The most important objective of the series of District Profiles is to provide district specific information on all the 26 districts of Balochistan. Only a secondary objective is to obtain some more insight in the relative position of each of the districts in comparison to each other and in comparison to the province as a whole. In order to provide such insight, 32 indicators have been selected on which the districts can be compared. These indicators, and more, can be found on the next two pages. The relative position of Nasirabad is reflected in the diagram on the third page. The diagram gives the ranking of the district among the other district. It is a bottom-up ranking: position nr. 1 means that the district has the lowest score on that particular indicator, while position nr. 26 implies that it has the highest score. An overall ranking of districts is not given because that would require attaching a certain weight to each of the indicators.

The following observations can be made as far as Nasirabad is concerned.

With its 3,387 square kilometer Nasirabad is one of the smaller districts in the province (fifth from the bottom). The size of the population (estimated to be 270,327 in 1995), that gives the district a position in the middle on that indicator, combined with the relatively small area, makes that Nasirabad is one of the most densely populated districts (three from the top).

• Due to the fact that the area is one of the few tropical areas in Balochistan combined with the fact that it has access to irrigation water through feeder canals from the Indus, the agricultural production is the fourth highest in the province (from crops like rice, wheat, pulses and cotton, not so much from fruits). It has a relatively high per capita value of agricultural production.

• Compared to agriculture, Nasirabad scores generally lower on livestock indicators, although the projections for 1996 suggest that the density of livestock units is the third highest in Balochistan. This would imply that expansion of this sector should be sought in more intensive production methods, rather than in an increase of the flocks.

• The situation in education is relatively unfavourable, especially so for girls. The position of Nasirabad as far as enrolment in primary education is concerned is fourth lowest for girls and seventh lowest for boys, while the girls/teachers ratio is comparatively high with position nr. 20.

• Also the, very rough, health care indicators are not flattering for the district. The population per bed is seventh highest among the 26 districts and the population per doctor is sixth highest. Only the male/female ratio among doctors is relatively favourable.

• Although the data on water supply coverage is often sketchy and hard to compare, the available information suggests that Nasirabad is also in this social sector not well off (ninth lowest).

• The national highway running through the district gives Nasirabad a position in the middle on density of metalled roads. The score on shingle roads is a little bit higher.

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