boats were damaged by the inundation. The immediate aftermath created a lull in tourism. Geography The district shares borders with Tiruvarur district of Tamil Nadu and Karaikal district of the union territory Puducherry. The district of Nagapattinam lies on the shores of the Bay of Bengal between latitude 10.7906°N and Longitude 79.8428°E an area of . The District capital, Nagapattinam lies on the eastern coast, 350 kilometers down south of the State capital Chennai and of Tiruchirappalli. It has an average elevation of above the mean sea level. The district has a coastline of . Economy In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Nagapattinam one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640). It is one of the six districts in Tamil Nadu currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF). Demographics According to the 2011 census, Nagapattinam district had a population of 698,094 with a sex-ratio of 1,025 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929. 26.94% of the population lived in urban areas. A total of 165,245 were under the age of six, constituting 84,335 males and 80,910 females. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes accounted for 30.51% and 0.23% of the population respectively. The average literacy of the district was 75.04%, compared to the national average of 72.99%. The district had a total of 413,837 households. There were a total of 671,994 workers, comprising 54,329 cultivators, 216,353 main agricultural labourers, 7,925 in household industries, 207,721 other workers, 185,666 marginal workers, 13,153 marginal cultivators, 128,704 marginal agricultural labourers, 3,630 marginal workers in household industries and 40,179 other marginal workers. The birth rate on a scale of one thousand in rural areas of the district is 19.9, urban is 17.8 and the combined birth rate is 18.85. The death rate on a scale of one thousand in rural areas of the district is 8.2, urban is 6.7 and the combined rate is 7.45. Tamil is the predominant language, spoken by 99.56% of the population. Politics |} Education There are a total of 891 elementary schools, 185 middle schools, 83 high schools and 79 higher secondary schools in the district. Administration The Collector is the administrative head of each district and is the principle representative of the government for the district. The Collector's main responsibilities include revenue administration, Executive Magistracy, maintaining law and order, licensing and regulatory functions,