# Sargodha District

Sargodha District (Punjabi and Urdu: ضلع سرگودھا), is a district of Punjab, Pakistan. The capital of the district is Sargodha. It is an agricultural district with wheat, rice, sugarcane and kinnow being its main crops. The Sargodha district and region is also famous for citrus fruit including Kinnow, orange and lemon. The district has an area of 5,864 km$^2$.
Sargodha District is among the world's best citrus-producing regions. Sargodha District is well known for its kinnow, a citrus variety.

## Etymology

It is believed that there was an old pond in the middle of the town where an old Hindu monk or sadhu (godha) used to live. The Sanskrit word for pond is "ser". Since the town had a modest population, people would refer the place as 'ser godha', the place where that famous Sadhu resided next to the pond. The Shahpur district was renamed when its headquarters were shifted to Sargodha in 1960.

## Administration and tehsils

Sargodha city is the administrative headquarter of Sargodha Division and handles the population of about 8.1 million. Sargodha District is administratively divided into Seven Tehsils, which contain a total of 161 Union Councils. Following are the seven tehsils of Sargodha district:
| Tehsil | Area (km²) | Pop. (2023) | Density (ppl/km²) (2023) | Literacy rate (2023) | Union Councils |
| Bhalwal | 663 | 387,262 | 584.11 | 79.31% | ... |
| Bhera | 504 | 384,403 | 762.70 | 67.37% | ... |
| Kot Momin | 948 | 544,208 | 574.06 | 56.33% | ... |
| Sahiwal | 829 | 407,487 | 491.54 | 63.34% | ... |
| Sargodha | 1,536 | 1,800,455 | 1,172.17 | 71.82% | ... |
| Shahpur | 769 | 424,746 | 552.34 | 61.85% | ... |
| Sillanwali | 607 | 385,887 | 635.73 | 63.07% | ... |

## Demographics
### Population

As of the 2023 census, Sargodha district has 684,321 households and a population of 4,334,448. The district has a sex ratio of 102.53 males to 100 females and a literacy rate of 66.73%: 73.63% for males and 59.62% for females. 1,089,643 (25.18% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age. 1,609,587 (37.13%) live in urban areas.
The list below shows the population of each of the seven tehsils of Sargodha district according to the 2023 Census of Pakistan along with area:
| Tehsil | Population (2023 Census) | Area km$^2$ (sqmi) |
| Sargodha | 1,800,455 | 1,455 (561.8) |
| Kot Momin Tehsil | 544,208 | 891 (344.0) |
| Bhalwal Tehsil | 387,262 | 557 (215.1) |
| Shahpur | 424,746 | 787 (303.9) |
| Silanwali | 385,887 | 610 (235.5) |
| Sahiwal | 407,487 | 759 (293.1) |
| Bhera Tehsil | 384,403 | 722 (278.8) |

### Religion

Religion in Sargodha district (2023) :
| Religion | Religion | Percent | Percent |
| Islam | Islam | 98.03% | 98.03% |
| Christianity | Christianity | 1.86% | 1.86% |
| Other | Other | 0.11% | 0.11% |
As per the 2023 census Muslims were the predominant religious community with 98.03% of the population while Christians were 1.86% of the population.
Religious groups in Sargodha District :
| Religious group | 1941$^{:42}$ | 1941$^{:42}$ | 2017 | 2017 | 2023 | 2023 |
| Religious group | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % |
| Islam | 624,353 | 81.71% | 3,625,339 | 98.08% | 4,241,812 | 98.03% |
| Hinduism | 84,697 | 11.09% | 141 | 0% | 456 | 0.01% |
| Sikhism | 42,237 | 5.53% | — | — | 113 | 0% |
| Christianity | 12,682 | 1.66% | 65,231 | 1.76% | 80,411 | 1.86% |
| Ahmadi | — | — | 5,427 | 0.15% | 4,146 | 0.1% |
| Others | 93 | 0.01% | 74 | 0% | 325 | 0.01% |
| Total Population | 764,062 | 100% | 3,696,212 | 100% | 4,327,263 | 100% |
| Note: 1941 figures are for Shahpur, Bhalwal and Sargodha tehsils of the former Shahpur District, which roughly corresponds to present-day Sargodha district. |||||||
Religious groups in Sargodha District (British Punjab province era) :
| Religious group | 1881 | 1881 | 1891 | 1891 | 1901 | 1901 | 1911 | 1911 | 1921 | 1921 | 1931 | 1931 | 1941 | 1941 |
| Religious group | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % |
| Islam | 357,742 | 84.87% | 417,661 | 84.62% | 442,921 | 84.49% | 572,565 | 83.3% | 596,100 | 82.8% | 679,546 | 82.72% | 835,918 | 83.68% |
| Hinduism | 59,026 | 14% | 66,065 | 13.38% | 68,489 | 13.06% | 72,695 | 10.58% | 82,182 | 11.42% | 90,561 | 11.02% | 102,172 | 10.23% |
| Sikhism | 4,702 | 1.12% | 9,777 | 1.98% | 12,756 | 2.43% | 33,456 | 4.87% | 30,361 | 4.22% | 40,074 | 4.88% | 48,046 | 4.81% |
| Christianity | 29 | 0.01% | 80 | 0.02% | 91 | 0.02% | 8,616 | 1.25% | 11,270 | 1.57% | 11,294 | 1.37% | 12,770 | 1.28% |
| Jainism | 9 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 2 | 0% | 5 | 0% | 3 | 0% | 14 | 0% | 13 | 0% |
| Buddhism | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 28 | 0% | 2 | 0% | 1 | 0% | 2 | 0% |
| Zoroastrianism | 0 | 0% | 5 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 1 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| Judaism | — | — | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| Others | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| Total population | 421,508 | 100% | 493,588 | 100% | 524,259 | 100% | 687,366 | 100% | 719,918 | 100% | 821,490 | 100% | 998,921 | 100% |
| 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. Note2: Formerly known as Shahpur District, prior to district headquarters relocating to Sargodha in 1960. |||||||||||||||
Religion in the Tehsils of Sargodha District (1921) :
| Tehsil | Islam | Islam | Hinduism | Hinduism | Sikhism | Sikhism | Christianity | Christianity | Jainism | Jainism | Others | Others | Total | Total |
| Tehsil | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % |
| Shahpur Tehsil | 117,894 | 85.49% | 14,610 | 10.59% | 5,014 | 3.64% | 381 | 0.28% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 137,899 | 100% |
| Khushab Tehsil | 149,087 | 88.36% | 14,307 | 8.48% | 5,301 | 3.14% | 23 | 0.01% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 168,718 | 100% |
| Bhalwal Tehsil | 190,194 | 86.08% | 25,620 | 11.6% | 4,152 | 1.88% | 984 | 0.45% | 0 | 0% | 1 | 0% | 220,951 | 100% |
| Sargodha Tehsil | 138,925 | 72.23% | 27,645 | 14.37% | 15,894 | 8.26% | 9,882 | 5.14% | 3 | 0% | 1 | 0% | 192,350 | 100% |
| Note: British Punjab province era tehsil borders are not an exact match in the present-day due to various bifurcations to tehsil borders — which since created new tehsils — throughout the historic Punjab Province region during the post-independence era that have taken into account population increases. |||||||||||||||
Religion in the Tehsils of Sargodha District (1941) :
| Tehsil | Islam | Islam | Hinduism | Hinduism | Sikhism | Sikhism | Christianity | Christianity | Jainism | Jainism | Others | Others | Total | Total |
| Tehsil | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % |
| Shahpur Tehsil | 161,337 | 87.91% | 15,968 | 8.7% | 6,037 | 3.29% | 179 | 0.1% | 5 | 0% | 3 | 0% | 183,529 | 100% |
| Khushab Tehsil | 211,565 | 90.08% | 17,474 | 7.44% | 5,809 | 2.47% | 8 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 3 | 0% | 234,859 | 100% |
| Bhalwal Tehsil | 263,691 | 87.22% | 31,683 | 10.48% | 6,484 | 2.14% | 482 | 0.16% | 1 | 0% | 4 | 0% | 302,345 | 100% |
| Sargodha Tehsil | 199,325 | 71.65% | 37,047 | 13.32% | 29,716 | 10.68% | 12,021 | 4.32% | 7 | 0% | 72 | 0.03% | 278,188 | 100% |
| Note1: British Punjab province era tehsil borders are not an exact match in the present-day due to various bifurcations to tehsil borders — which since created new tehsils — throughout the historic Punjab Province region during the post-independence era that have taken into account population increases. Note2: Tehsil religious breakdown figures for Christianity only includes local Christians, labeled as "Indian Christians" on census. Does not include Anglo-Indian Christians or British Christians, who were classified under "Other" category. |||||||||||||||

### Language

Languages of Sargodha district (2023)
At the time of the 2023 census, 90.79% of the population spoke Punjabi, 7.61% Urdu and 1.26% Pashto as their first language.

## Villages

* Behak Maken
* Chak 36 NB
* Chak 104 SB
* Hathi Wind
* Kot Bhai Khan
* Ludewala
* Muzamabad Shareef
* Jalip
* Al Syed Farms, Dera Syed Sibt ul Hassan Shah
Mari
* Chak NO. 91 N.B

## Electricity supplier

The electricity supply in Sargodha District is managed by the Faisalabad Electric Supply Company