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Label Element Value
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Document Type dei_DocumentType 485BPOS
Document Period End Date dei_DocumentPeriodEndDate May 23, 2012
Registrant Name dei_EntityRegistrantName LAZARD FUNDS INC
Central Index Key dei_EntityCentralIndexKey 0000874964
Amendment Flag dei_AmendmentFlag false
Document Creation Date dei_DocumentCreationDate May 23, 2012
Document Effective Date dei_DocumentEffectiveDate May 31, 2012
Prospectus Date rr_ProspectusDate May 31, 2012
Lazard Multi-Asset Targeted Volatility Portfolio
  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Risk/Return [Heading] rr_RiskReturnHeading RISK/RETURN
Objective [Heading] rr_ObjectiveHeading Investment Objective
Objective, Primary [Text Block] rr_ObjectivePrimaryTextBlock

The Portfolio seeks total return.

Expense [Heading] rr_ExpenseHeading Fees and Expenses
Expense Narrative [Text Block] rr_ExpenseNarrativeTextBlock

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Portfolio, a series of The Lazard Funds, Inc. (the “Fund”).

Shareholder Fees Caption [Text] rr_ShareholderFeesCaption Shareholder Transaction Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
Operating Expenses Caption [Text] rr_OperatingExpensesCaption Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Fee Waiver or Reimbursement over Assets, Date of Termination rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssetsDateOfTermination 2013-05-31
Portfolio Turnover [Heading] rr_PortfolioTurnoverHeading Portfolio Turnover
Portfolio Turnover [Text Block] rr_PortfolioTurnoverTextBlock

The Portfolio pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Portfolio shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual portfolio operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio’s performance.

Other Expenses, New Fund, Based on Estimates [Text] rr_OtherExpensesNewFundBasedOnEstimates "Other Expenses" are based on estimated amounts for the current fiscal year.
Expense Example [Heading] rr_ExpenseExampleHeading Example
Expense Example Narrative [Text Block] rr_ExpenseExampleNarrativeTextBlock

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.


The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same, giving effect to the fee waiver in year one only. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Strategy [Heading] rr_StrategyHeading Principal Investment Strategies
Strategy Narrative [Text Block] rr_StrategyNarrativeTextBlock

The Investment Manager allocates the Portfolio’s assets among various U.S. and non-U.S. equity and fixed-income strategies managed by the Investment Manager in proportions consistent with the Investment Manager’s evaluation of various economic and other factors designed to estimate probabilities, including volatility. The Investment Manager will make allocation decisions among the strategies based on quantitative and qualitative analysis using a number of different tools, including proprietary software models and input from the Investment Manager’s research analysts.


A principal component of the Investment Manager’s investment process for the Portfolio is volatility management. The Investment Manager generally will seek to achieve, over a full market cycle, a level of volatility in the Portfolio’s performance of approximately 10%. Volatility, a risk measurement, measures the magnitude of up and down fluctuations in the value of a financial instrument or index over time.


Initially the Investment Manager expects to allocate the Portfolio’s assets among the Investment Manager’s quantitative equity, U.S. equity concentrated and U.S. core fixed-income strategies. The quantitative equity strategy emphasizes the creation of a low volatility equity portfolio that is expected to meet or exceed index returns while realizing lower risk as measured by the standard deviation of total returns; the strategy generally invests in U.S. and non-U.S. equity securities of companies across all economic sectors without adherence to any market capitalization benchmark. The U.S. equity concentrated strategy consists of listed U.S. equity securities (typically 15 to 35), typically with market capitalizations over $350 million, which the Investment Manager believes are financially productive and which are selected through fundamental analysis and accounting validation. The U.S. core fixed-income strategy consists of fixed-income securities of listed U.S. companies selected by the Investment Manager utilizing bottom up and top down analysis.


The Portfolio may invest in equity securities of U.S. and non-U.S. companies, U.S. and non-U.S. debt securities, currencies and related instruments and structured notes.


The Portfolio also may invest in common stock of exchange-traded open-end management investment companies and similar products, which generally pursue a passive index-based strategy (commonly known as exchange-traded funds or “ETFs”).


The Portfolio may invest in securities of any size or market capitalization. The Portfolio is not limited to securities of any particular quality or investment grade and, as a result, the Portfolio may invest significantly in securities rated below investment grade (“junk bonds”) or securities that are unrated. Additionally, the Portfolio is not restricted to investments in debt securities of any particular maturity or duration.


The Portfolio may, but is not required to, enter into futures contracts, swap agreements and forward contracts, and may write put and covered call options on securities, indexes and currencies, for hedging purposes.

Risk [Heading] rr_RiskHeading Principal Investment Risks
Risk Narrative [Text Block] rr_RiskNarrativeTextBlock

The Portfolio’s ability to achieve its investment objective depends in part on the Investment Manager’s skill in determining the Portfolio’s allocation among investment strategies. The Investment Manager’s evaluations and assumptions underlying its allocation decisions may differ from actual market conditions. While the Investment Manager generally will seek to achieve, over a full market cycle, the level of volatility in the Portfolio’s performance as described above, there can be no guarantee that this will be achieved; actual or realized volatility for any particular period may be materially higher or lower depending on market conditions. In addition, the Investment Manager’s efforts to manage the Portfolio’s volatility can be expected, in a period of generally positive equity market returns, to reduce the Portfolio’s performance below what could be achieved without seeking to manage volatility and, thus, the Portfolio would generally be expected to underperform market indices that do not seek to achieve a specified level of volatility. The value of your investment in the Portfolio will fluctuate, which means you could lose money.


While stocks have historically been a leading choice of long-term investors, they do fluctuate in price, often based on factors unrelated to the issuer’s value, such as investor perception.


Non-U.S. securities carry special risks, such as exposure to less developed or less efficient trading markets, political instability, a lack of company information, differing auditing and legal standards, and, potentially, less liquidity. In addition, investments denominated in currencies other than U.S. dollars carry the risk that such currencies will decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar and affect the value of these investments held in the Portfolio.


While fixed-income securities are designed to produce a stable stream of income, their prices move inversely with changes in interest rates. Interest rate risk is usually greater for fixed-income securities with longer maturities or durations. The Portfolio’s investments in lower-rated, higher-yielding securities are subject to greater credit risk than its higher rated investments. Credit risk is the risk that the issuer will not make interest or principal payments, or will not make payments on a timely basis. Non-investment grade securities tend to be more volatile, less liquid and are considered speculative. If there is a decline, or perceived decline, in the credit quality of a debt security (or any guarantor of payment on such security), the security’s value could fall, potentially lowering the Portfolio’s share price.


Some debt securities may give the issuer the option to call, or redeem, the securities before their maturity, and, during a time of declining interest rates, the Portfolio may have to reinvest the proceeds in an investment offering a lower yield (and the Portfolio may not benefit from any increase in the value of its portfolio holdings as a result of declining interest rates).


Shares of ETFs in which the Portfolio invests may trade at prices that vary from their net asset values (“NAV”), sometimes significantly. The shares of ETFs may trade at prices at, below or above their most recent NAV.


Small and mid cap companies carry additional risks because their earnings tend to be less predictable, their share prices more volatile and their securities less liquid than larger, more established companies. The shares of small and mid cap companies tend to trade less frequently than those of larger companies, which can have an adverse effect on the pricing of these securities and on the ability to sell these securities when the Investment Manager deems it appropriate.


Structured notes are privately negotiated debt instruments where the principal and/or interest is determined by reference to a specified asset, market or rate, or the differential performance of two assets or markets. Structured notes can have risks of both debt securities and derivative transactions.


Derivatives transactions, including those entered into for hedging purposes such as those in which the Portfolio may engage, may reduce returns or increase volatility, perhaps substantially. Swap agreements, forward currency contracts, over-the-counter options on currencies and structured notes are subject to the risk of default by the counterparty and can be illiquid. These derivatives transactions, as well as exchange-traded options and futures contracts, are subject to many of the risks of, and can be highly sensitive to changes in the value of, the related security, index or currency. As such, a small investment could have a potentially large impact on the Portfolio’s performance. Whether or not the Portfolio engages in currency derivatives transactions, the Portfolio may experience a decline in the value of its portfolio securities, in U.S. dollar terms, due solely to fluctuations in currency exchange rates.

Risk Lose Money [Text] rr_RiskLoseMoney The value of your investment in the Portfolio will fluctuate, which means you could lose money.
Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading] rr_BarChartAndPerformanceTableHeading Performance Bar Chart and Table
Performance Narrative [Text Block] rr_PerformanceNarrativeTextBlock

Because the Portfolio has not commenced investment operations prior to the date of this Prospectus, no performance returns are presented. Annual performance returns provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Portfolio by showing changes in performance from year to year. Comparison of Portfolio performance to an appropriate index indicates how the Portfolio’s average annual returns compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. After the Portfolio commences investment operations, performance information will be available at www.LazardNet.com or by calling (800) 823-6300. The Portfolio’s past performance is not necessarily an indication of how the Portfolio will perform in the future.

Performance Information Illustrates Variability of Returns [Text] rr_PerformanceInformationIllustratesVariabilityOfReturns Annual performance returns provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Portfolio by showing changes in performance from year to year.
Performance One Year or Less [Text] rr_PerformanceOneYearOrLess Because the Portfolio has not commenced investment operations prior to the date of this Prospectus, no performance returns are presented.
Performance Availability Phone [Text] rr_PerformanceAvailabilityPhone (800) 823-6300
Performance Availability Website Address [Text] rr_PerformanceAvailabilityWebSiteAddress www.LazardNet.com
Performance Past Does Not Indicate Future [Text] rr_PerformancePastDoesNotIndicateFuture The Portfolio's past performance is not necessarily an indication of how the Portfolio will perform in the future.
Lazard Multi-Asset Targeted Volatility Portfolio | Institutional Shares
  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Redemption Fee (as a percentage of Amount Redeemed) rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption (1.00%)
Management Fees rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets 0.85%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets none
Other Expenses rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets 0.30% [1]
Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses rr_ExpensesOverAssets 1.15%
Fee Waiver or Reimbursement rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets (0.25%) [2]
Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement rr_NetExpensesOverAssets 0.90% [2]
Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year rr_ExpenseExampleYear01 92
Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years rr_ExpenseExampleYear03 341
Lazard Multi-Asset Targeted Volatility Portfolio | Open Shares
  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Redemption Fee (as a percentage of Amount Redeemed) rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption (1.00%)
Management Fees rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets 0.85%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets 0.25%
Other Expenses rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets 0.35% [1]
Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses rr_ExpensesOverAssets 1.45%
Fee Waiver or Reimbursement rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets (0.25%) [2]
Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement rr_NetExpensesOverAssets 1.20% [2]
Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year rr_ExpenseExampleYear01 122
Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years rr_ExpenseExampleYear03 434
[1] "Other Expenses" are based on estimated amounts for the current fiscal year.
[2] Reflects a contractual agreement by Lazard Asset Management LLC (the "Investment Manager") to waive its fee and, if necessary, reimburse the Portfolio through May 31, 2013, to the extent Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses exceed .90% and 1.20% of the average daily net assets of the Portfolio's Institutional Shares and Open Shares, respectively, exclusive of taxes, brokerage, interest on borrowings, fees and expenses of "Acquired Funds" and extraordinary expenses, and excluding shareholder redemption fees or other transaction fees. This agreement can only be amended by agreement of the Fund, upon approval by the Fund's Board of Directors (the "Board"), and the Investment Manager to lower the net amount shown and will terminate automatically in the event of termination of the investment management agreement between the Investment Manager and the Fund, on behalf of the Portfolio.