Kailali District (Nepali: कैलाली जिल्लाListen), a part of Sudurpashchim Province in Terai plain, is one of the 77 districts of Nepal. The district, with Dhangadhi as its district headquarters, covers an area of 3,235 square kilometres (1,249 sq mi) and has a population of 911,155 (2021 census) and (775,709 in 2011 census), (616,697 in 2001 census).

Before the reunification of Nepal by Gorkha King Prithivi Narayan Shah, this district was part of the Doti Kingdom. Nepal lost it to the East India Company after the Anglo-Nepalese war (1814-1816) between the then Kingdom of Nepal and the East India Company followed by territorial concessions under the Sugauli Treaty. Later on after the treaty of 1860, Nepal recovered this land along with Kanchanpur, Banke and Bardiya.

Climate zone	Elevation range	% of area
Lower Tropical	below 300 meters (1,000 ft)	59.3%
Upper Tropical	300 to 1,000 meters 1,000 to 3,300 ft.	25.9%
Subtropical	1,000 to 2,000 meters 3,300 to 6,600 ft.	13.8%

Historical population

Census year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1981	257,905	—
1991	417,891	+4.94%
2001	616,697	+3.97%
2011	775,709	+2.32%
2021	911,155	+1.62%
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Source: Citypopulation

At the time of the 2011 Nepal census, Kailali District had a population of 775,709.

As their first language, 41.5% spoke Tharu, 27.3% Nepali, 18.7% Doteli, 6.3% Achhami, 1.4% Magar, 0.9% Maithili, 0.8% Hindi, 0.5% Bajureli, 0.4% Bajhangi, 0.3% Baitadeli, 0.3% Dailekhi, 0.2% Kham, 0.2% Raji, 0.2% Tamang, 0.2% Urdu, 0.1% Bhojpuri, 0.1% Darchuleli, 0.1% Gurung, 0.1% Jumli, 0.1% Newar and 0.1% other languages as their first language.

Ethnicity/caste: 41.9% were Tharu, 20.8% Chhetri, 12.4% Hill Brahmin, 8.4% Kami, 3.9% Thakuri, 3.8% Magar, 2.2% Damai/Dholi, 1.1% other Dalit, 0.9% Sarki, 0.6% Musalman, 0.5% Lohar, 0.5% Sanyasi/Dasnami, 0.4% Badi, 0.4% Newar, 0.3% Raji, 0.3% Tamang, 0.2% Gurung, 0.2% other Terai, 0.1% Terai Brahmin, 0.1% Halwai, 0.1% Kathabaniyan, 0.1% Rai, 0.1% Yadav and 0.1% others.

Religion: 94.9% were Hindu, 2.0% Buddhist, 1.9% Christian, 0.6% Muslim, 0.2% Prakriti and 0.3% others.

Literacy: 65.9% could read and write, 2.7% could only read and 31.4% could neither read nor write.

The district consists of 13 Local Levels, of which one is a sub-metropolitan city, six are urban municipalities and six are rural municipalities. These are as follows:

• Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City
• Lamki Chuha Municipality
• Tikapur Municipality
• Ghodaghodi Municipality
• Bhajani Municipality
• Godawari Municipality
• Gauriganga Municipality
• Janaki Rural Municipality
• Bardagoriya Rural Municipality
• Mohanyal Rural Municipality
• Kailari Rural Municipality
• Joshipur Rural Municipality
• Chure Rural Municipality

• Sainik Awasiya Mahavidyalaya Teghari Kailali
• Sudurpashchim Province

• "Districts of Nepal". Statoids.