The district stands fifth in the state with a total geographical area of 16128Sq.Kms. There are 1745 Revenue villages out of which 1574 are inhabited and remaining are uninhabited. There are (11) urban towns and the district is administered through (5) Revenue Division consisting of (52) Revenue mandals.

The District has a total population of 24,79,347 [as per 2001 census] of which 15.98 lakhs is the rural population. The District has got very high population of scheduled castes (3.86lakhs) and scheduled tribes (3.55 lakhs). About 3.04 lakhs are agricultural labourers, 2.98 lakhs are cultivators.
The literate persons in the District are 11,34,631 forming 45.76% of the total population. Agriculture is the main occupation of the people in the District. The irrigated area in the District is 1.85 lakhs acres, which is very limited when compared with the other district accounts of 13% of the total cropped area. The District is backward both in livestock and poultry population