not considered feasible to extend the railway network further. The district does not have any regular air services. The nearest is Jolly Grant Airport, near the state capital of Dehradun, about from Pauri and from Kotdwara. Demographics According to the 2011 census, Pauri Garhwal district has a population of 687,271, which is almost equal to the 2014 population of Equatorial Guinea, and to the US state of North Dakota. This gives it a ranking of 506th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade of 2001-2011 was -1.51%. Pauri Garhwal has a sex ratio of 1103 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 82.02%. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 17.80% and 0.32% of the population respectively. Religion Vast majority of the people in Pauri Garhwal district follows Hinduism, with a small minority, around 3%, following Islam. Language The predominant first language of the district is Garhwali spoken by 83.3% of the population, but there are also speakers of Hindi (13.3%) and, to a smaller extent, Nepali (1.2%) and Kumaoni (0.7%). Administrative structure In 1960, what was known as Garhwal district was divided into Pauri Garhwal and Chamoli districts. In 1997, an additional area was carved out of Pauri Garhwal district and merged with parts of Chamoli and Tehri Garhwal districts to form Rudraprayag district. The District is administratively divided into 15 tehsils grouped into 6 sub-divisions,15 developmental blocks, and 3,142 villages. Tehsils Pauri Lansdowne Kotdwara Thalisain Dhumakot Srinagar Satpuli Chaubattakhal Bironkhal Chakisain Jakhanikhal Pauri Rikhanikhal Yamkeshwar Development blocks Kot Kaljikhal (largest block in Pauri Garhwal) Pauri Pabau Bironkhal Dwarikhal Dugadda Jaihrikhal Ekeshwer Rikhnikhal Yamkeswar Nainidanda Pokhra Khirsu Thalisain Education Pauri, Kotdwar, Lansdowne and Srinagar are major centres of education in the district. Govind Ballabh Pant Engineering College is at Ghurdauri ( from Pauri). Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University, Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Government Medical College, and National Institute of Technology Uttarakhand are in Srinagar. Notable people Yogi Adityanath (Ajay Singh Bisht) – 21st Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Ajit Doval – 5th National Security Advisor of India Ram Prasad Nautiyal- Indian freedom fighter and first elected member from Lansdowne legislative constituency Jaswant Singh Rawat- Maha Vir Chakra awardee, Indo-Sino war martyr Ramesh Pokhriyal – Indian Politician General Bipin Rawat – 1st Chief of Defence Staff of India Veer Chandra Singh