The district consists of the following twenty-five municipalities, including the cantonal capital Fribourg: Sarine has a population (as of December 2020[update]) of 107,158.

[1] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks French (64,341 or 75.3%) as their first language, German is the second most common (12,373 or 14.5%) and Italian is the third (2,008 or 2.3%).

The historical population is given in the following chart:[5][6] In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the SP which received 32.2% of the vote.

[11] From the 2000 census[update], 64,042 or 74.9% were Roman Catholic, while 6,395 or 7.5% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude.

The upper Secondary school is divided into gymnasium (university preparatory) and vocational programs.

After they finish the upper Secondary program, students may choose to attend a Tertiary school or continue their apprenticeship.