Quarterly Financial Data (Unaudited) - Unaudited Quarterly Information (Detail) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Millions	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2019	Sep. 30, 2019	Jun. 30, 2019	Mar. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018	Sep. 30, 2018	Jun. 30, 2018	Mar. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017
Quarterly Financial Information Disclosure [Abstract]
Revenues	$ 460.3	$ 768.6	$ 1,061.1	$ 1,087.0	$ 151.7	$ 679.1	$ 893.6	$ 702.8	$ 3,377.0	$ 2,427.2	$ 3,676.2
Expenses	483.6	505.3	528.3	602.5	222.9	615.6	653.7	579.3	2,119.7	2,071.5	2,632.3
Other income (loss)	(17.0)	(1.9)	9.2	(14.2)	(7.5)	(2.9)	12.9	2.0	(23.9)	4.5	88.4
Income before provision for income taxes	(40.3)	261.4	542.0	470.3	(78.7)	60.6	252.8	125.5	1,233.4	360.2	1,132.3
Net income (loss)	(40.4)	252.0	526.5	446.3	(73.2)	43.2	241.2	117.7	1,184.4	328.9	1,007.4
Net income (loss) attributable to The Carlyle Group L.P. common unitholders	$ (8.3)	$ 68.4	$ 148.2	$ 137.0	$ (16.0)	$ 11.6	$ 63.5	$ 33.8	$ 380.9	$ 116.5	$ 244.1
Net income (loss) attributable to The Carlyle Group L.P. per common unit
Basic (in dollars per share)	$ (0.07)	$ 0.60	$ 1.34	$ 1.25	$ (0.15)	$ 0.11	$ 0.62	$ 0.34	$ 3.05	$ 0.89	$ 2.58
Diluted (in dollars per share)	(0.08)	0.55	1.23	1.18	(0.15)	0.10	0.56	0.30	$ 2.82	$ 0.82	$ 2.38
Distributions declared per common unit (in dollars per share)	$ 0.31	$ 0.43	$ 0.19	$ 0.43	$ 0.42	$ 0.22	$ 0.27	$ 0.33