[4][5] In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Chandel as one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640).

[9] The district has a population density of 43 inhabitants per square kilometre (110/sq mi).

Other Old kuki languages spoken include Lamkang, Moyon, Monsang, Chothe, Tarao, Maring, Khoibu, etc.

At the time of the 2011 census, 37.69% of the population spoke Thadou, 30.26% Anal, 4.74% Zou, 2.77% Ao, 2.26% Maring, 1.99% Hindi and 1.93% Kom as their first language.

12.05% of the population spoke languages classified as 'Others' on the census because they had fewer than 10,000 speakers in the country.