REVERSE LOOKUP

Finding the code for any district

Going the other way: start from a district or city name and find its CNIC prefix. Covers the big cities, how to search the register, and why one city can have several codes.

UPDATED 2 SEPTEMBER 2026 · 5 MIN READ

Most people arrive here with a number and want a place. Sometimes it is the other way round: you know the district and you want the code. That is a slightly different job.

The fastest route

The register panel on the front page has a filter box. Type a district name into it and the matching codes appear immediately, grouped by division. It also matches on partial codes, so typing 42 narrows to the Karachi and Larkana divisions.

For a full browse rather than a search, the complete district code list lays out all 135 codes province by province in sortable tables.

The major cities

CNIC DISTRICT CODES FOR MAJOR CITIES
CodeDistrictProvince
352LahorePunjab
384RawalpindiPunjab
331FaisalabadPunjab
363MultanPunjab
341GujranwalaPunjab
611IslamabadICT
173PeshawarKhyber Pakhtunkhwa
413HyderabadSindh
545QuettaBalochistan
713GilgitGilgit-Baltistan

Karachi is seven codes, not one

This trips people up constantly. Karachi is not a district — it is a division containing several, and each one has its own prefix:

  • 421 — Karachi South (Saddar, Lyari)
  • 422 — Karachi East (Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Jamshed Town)
  • 423 — Karachi West (Orangi, SITE)
  • 424 — Karachi Central (Nazimabad, North Nazimabad)
  • 425 — Karachi Malir
  • 426 — Korangi (district since 2013)
  • 427 — Keamari (district since 2020)

The same logic applies wherever a city has been split administratively. The code follows the district, and the district is the smaller unit.

Looking up a town rather than a district

Towns are usually tehsils, and tehsils sit inside districts. Every district page on this site lists its tehsils in full, so the route is: identify the district the town belongs to, then take that district’s code.

For example, Kot Addu is a tehsil of Muzaffargarh District, so a card registered there carries a 373 prefix — not a code of its own.

What you cannot get this way

Finding a district’s code tells you what prefix cards registered there carry. It does not work in reverse as identification: knowing that Lahore is 352 tells you nothing about any individual whose card starts with 352, and there are millions of them.

It also will not give you a specific five-digit code for a neighbourhood in most cases. The last two digits are a NADRA registration zone and that table was never published.

COMMON QUESTIONS

What is the CNIC code for Lahore?

Lahore District is 352 — province 3 (Punjab), division 5 (Lahore Division), district 2. Five-digit prefixes seen on Lahore cards include 35201 and 35202.

What is the CNIC code for Karachi?

Karachi is not a single code. It is split across several districts, each with its own prefix: 421 Karachi South, 422 Karachi East, 423 Karachi West, 424 Karachi Central, 425 Malir, 426 Korangi and 427 Keamari.

Which one appears on a card depends on which district the holder was registered in.

Why does one city have more than one CNIC code?

Because the code identifies a district, not a city. Large cities are divided into several districts, and each district gets its own code. Karachi is the clearest example.

How do I find the code for a small town?

Find the district the town sits in — towns are usually tehsils within a district — and look up that district's code. Each district page on this site lists its tehsils, so searching the register for the town name will often surface the right district.

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USE THE REGISTER

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.