- "Known for its bountiful orchards, District 11's workers spend their days among rustling fruit trees and sizeable farms."
- —Description from The Hunger Games: Tribute Guide[src]
District 11 is one of the poorer of the thirteen districts of Panem. Their industry is agriculture; orchards, fields of wheat, and cotton surround the district. Almost everything they grow goes to the Capitol, despite their starvation; if any citizen of District 11 is caught eating any of the crops, they are to be whipped in public. Its inhabitants are described as having dark brown skin as described in the physical traits of Rue, Thresh, Seeder and Chaff.
Jobs
The following jobs are offered in District 11:
- Sorter
- Irrigator
- Farmhand
- Harvester
- Gardener
Government and Security
- "Hearing this, District 12 feels like some kind of safe haven. Of course, people keel over from starvation all the time, but I can't imagine the peacekeepers murdering a simple-minded child."
- —Katniss[src]
The Capitol's control over District 11 is total, due to the importance of food production, and its regional government is known for being harsh and cruel. For example, in Catching Fire, when Peeta and Katniss visited District 11 in their Victory Tour, they witnessed an old man being executed by Peacekeepers for whistling Rue's four note tune.
District 11 citizens saluting Katniss Everdeen after the death of Rue.
Two more gunshots were heard afterwards, suggesting that the Peacekeeper's then turned on the crowd. The fence surrounding the district is thirty feet high and topped with razor wire, with metal ground plates to prevent anyone digging beneath and guard towers evenly spaced along it. It is always turned on so the citizens cannot escape, unlike District 12, where their
The walls of district 11.
fences almost never turned on.
The unidentified man about to be shot and killed.
Rue mentioned that a boy named Martin was once killed for trying to keep a pair of night vision goggles in order to play with them, even though he was harmless and "wasn't right in the head". If any worker stole crops, they were publicly whipped, a common occurrence that the Mayor was described as strict on. In general, the Capitol tried to keep a tighter grip on District 11 because of it being the main food supplier, and as such was vital to the Capitol's existence.
Location
According to Suzanne Collins, District 11 is near Atlanta. It appears to be south of District 12, because its weather was comfortably warm while snow was falling in 12. This warm weather would lengthen District 11's growing season and provide an ideal climate for growing food.
Relation to The Games
Katniss saluting District 11.
District 11 tributes are usually underfed and unprepared for the games, and generally place low. However, some have occupational skills that are useful in the arena, such as Rue, who could leap between trees. Others, like Thresh, are extremely large and muscular and have a large amount of strength because of physical labor. Another likely ability, which both Rue and Thresh has, is the ability to recognize edible plants that others wouldn't. Rue also had the knowledge of identifying and using medicinal plants.
During the 74th Games (in the film), after Rue's death was shown, a riot was started in District 11.
Known Tributes
District 11 Tributes, 74th Hunger Games
- Chaff - Died on Day 2 in the 75th Hunger Games, Victor of the 45th Hunger Games. He placed 8th out of 24th.
- Seeder - Died during Day 1 in the 75th Hunger Games, but won an unspecified Hunger Games. Her placing is unknown.
- Rue - Placed 7th in the 74th Hunger Games. Killed by Marvel.
- Thresh - Placed 5th (book), 4th (film) in the 74th Hunger Games.
Way of Life
District 11 specializes in agriculture, growing wheat and managing orchards. The signature bread from this district is a dark, crescent-shaped roll dotted with seeds. There are many tracker jacker nests in District 11, causing workers to keep medical leaves on hand. In the orchards small children are sent to high branches to pick the highest fruits. They have long hours: from sunrise to sunset, the people work the fields to send food off to the Capitol.
During the harvest they often work until well after dark, using torchlight and night vision goggles. District 11 is many times larger than District 12. The citizens of District 11 live in small shacks. The people of this district are described as having "dark hair and dark skin". Due to this, they may be of African American, Latin American, Native American, or South Asian decent. However, due to the location of District 11 being confirmed by Suzanne Collins as "the Deep South" it is likely that they are mostly African American, or of Latin American decent.
Trivia
- District 11 is possibly the biggest district which is not a surprise because they would need a big space for farm/garden, also it is shown they travel through a lot on the train to the square.
- All known tributes from District 11 are of African-American decent.
- In the 74th Hunger Games, District 11 has both the tallest tribute (Thresh), and both smallest and youngest tribute (Rue).
- After being the 2nd - 4th districts (eventually the 2nd) to pry from the Capitol's rule, communications went out in Districts 3, 7, and 12 to rebel. Afterwards, District 11 sends food to rebelling districts in hopes of winning the war.
- According to the Capitol.PN, District 11 has a cultivated acreage of 12 with a population of 138,546, making it the fourth largest district, in terms of population.
- According to the Capitol.PN, District 11 claims 822,568 in tesserae, making it the second most impoverished district.
- It is considered a very poor district.
- As shown in Mockingjay Part 1, District 11's citizens are dressed in physical attire resembling that of the Antebellum South.