The territory covered by the present district of Gonda formed part of the ancient Kosala Kingdom. After the going of lord Rama, the celebrated sovereign of the Solar line who ruled Kosala, the kingdom was divided into two portions defined by the Ghaghara river. The northern portion was then ruled by his son, Lava with the city of Sravasti as his capital. More recently, ancient Buddhist remains dating to the early days of Buddhism have been found throughout the region, including at Sravasti. Gonda played a significant part in the Indian struggle for independence, with many people from the region actively involved: including Maharaja Aksh Valmikan, who escaped to Nepal, freedom fighters like Sh. Chandra Shekhar Azad took shelter in the district, and Rajendra Lahiri was incarcerated and hanged in the Gonda Jail. India's 5th president Hon'ble Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was also educated at the Government High School in Gonda district. In more recent times, the district received media attention throughout India due to the protracted court case surrounding the murder of 13 people known as the 1982 Gonda Encounter.
According to the 2011 census Gonda district has a population of 3,433,919, roughly equal to the nation of Panama or the US state of Connecticut. This gives it a ranking of 95th in India. The district has a population density of. Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 24.17%, higher than the average of Uttar Pradesh. Gonda has a sex ratio of 921 females for every 1000 males, and a sex ratio among children 0–6 years old of 926, both higher than the state average. The human development index of the Gonda district is very low.
Languages
The official language of the district is Hindi and additional official language is Urdu. At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 97.22% of the population in the district spoke Hindi and 2.68% Urdu as their first language. Languages spoken in the district include Awadhi, a tongue of the Hindi continuum spoken by over 38 million people, mainly in the Awadh region; and Hindi.
Education
The effective literacy rate is 58.71%, the state average. The government of India has created a special scheme for underdeveloped districts through the "Backward Region Grant Fund". Gonda is one of the recipients of this fund.
Public Health
Gonda has 15 hospitals, 27 Ayurvedic hospitals, 11 Homeopathic hospitals and 2 Unani hospitals, in addition to 66 Government Primary Health Centres. Gonda is one of the districts in the list of top 100 districts in order of Infant Mortality Rate in 2011 census data. It also comes in the top 57 districts with the highest maternal mortality rate Gonda has also been listed as the dirtiest city in India according to the Swachh Sarvekshan 2017.
