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Census 2027: when India counts itself again

India has not completed a census since 2011. The round due in 2021 was suspended when the pandemic began and then deferred year after year, leaving every village level figure on this site, and in most government planning, more than a decade old. That is now changing. The sixteenth census is under way: house listing began on 1 April 2026, and the population count itself falls in February 2027.

The short version

  • Phase 1, House Listing: 1 April to 30 September 2026
  • Phase 2, Population Enumeration: February 2027
  • Reference moment: 00:00 hours, 1 March 2027
  • Snow bound areas: reference date 1 October 2026, enumerated September 2026
  • Caste enumerated for the first time since 1931
  • India's first digital census, with an optional self enumeration facility
  • Provisional results expected late 2027, final report late 2028

Where the census has reached

Phase 1, the House Listing and Housing Census, opened on 1 April 2026 and runs through to 30 September 2026 across all states and union territories. It records buildings, households and the amenities each has. Phase 2, Population Enumeration, follows in February 2027 and is the phase that produces the population counts this site is built on. The gazette notification setting the exercise in motion was issued in June 2025 under section 3 of the Census Act 1948.

The two reference dates

A census needs a single moment that everyone is counted against, so that people who move or die during the field work are not double counted or missed. For Census 2027 that moment is 00:00 hours on 1 March 2027. There is a second, earlier reference date of 00:00 hours on 1 October 2026 covering the union territory of Ladakh and the snow bound non synchronous areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Those areas were enumerated in September 2026, because by late winter many of them cannot be reached at all.

Why the gap since 2011 is so long

India had counted its population every ten years without interruption since 1881, through two world wars and Partition. The 2021 round broke that run. Field work was set to begin in April 2020 and was suspended as the pandemic took hold, then deferred year after year. The practical consequence is that the country has been planning welfare schemes, drawing constituencies and allocating grain on figures more than a decade old.

What is being counted that was not counted before

The most significant change is the enumeration of caste. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have been counted at every census since 1951, but a full caste count last formed part of the decennial census in 1931. This round records a person's specific jati rather than only the broad category. The other change is method: this is the first Indian census collected digitally, with enumerators working from a mobile application and households offered an optional self enumeration facility online.

What it means for village level data

Village level tables are always the last to appear. Provisional results are expected around late 2027 and the final report by late 2028, with the village directory that a site like this depends on arriving later still. Until that stage, the 2011 round remains the only complete village by village picture of rural India.

Boundaries have moved since 2011

Comparing the two rounds will not be straightforward. Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh in 2014. Ladakh was separated from Jammu and Kashmir in 2019, and Jammu and Kashmir became a union territory. Dadra and Nagar Haveli was merged with Daman and Diu in 2020. Many states have split districts, some more than once. For a good number of areas the new figures will describe a different piece of ground than the 2011 figures carrying the same name.

In the meantime

Until village level tables from the new round are published, the 2011 census remains the only complete village by village record of rural India. You can browse it from the list of states, or read how we handle and source those figures on the about the data page. Terms that come up in census tables are explained in the glossary.

Questions about the next census

It is already under way. Phase 1, the House Listing and Housing Census, began on 1 April 2026 and runs to 30 September 2026. Phase 2, Population Enumeration, follows in February 2027. The reference moment for the count is 00:00 hours on 1 March 2027.

00:00 hours on 1 March 2027 for most of the country. For the union territory of Ladakh, and the snow bound non synchronous areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the reference date is 00:00 hours on 1 October 2026, because those areas have to be enumerated before winter closes the passes.

Phase 1 records buildings, households and their amenities. Phase 2 is the population count itself, which produces the figures this site is built on. Snow bound areas were enumerated in September 2026, ahead of the rest of the country.

Field work was due to begin in April 2020 and was suspended when the COVID-19 pandemic began. It was then postponed repeatedly, which left the 2011 round as the most recent completed census and produced the longest gap between two Indian censuses since the series began.

Yes. This is the sixteenth census and the first to enumerate caste since 1931. It records a person's specific jati rather than only the broad Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe categories that every census since 1951 has captured.

Enumerators collect answers on a mobile application rather than paper schedules, and for the first time households were offered an optional self enumeration facility through a web portal. A paper option remains available.

Provisional results are expected around late 2027, with the final report anticipated by late 2028. Village level tables normally follow the headline figures rather than arriving with them.

Yes. Every page here is built from published census tables, so once village level data from the new round is released we will add it alongside the 2011 figures rather than replacing them, so the two can be compared.

Both names circulate because the operation spans two years. House listing ran through 2026 and population enumeration falls in 2027, and the reference date is in 2027, so the official name is Census 2027.

Administrative boundaries have moved a great deal. Telangana was formed in 2014, Ladakh was separated from Jammu and Kashmir in 2019, several union territories were merged, and states have created many new districts. Totals will therefore not line up cleanly with 2011 for a number of areas.

Note on dates: these dates follow the gazette notification and the Registrar General's published schedule. Census timelines have moved before, and the official notification is always the authority. Check censusindia.gov.in for the current position.

Page last reviewed: August 2026