Its administrative center was Lyman, which was separately incorporated as a city of oblast significance and did not belong to the district.

Its area was 1,018 km2 (393 sq mi) and its population was approximately 21,881 (2013 est.)[1].

On 19 May 2016, Verkhovna Rada adopted a decision to rename Krasnyi Lyman Raion to Lyman Raion according to the law prohibiting names of Communist origin.

As of the 2001 Ukrainian census:[6] The national nature park Svyati Hory is 404.48 km² and it contains plant life from the region of the Seversky Donets River.

Forty-six plants that grow here and 50 types of animals are entered into the Ukraine's Red Book of Rare Species.