The district is named such after the town Kushinagar, a Buddhist pilgrimage site where Gautama Buddha attained parinirvana in the 5th century BCE.

In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Kushinagar one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640).

[1] The Indian Government has approved a project for the construction of an International Airport which would be completed till 2019.

[citation needed] Padrauna, Ramkola, Kaptanganj, Dudahi and Tamkuhi Road are some cities connected with train facility in the district.

According to the 2011 census Kushinagar district has a population of 3,564,544,[4] roughly equal to the nation of Lithuania[5] or the US state of Connecticut.