Until 1918, most of the district belonged to the Novohrad county, with a small area around the villages of Šíd, Čamovce and Šurice in the east belonging to the Gemer a Malohont county.

The district is situated in the Southern Slovak Basin, in the broad valley of the Ipeľ River.

The two towns—Lučenec and Fiľakovo—comprise nearly 54% of the population of the district, the remainder living in the 55 surrounding villages.

Train services also run to Budapest via Fiľakovo.

The main industries are food processing and building materials.