Shangla District is a district in Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. The district headquarters are located at Alpuri.It was previously a subdivision of Swat District, but was upgraded to the status of a district on July 10, 1995.The total area of the district is 1,586 square kilometres.Shangla comprises three subdivisions, Alpuri, Puran and Besham tehsils.
Shangla has the lowest Human Development Index in the province and second lowest in the country.
Location
The district is bounded in the north by Kohistan District, in the east by Battagram District and Torghar District , in the west by Swat District and in the south by Buner District.
History
There are relics of the ancient Greek period at Pirsar, Chakesar and Daut. it is believed that Alexander the Great camped at Pirsar for a few days. There are also relics of the Hindu Shahi in Olandar-Ajmair.[better source needed]
Geography
Shangla district consists of small valleys, and is situated between the hillocks and surrounded by high mountains full of forests comprising Pindrow Fir, Morinda Spruce, Blue Pine (Kail), Chir Pine and Deodar Cedar trees. The average elevation of the district is 2000 to 3000 meters above sea level.The highest point (3,440 m) is near Kuz Ganrshal in the north of the district.
Population
According to the 2017 census, the district had a population of 757,810 with population density of 480 persons per square kilometre.[citation needed] In the 1998 census, the district had a population of 435,563 with an average annual growth rate of 3.3% and population density of 274 persons per square kilometre.The total number of households is 64,391 with an average household size of 8.1.
Almost the entire population is Muslim (99.8%) with very small numbers of Christians, Hindus, The major language is Pashto, spoken natively by 95.4% of the population.