The district covers a total area of 70,700 hectares.
According to 2003 data, the district's population was 13,500 people.
Spassky District is multiethnic. Eleven religious organizations of the following denominations are registered in the district:
- Orthodox Christianity – 7 organizations;
- Islam – 3 organizations;
- Molokans – 1 organization.
The district contains 44 populated localities, united under 11 rural administrations. The district center — the selo of Spasskoye — is located 40 kilometers from the railway station of the city of Sergach.
The district's climatic conditions are practically no different from those of the right bank of the Volga. The average annual air temperature is 3.5°C. Precipitation amounts to 550–600 millimeters. Evaporation occasionally exceeds the amount of precipitation.
The natural environmental conditions and the relative remoteness from industrial centers allow Spassky District to be classified as ecologically clean.
History of Spassky District
The earliest inhabitants of Spassky District were the Mari.
The administrative center of Spassky District — the selo of Spasskoye — is one of the oldest settlements in the Nizhny Novgorod Region (founded in 1399). However, due to frequent raids by Mongol-Tatar and Kazan forces, the eastern outskirts fell into neglect. Only in the mid-1640s did Spasskoye become a fairly large craft village. Trade and cottage industries developed rapidly in the Spassky volost: the selo of Tubanayevka became a center of leather production; the selo of Monastyrsky Vatras was home to dozens of sheepskin workshops; the selo of Elkhovka was renowned for its pottery; and the selo of Turbanka, from 1912 onward, was home to one of the largest flax-spinning factories in the governorate.
Some ten branches of manufacturing industry were present in the district center, the selo of Spasskoye. The main goods traded in Spasskoye were raw hides, down, feathers, horsehair, bristle, and products made by local craftsmen. But Spasskoye became best known for the development of trade. Markets were held here, and from 1831 onward summer and autumn fairs took place. The fair grew into the largest center of rural trade in the Nizhny Novgorod Volga Region.
Spasskoye became a district center in 1929. In 1963 the district was abolished, but was reinstated in 1965.