It ranked fourth in terms of percentage of tribal population (14.87) following Jalpaiguri (18.87), Purulia (18.27) and Dakshin Dinajpur (16.12) in 2011.

To the west, the Chota Nagpur Plateau gradually slopes down, creating an undulating area with infertile laterite rocks and soil.

First, it is a strip of purely deltaic country nearer to the Hooghly and the Rupnarayan, intersected by numerous rivers and watercourses subject to tidal influences.

Water logging during the rainy season affects Ghatal and the southern parts of Kharagpur subdivision and results in loss of crops in such areas as Sabang, Pingla and Narayangarh CD Blocks.

Other important towns and cities in the district include: Salboni, Ghatal, Belda, Chandrakona, Ramjibanpur, Garbeta, Balichak, Dantan, Mohanpur, Keshiari, Keshpur, Narayangarh, Sabang, Daspur, Goaltore and Debra.

In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Paschim Medinipur one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640).

[4] 106 districts spanning 10 states across India, described as being part of Left Wing Extremism activities, constitute the Red corridor.

In West Bengal the districts of Paschim Medinipur, Bankura, Purulia and Birbhum are part of the Red corridor.

However, as of July 2016, there has been no reported incidents of Maoist related activities from these districts for the previous 4 years.

[5] In the period 2009–2011 LWE violence resulted in more than 500 deaths and a similar number missing in Paschim Medinipur district.

According to the 2011 census Paschim Medinipur district has a population of 5,913,457,[10] roughly equal to the nation of Eritrea[11] or the US state of Missouri.

The prominent communities in this group, in terms of the district's total population, are Santal (9.05%), Bagdi/Duley (6.27%), Bhumij (1.65%), Lohar (1.33%), Namasudra (1.3%), Munda (1.13%), Jalia Kaibartta (1.02%), Lodha/Kharia (0.88%),[a] Dhoba (0.83%), Hari/Mehtar (0.81%), Bauri (0.76%), Mal (0.6%), Dom (0.56%), Chamar (0.53%), Bhuiya (0.53%), Kora (0.49%), Rajbanshi (0.43%), Pan/Sawasi (0.38%), Sunri (excluding Saha) (0.34%), Keot/Keyot (0.33%), Kandra (0.31%), Savar (0.31%), Rajwar (0.26%), Ho (0.25%), Mahar (0.24%), Kadar (0.23%), Baiga (0.22%), Mahali (0.21%), Khaira (0.2%), and Pod/Poundra (0.19%).