It is named after the members of the Karanogay or Qara-Nogai ethnicity who live in the district.

By the 2010 census the population was 22,472, of which 87.0% were Nogais, 8.1% Dargins, 1.0% Russians, 0.9% Chechens, 0.5% Kazakhs, 0.4% Kumyks, 0.2% Tatars, 0.2% Avars, 0.1% Laks and 0.1% Kabardians.

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Nogaysky District is one of the forty-one in the Republic of Dagestan.

[1] The district is divided into five selsoviets which comprise seventeen rural localities.

[5] Its five selsoviets are incorporated as ten rural settlements within the municipal district.