Sivaganga district is one of the 38 districts (an administrative district) in Tamil Nadu, the south Indian state. This district was formed on 15 March 1985 by trifurcation of Ramanathapuram district into Ramanathapuram, Virudhunagar and Sivaganga districts. The city of Sivaganga is the district headquarters, while Karaikudi is the most populous city in the district, administered by the Karaikudi Municipal Corporation. It is bounded by Pudukkottai district on the northeast, Tiruchirappalli district on the north, Ramanathapuram district on southeast, Virudhunagar district on southwest and Madurai district on the west. The area's other larger towns include Sivaganga, Kalayar Kovil, Devakottai, Manamadurai, Ilaiyangudi, Thiruppuvanam, Singampunari and Tiruppattur. As of 2011, the district had a population of 1,339,101 with a sex ratio of 1,003 females for every 1,000 males.

Sivaganga District has been carved out from composite Ramnad District (G.O. MS. No. 1122 Rev. Dept. Dated 6 July 1984) and the district was functioning from 15 March 1985 (G.O. Ms. No. 346 Rev. dept. Dated 8 March 1985). Since Sivaganga is the headquarters of Sivaganga Lok Shaba Constituency since 1967, so the plan was to create a new district with existing constituency areas as of 1984 which is the present day Sivaganga district and Sivaganga was made as the District Headquarters of the newly formed district.

According to the 2011 census, Sivaganga district had a population of 1,339,101 with a sex-ratio of 1,003 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929. 30.83% of the population lived in urban areas. A total of 137,235 were under the age of six, constituting 70,022 males and 67,213 females. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes accounted for 17.01% and .06% of the population, respectively. In addition, the average literacy of the district was 71.67%, compared to the national average of 72.99%, while the district had a total of 338,938 households. On the other hand, there is a total of 620,171 workers, comprising 117,030 cultivators, 122,166 main agricultural labourers, 9,864 in house hold industries, 212,042 other workers, 159,069 marginal workers, 23,973 marginal cultivators, 77,397 marginal agricultural labourers, 4,792 marginal workers in household industries and 52,907 other marginal workers. Tamil is the predominant language, spoken by 99.14% of the population.

Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu spreads over 4,189 km² (1,617 sq mi). The geographical position of Sivaganga district is between 9° 43' and 10° 2' north latitude and between 77° 47' and 78° 49' east longitude. It is bounded on the north and northeast by Pudukkottai District, on the southeast and south by Ramanathapuram District, on the southwest by Virudhunagar District, and on the west by Madurai District, and on the northwest by Tiruchirappalli District. Piranmalai is the only hill area located in sivagangai district. Major river which passes through the Sivagangai district is Vaigai River.

Sivaganga district has 9 taluks in 2 revenue divisions.

The district has 12 revenue blocks namely Sivagangai, Kalayarkoil, Ilayangudi, Manamadurai, Tiruppuvanam, S. Pudur, Singampuneri, Tiruppattur, Sakkottai (Karaikudi), Kannankudi, Devakottai & Kallal.

In 2006, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Sivaganga as one of the country's 250 most backward districts out of a total of 640. Consequently, it is one of the six districts in Tamil Nadu currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).

The first bank in the district was the Bank of India in Periyakottai opened in 1985.^{[citation needed]}