Lower Dir District
Lower Dir District (, ) is a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Timergara city is the district's headquarter. This district was formed in 1996, when Dir District was divided into Upper Dir and Lower Dir districts. Recently, On 22 January 2023, both Lower Dir and Upper Dir districts further bifurcated to create a new Central Dir District. Lower Dir district borders with Swat District on its east, Afghanistan on its west, Upper Dir on its north and Malakand and Bajaur District on its south. Recent History At the time of independence of Pakistan, Dir was a princely state ruled by Nawab Shah Jehan Khan. Until 1969, it was separated from Pakistan. However, in 1969, it was annexed with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Demographics At the time of the 2017 census, the district had 153,788 households and a population of 1,436,082. Lower Dir had a sex ratio of 1023 females per 1000 males and a literacy rate of 61.83% - 74.45% for males and 49.45% for females. 40,314 (2.81%) lived in urban areas. 33.42% of the population was under 10 years of age. 471 (0.03%) people in the district were from religious minorities. Pashto was the