The district is predominantly inhabited by tribals mainly Bhils, Bhil Meenas, Damor, Charpotas, Ninamas, etc. The district population is 15,01,589 (2001). The rural population is 13,94,226 (2001) and the urban population is 1,07,363 (2001). The main occupation of the people, specially of tribals, is agriculture. The tribals live in a small one-room houses, known as "tapra", which lie scattered all over the area.

The other major castes are Patels, Rajputs, Brahmans, Mahajans, and Muslims. The dialect spoken in the district is Wagri, a mixture of Gujrati and Mewari. Literacy percentage is 44.22 (2001) but women literacy, though doubled as per 2001 census, is only 27.86%. Increase in total literacy percentage has been by 18.22 because of the intensive literacy campaign in the district.