Headquartered at Kiphire town, the district is 230 kilometres from state-capital Kohima.

The district was formally created in 2003 with 7 subdivisions, namely, Seyochung, Pungro, Amahator, Kiphire Sadar, Longmatra, Sitimi and Kiusam.

The major towns of this district are Seyochung, Sitimi, Pungro and Kiphire.

Nagaland's highest peak, Mount Saramati (3826 metres) is located in this district.

The district has 8 subdivisions namely Kiphire Sadar, Pungro, Seyochung, Khongsa, Amahator, Kiusam, Longmatra and Sitimi.

[3] The district is predominantly inhabited by the Sangtam, Chirr, Makware, Yimkhiung and Sümi tribes.

[5] In 2011, the language distribution in Kiphire district was 67.7% Sangtam, 17.45% Yimkhiungrü, 2.86% Hindi, 1.7% Bengali, and 1.1% Sümi with a very small minority of Chirr and Makury speakers.

[9] The district has two vidhan sabha constituences, namely, Seyochung Sitimi and Pungro Kiphire.

In the 2019 Indian general election, Tokheho Yepthomi of the NDPP won by 16,000 votes over his rival K.L.

Out of these, cereals such as Rice, Maize, millets are the most widely cultivated crops in terms of production and area coverage.

Basket weaving and Woodworking are common household industries practised by many people in Kiphire district and throughout Nagaland.

Below are few of the tourist attractions in the district:[6][12] The limestone caves at Saluni, Mimi and other villages in Pungro subdivision are yet to be explored.

Nagaland State Transport buses are available from Dimapur for Kiphire and Pungro.