Faisalabad District (Lyallpur District until 1979)[3] (Punjabi and Urdu: ضلع فیصل آباد) is one of the districts of Punjab province, Pakistan. According to the 1998 census of Pakistan it had a population of 3,029,547 of which almost 42% were in Faisalabad City. It is the third largest city of Pakistan after Karachi and Lahore.[4]
After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the Muslim refugees from Eastern Punjab and Haryana settled in the Faisalabad District. It initially lacked industry, hospitals and universities. Since independence, there has been industrial growth, and the city's population is continually growing. Notable industry in the district include but not limited to Textile (spinning, weaving, printing, dying, stitching), Chemicals (acids, caustics, industrial gases, potash, chlorides, etc.), consumer goods (soaps, vegetable oil, detergents), Engineering (light electrical equipment, engineering goods), Metals & Metallurgy (steels, alloys) and Power (power equipment, power production).[5]
Initially a part of Jhang District, it gained the status of a separate district in 1904.[6] In 1982 Toba Tek Singh District (until then a Tehsil of Faisalabad District) was created as a separate district from Faisalabad. As of 2006[update], it is a City-District consisting of the city of Faisalabad and its surrounding areas.[7]
At the time of the 2017 census, Faisalabad district had 1,209,954 households and a population of 7,882,444. Faisalabad had a sex ratio of 951 females per 1000 males and a literacy rate of 69.83% - 74.68% for males and 64.75% for females. 3,766,866 (47.78%) lived in urban areas. 1,948,827 (24.72%) were under 10 years of age.[11] In 2023, the district had 1,384,668 households and a population of 9,075,819.[2]
Note1: 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.
^1998 District Census report of Faisalabad. Census publication. Vol. 116. Islamabad: Population Census Organization, Statistics Division, Government of Pakistan. 2000.