducted in 1941 in the NWFP as it was at that time. That means the six districts of the province, excluding the princely states and the tribal areas.

NWFP in 1941 

First, you will find the percentage of the populations of all the three major religious communities Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs district wise. The maps given below will explain the point further. 

Census of NWFP Province in 1941

No

District

Population

Muslims

%

Hindus

%

Sikhs

%

01

Hazara

796,230

756,004

94.95

30,267

3.80

9,220

1.16

02

Mardan

506,539

483,575

95.47

10,677

2.11

11,838

2.34

03

Peshawar

851,833

769,589

90.35

51,212

6.01

24,030

2.82

04

Kohat

289,404

266,224

91.99

17,527

6.06

4,349

1.50

05

Bannu

295,930

257,648

87.06

31,471

10.63

6,112

2.07

06

D. I. Khan

298,131

255,757

85.79

39,167

13.14

2,390

0.80

 

Total

3,038,067

2,788,797

91.80

180,321

5.94

57,939

1.91


The Muslim population in 1941. (District Wise)

The Hindu population in 1941. (District Wise)

The Sikh population in 1941. (District Wise)

The census report of NWFP, the year 1941, also provides the details of the population of the Tehsils (sub-district). That provides a more detailed picture of the distribution of the populations of the three major religious communities. 

No

District/Tehsil

Muslims

%

Hindus

%

Sikhs

%

1

Hazara

756,004

94.95

30,267

3.80

9,220

1.16

i

Mansehra

237,306

97.58

4,910

2.02

965

0.41

ii

Abbottabad

284,228

92.13

17,558

5.69

6,035

1.96

iii

Haripur

178,545

95.04

7,278

3.87

2,011

1.07

iv

Amb

47,288

98.69

433

0.90

195

0.41

v

Phulra

8,637

98.83

88

1.01

14

0.16

2

Mardan

483,575

95.47

10,677

2.11

11,838

2.34

i

Mardan

281,161

93.91

8,709

2.91

9,091

3.04

ii

Swabi

202,414

97.71

1,968

0.95

2,747

1.33

3

Peshawar

769,589

90.35

51,212

6.01

24,030

2.82

i

Peshawar

335,871

86.27

33,551

8.62

15,454

3.97

ii

Nowshera

194,084

88.92

15,128

6.93

6,636

3.04

iii

Charsadda

239,634

98.11

2,533

1.04

1,940

0.79

4

Kohat

266,244

91.99

17,527

6.06

4,349

1.50

i

Kohat

100,868

88.01

9,156

7.99

3,613

3.15

ii

Teri

110,146

97.73

2,462

2.18

86

0.08

iii

Hangu

55,210

88.97

5,909

9.52

650

1.05

5

Bannu

257,648

87.06

31,471

10.63

6,112

2.07

i

Bannu

157,097

83.74

24,517

13.07

5,285

2.82

ii

Marwat

100,551

92.82

6,954

6.42

827

0.76

6

D. I. Khan

255,757

85.79

39,157

13.13

2,390

0.80

i

D. I. Khan

155,100

82.68

30,065

16.03

1,740

0.93

ii

Tank

49,847

89.55

5,279

9.48

401

0.72

iii

Kulachi

50,810

92.58

3,823

6.97

249

0.45



The Muslim population in 1941. (Tehsil Wise)

The Hindu population in 1941. (Tehsil Wise)

The Sikh population in 1941. (Tehsil Wise)

The data given below shows the population of religious communities in the towns, cities and cantonments in the province

City

Total

Muslims

%

Hindus

%

Sikh

%

Abbottabad C

13,866

3,331

24.02

8922

64.34

1,205

8.69

Abbottabad M

13,558

8,861

65.36

2964

21.86

1,475

10.88

Haripur

9,322

5,174

55.50

3113

33.39

1,035

11.10

Baffa

7,988

7,166

89.71

735

9.20

81

1.01

Nawanshehr

6,414

5,075

79.12

1030

16.06

309

4.82

Kot Najibullah

5,315

4,228

79.55

929

17.48

156

2.94

Mansehra

10,217

8,141

79.68

1699

16.63

375

3.67

Mardan M

39,200

28,994

73.96

4700

11.99

5,368

13.69

Mardan C

3,294

1,307

39.68

1151

34.94

646

19.61

Peshawar M

13,0967

104,650

79.91

16546

12.63

8,554

6.53

Peshwar C

42,453

18,322

43.16

15084

35.53

5,691

13.41

Nowshera NA

17,491

16,876

96.48

379

2.17

236

1.35

Nowshera C

26,531

11,256

42.43

9452

35.63

4,017

15.14

Risalpur C

9,007

3,506

38.93

3937

43.71

1,024

11.37

Cherat C

337

270

80.12

30

8.90

25

7.42

Charsadda

16,845

15,747

93.48

745

4.42

294

1.75

Utmanzai

10,129

9,768

96.44

182

1.80

171

1.69

Tangi

12,906

12,456

96.51

444

3.44

2

0.02

Parang

13,496

13,494

99.99

2

0.01

-

-

Kohat M

34,316

27,868

81.21

4632

13.50

1,546

4.51

Kohat C

10,706

4,243

39.63

3618

33.79

2,016

18.83

Bannu M

3,3210

8,507

25.62

20773

62.55

3,583

10.79

Bannu C

5,294

2,189

41.35

1442

27.24

1,311

24.76

Lakki NA

10,141

8,010

78.99

3710

36.58

548

5.40

D. I. Khan M

49,238

25,443

51.67

22315

45.32

1,204

2.45

D. I. Khan C

2,068

981

47.44

500

24.18

238

11.51

Kulachi

8,838

6,610

74.79

2092

23.67

138

1.56

Tank

9,089

5,531

60.85

3296

36.26

181

1.99


Area of the administrative units of NWFP:

No

District/Tehsil

Area Km2

1

Hazara

7,793

Mansehra

3,753

Abbottabad

1,810

Haripur

1,686

Amb

451

Phulra

93

2

Mardan

2,833

Mardan

1,614

Swabi

1,220

3

Peshawar

3,996

Peshawar

1,178

Nowshera

1,826

Charsadda

992

4

Kohat

7,001

Kohat

1,930

Teri

3,970

Hangu

1,101

5

Bannu

4,398

Bannu

1,197

Marwat

3,201

6

D. I. Khan

8,990

D. I. Khan

4,496

Tank

1,673

Kulachi

2,820

 

Total

35,051


Cover of the Census Report.

I took the data of the population from the official report for the census of NWFP in 1941. I hope this post will be useful to people having some interest in the demographics of this region before the partition. Your comments are very valuable and helpful in improving this work.


Tariq Amir

May 20, 2020.
Doha - Qatar.