Situated in the greeneries of south-western Orissa, Nabarangpur District is a very spectacular District, functioning since 02.10.1992 (State Government Notification No.DRC- (44/93/14218/R). Prior to that, it was a vast sub-division of the erstwhile Koraput District. Its boundary stretches in the north to Raipur and west to Bastar Districts of Chhatisgarh. The east side of Nabarangpur touches Kalahandi and Rayagada Districts and south to the Koraput Districts of Orissa. The river Indravati forms the border between Nabarangpur and Koraput Districts. Nabarangpur District covers an area of 5294 sq km. The District has a vast area of 1583.4 sq km covered by forests. It is situated at 20.3 to 17.5 Degree North latitude and 81.27 to 84.1 East longitudes.
The Administrative headquarters of the District is located at Nabarangpur city. At present Nabarangpur District comprises one sub division (Nabarangpur), 10 tahsils and 10 blocks. As per 2011 census (provisional) Nabarangpur District has 1218762 population. More than ten types of tribes are living in the District covering half of the population. Sex ratio of Nabarangpur District is 1018. The tribes of Nabarangpur District mostly depend on cultivation and forest products for their livelihood. The border area of Nabarangpur District is somehow influenced by the language of Chhatisgarh in the west.
As per the Administrative set up is concerned there are 169 Gram Panchayats, 1 NAC (Umerkote) and 10 Police Stations in the District. The religion of the District is composite. There are Hindus, Christians and Muslims in good numbers with the tribal worshipping the Hindu gods. Like Mirganis, Snkharis, Malis and Sundhi, some other tribes such as Bhumias and Dombs are also residing here. Of these, the Mirganis appear to be a subcaste of the Dombs.
The Tribal dominating District of Nabarangpur has a relatively low literate population. The District holds total literates 490156 (Male 298688 and Female 191468). Many educational Institutes are serving in the District of Nabarangpur. The District has one Technical Institute i.e Women’s I.T.I of Umerkote. Govt. Secondary Training School, Nabarangpur and Govt. Secondary Training School, Umerkote are the professional Training Colleges running in the District. Jabahar Navadaya Vidyalaya, Khatiguda is the Central Government run special School also serving the Educational requirement of the District.
Mondei is the widely celebrated festival of Nabarangpur District. This festival is usually celebrated after the harvesting of crops.Most areas of Nabarangpur District experience the first arrival of monsoon much before the rest of the state. While the rest of Orissa gets rain due to monsoon from the Bay of Bengal, the whole of Nabarangpur gets it straight from the Arabian Sea, through the Southwest direction. The whole of this District enjoys 16912.57 mm total rainfall and 1631.40 mm normal rainfall annually. Notably the Plateaus which are located in between 2,000 and 3,000 feet remains cool round the year.
Predominantly an agricultural District, Nawarangpur has more than 90 per cent of its inhabitants depending on farming for their livelihood. The farming community largely depends on rains due to lack of irrigation facility. National Horticulture Mission is taking lots of steps to improve the cultivation of many fruits and vegetables in the District. Nabarangpur District is a treasure of many natural resources like iron, chlorite, mica, quartz etc. Heeraput village near Umerkote contains a fair deposit of hematite and limonite, each of which possesses about 60% iron. Similarly, Tentulikhunti area of Nabarangpur has fairly large deposits of granite. The north of Nabarangpur District, up to the boarder of Kalahandi, has rock beds covering layers of coarse white quartz. Tough industrially this District is not that developed, all these minerals found in the District sustains the various industries in other parts of the country.
Personalities like R.K. Biswasray, R.K.Sahu, Sadasiv Tripathy (Ex-Chief Minister of Orissa) and freedom fighters like Jagannath Tripathy (Ex-MLA), Rabisingh Majhi (Ex-Minister) and Md. Bazi Saheb (Sarvodaya and Bhoodan leader) and many unsung heroes of the freedom struggle are proud sons of this soil.