Leh District

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Leh is one of the two districts located in Ladakh, the other being the Kargil District to the west, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is bounded on the north by Ghanche District (Northern Areas), a small border with Xinjiang, China, via the Karakoram Pass which is part of the district. Aksai Chin and Tibet is to the east. Kargil district to the west, and lahul and spiti to the south. The district headquarters is based in Leh. It lies between 32 to 36 degree North latitude and 75 to 80 degree East longitude. As of 2001 the district has a population of 117,637.

The whole of Ladakh was under the administration of Leh district until July 1, 1979, when Kargil district was bifurcated from Leh district. About 84% of the district population are followers of Tibetan Buddhism^[1], with much of the remainder being followers of Shi'a Islam, and the rest being Sunni and Nurbakhshi Muslims.^[2] Religion has been the source of grievances between Buddhists and Muslims since the late 20th century.^[3]

According to the 2001 census Total fertility rate in Leh district is the lowest in all of India at 1.3 per women. In neighbouring Kargil district, TFR is 3.4 [1] [2] The Total Birth Rate was 10.02 per 1000 people in 1995-2000 period. The Natural Growth Rate was 0.62% per year implying a Total Death Rate of 3.78 per 1000 people. [3] The Birth Rate in some remote areas have plummetted to lowest anywhere in the world. For example in the village Diggar in the Nubra Valley, only 5 children were born during 1998-2002 period for a Total population of 700 people, implying a Total Birth Rate of just 1.79 per 1000 people per year. The lowest birth rate recorded is for German city of Cottbus in 2005, with 6.20 births per 1000 people. [4]