Lahore District (Punjabi: ضلع لہور; Urdu: ضلع لاہور) is a district in Punjab, Pakistan, consisting of the provincial capital, Lahore and surrounding areas. It is the most populous district of Pakistan, with a population of over 11 million in 2017.

The total area is 1,772 square kilometres (684 sq mi). Before 1976, district Lahore had 3 tehsils. Tehsil Lahore, Tehsil Kasur and Tehsil Chunian. But in 1976, Kasur and Chunian tehsils became Kasur district and separate from Lahore District.

Administration

The district is administratively subdivided into five tehsils.

Name of Tehsil	No of Union Councils
Lahore Cantt
Lahore City
Model Town
Raiwind
Shalimar

Demography

Population

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1951	1,134,757	—
1961	1,625,810	+3.66%
1972	2,587,621	+4.32%
1981	3,544,942	+3.56%
1998	6,318,745	+3.46%
2017	11,119,985	+3.02%
2023	13,004,135	+2.64%
Sources:

At the time of the 2017 census, Lahore district had 1,744,755 households and a population of 11,119,985. Lahore had a sex ratio of 912 females per 1000 males and a literacy rate of 77.08% - 79.19% for males and 74.75% for females. The entire population lived in urban areas. 2,609,959 (23.47%) were under 10 years of age. In 2023, the district had 2,012,526 households and a population of 13,004,135.

Religion

Religion in Lahore district (2017) Religion Percent Islam   94.70% Christianity   5.14% Other or not stated   0.16%

Religion in Lahore District

Religious group	2017
	Pop.	%
Islam	10,530,816	94.7%
Christianity	571,365	5.14%
Ahmadiyya	13,433	0.12%
Hinduism	2,670	0.02%
Others	1,701	0.02%
Total Population	11,119,985	100%

Religious groups in Lahore District (British Punjab province era)

Religious group	1901		1911		1921		1931		1941
	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
Islam	717,519	61.74%	626,271	60.44%	647,640	57.25%	815,820	59.18%	1,027,772	60.62%
Hinduism	276,375	23.78%	217,609	21%	255,690	22.6%	259,725	18.84%	284,689	16.79%
Sikhism	159,701	13.74%	169,008	16.31%	179,975	15.91%	244,304	17.72%	310,646	18.32%
Christianity	7,296	0.63%	21,781	2.1%	46,454	4.11%	57,097	4.14%	70,147	4.14%
Jainism	1,047	0.09%	1,139	0.11%	1,209	0.11%	1,450	0.11%	1,951	0.12%
Zoroastrianism	171	0.01%	209	0.02%	179	0.02%	159	0.01%	136	0.01%
Buddhism	0	0%	128	0.01%	170	0.02%	14	0%	32	0%
Judaism	0	0%	13	0%	13	0%	1	0%	2	0%
Others	0	0%	0	0%	6	0%	0	0%	0	0%
Total population	1,162,109	100%	1,036,158	100%	1,131,336	100%	1,378,570	100%	1,695,375	100%
Note: British Punjab province era district borders are not an exact match in the present-day due to various bifurcations to district borders — which since created new districts — throughout the historic Punjab Province region during the post-independence era that have taken into account population increases.

Language

At the time of the 2017 census, 80.94% of the population spoke Punjabi, 12.62% Urdu, 2.71% Pashto and 1.02% Saraiki as their first language. 1.75% of the population recorded their language as 'Other' on the census.

Education

According to Pakistan District Education Rankings, a report by Alif Ailaan, Lahore is ranked nationally at 32 with a score of 69.2 and learning score of 53.93. Lahore ranks nationally at number 1 in terms of readiness score, with a score of 93.51. According to PEC assessments, Lahore ranks last out of all districts of Punjab in both class 5 and class 8.

Science labs in schools are either not available or have inadequate instruments which also affects quality. The school infrastructure score of Lahore is 91.32, ranking it 29th nationally. Still few schools in a major district like Lahore have open air or dangerous classrooms.

Issues mainly reported in TaleemDo! app from Lahore are that students want to study in private schools, as they are better than government schools but can not afford the fee. A communication gap between the teachers and the students was also reported and a few reported some facilities problems in their school.

See also

• Districts of Pakistan
• Lahore
• Punjab