CNIC REGIONAL CODE · K-PK

156 Swat

CNIC numbers beginning 156 were registered in Swat District, Malakand Division, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. See the tehsils it covers, its documented local-zone codes, and what each digit of the prefix stands for.

DERIVED FROM THE STANDARD CODING SCHEME

156
PROVINCE
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
DIVISION
Malakand DivisionDigit 2 of the prefix — 5
DISTRICT
Swat District
TEHSILS
8Mingora · Saidu Sharif · Matta · Khwazakhela · Kabal · Barikot · Bahrain · Kalam

What 156 tells you

A Pakistani CNIC is thirteen digits long, and the first five of them are not random. They are a location record, written at the moment the card was registered. A card whose number opens with 156 was registered in Swat District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in Malakand Division.

Reading it left to right: 1 is the province digit and is definitive — 1 always means Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. 5 selects the division inside that province, here Malakand Division. 6 selects the district inside that division, which gives us Swat. The two digits that follow — positions four and five — narrow it further to a local registration zone inside the district.

WHAT IT DOES NOT TELL YOUThe prefix is a registration record, not an address. It does not prove where someone lives now, it is not a domicile certificate, and it says nothing about ethnicity or nationality beyond Pakistani citizenship. People who move keep the prefix they were first registered under.

TEHSILS OF SWAT

Swat District is divided into 8 administrative tehsils. NADRA’s internal registration zones do not map one-to-one onto tehsil boundaries, so treat this as the administrative picture rather than a decoder for digits four and five.

ADMINISTRATIVE TEHSILS · SWAT DISTRICT
#TehsilDistrictProvince
1MingoraSwatKhyber Pakhtunkhwa
2Saidu SharifSwatKhyber Pakhtunkhwa
3MattaSwatKhyber Pakhtunkhwa
4KhwazakhelaSwatKhyber Pakhtunkhwa
5KabalSwatKhyber Pakhtunkhwa
6BarikotSwatKhyber Pakhtunkhwa
7BahrainSwatKhyber Pakhtunkhwa
8KalamSwatKhyber Pakhtunkhwa

DOCUMENTED LOCAL ZONES UNDER 156

These are the five-digit codes this register can name for Swat District. Codes not listed here still exist — NADRA has simply never published the full zone table.

15601Swat — Mingora / Saidu Sharif beltDerived code

OTHER DISTRICTS IN MALAKAND DIVISION

151BunerDerived code152ChitralDerived code153Lower DirDerived code154MalakandDerived code155ShanglaDerived code157Upper DirDerived code

COMMON QUESTIONS

Which district is CNIC code 156?

156 belongs to Swat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, within Malakand Division.

Digit 1 (1) is the province, digit 2 (5) the division, and digit 3 (6) the district within that division.

Does a 156 CNIC mean the holder lives in Swat?

No. The regional prefix records where the card was registered with NADRA, not where the holder lives now. People who move, or who register at a family address, keep the original prefix.

It is also not proof of domicile. Domicile is a separate certificate issued by the district administration.

Which tehsils fall under Swat District?

Swat District covers 8 administrative tehsils: Mingora, Saidu Sharif, Matta, Khwazakhela, Kabal, Barikot, Bahrain, Kalam.

Tehsil boundaries and NADRA's internal registration zones are not the same thing, so the last two digits of a CNIC do not map one-to-one onto this list.

What comes after 156 in a full CNIC?

A complete CNIC is thirteen digits: the five-digit regional prefix, then a seven-digit family/serial number, then a single check digit that also encodes gender (odd for male, even for female).

For Swat, this register documents 1 local-zone code: 15601.

How reliable is the code 156?

156 is reconstructed from the standard coding scheme and community lists rather than an official published table. The province digit is definitive; the district mapping should be treated as a strong indication rather than a guarantee.

NADRA has never released a complete district-to-prefix table, which is why this register marks every entry as either a documented anchor or a derived code.

KEEP LOOKING

Look up another codeAll Khyber Pakhtunkhwa codesComplete code listWhat the 13 digits mean

Sources. Administrative data adapted from Wikipedia (CNIC, Administrative units of Pakistan, Districts of Pakistan) under CC BY-SA 4.0, with changes; prefix mapping cross-checked against public administrative and community-compiled lists. Reviewed 2026-09-02. Full sources, accuracy and ethics. Unofficial reference — not affiliated with NADRA, and not proof of identity or domicile.