Dera Ghazi Khan (Urdu, , Saraiki: , ) is a district in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Its capital is the Dera Ghazi Khan city. The district lies to the west of the Indus River. The Sulaiman Mountains rise to a height of in the north of the district. Administration The district is divided into three tehsils which are divided into a total of sixty Union Councils: Dera Ghazi Khan Tehsil Dera Ghazi Khan Tehsil, an administrative subdivision of the district. The city of Dera Ghazi Khan is itself administratively subdivided into seven Union Councils. History The city was founded at the close of the 15th century and named after Nawab Ghazi Khan Mirani, son of Nawab Haji Khan Mirani, a Balochi chieftain, who had declared independence from the Langah Dynasty's Sultans of Multan. Together with two other Deras i.e. settlements, Dera Ismail Khan and Dera Fateh Khan, it gave its name to Derajat. Derajat eventually came into the possession of the British after the Sikh War in 1849 and was divided into two districts: Dera Ghazi Khan and Dera Ismail Khan. After the independence, many of the city's Hindu residents settled in Derawal Nagar colony of Delhi, India. The district of Rajanpur was later carved out of the Dera Ghazi Khan district. Based on the surveys of 2004–2005, Dera Ghazi Khan district is considered one of the twenty poorest districts of Pakistan with about 51% of its population living under the poverty line. Demographics At the time of the 2017 census the district had a population of 2,872,631, of which 1,451,327 were males and 1,421,127 females. Rural population is 2,326,410 while the urban population is 546,221. The literacy rate was 46.67%. Religion As per the 2017 census, Muslims made up nearly the entire population with 99.89%. Languages At the time of the 2017 Census of Pakistan, the distribution of the population of Dera Ghazi Khan District by first language was as follows: 81.0% Saraiki 14.7% Balochi 2.6% Urdu 0.8% Pashto 0.7% Punjabi 0.1% Sindhi 0.0% Brahui 0.0% Hindko 0.0% Kashmiri 0.1% Others Notable people Farooq Leghari, former President of Pakistan Usman Buzdar, former chief Minister of Punjab Villages Khalid Abad See also Dera Ghazi Khan Dera Ghazi Khan Division Ghazi University Dera Ghazi Khan railway station Sulaiman Mountains Districts of Pakistan Punjab, Pakistan Kotri–Attock Line Basti Azeem Payala Lake Ghazi Ghat References External links Districts of Punjab, Pakistan Derajat