[1] The district headquarters at Pader are located approximately 130 kilometres (81 mi), by road, northeast of Gulu, the largest city in the sub-region.

For the greater part of the first decade of the 2000s, the majority of the population within the district have been living in camps for internally displaced people (IDP), as the result of the Lord's Resistance War.

With the cessation of hostilities between the LRA and the UPDF in 2006, the majority of the people in the IDP camps have moved back to their homes.

In 2012, the population of Pader District was estimated at approximately 231,700.

The food crops grown include The following:[4] Cash crops include: Cotton, Groundnuts, Sunflower, Rice, Tobacco, Soya beans and Simsim.