Census 2027: The world’s largest population census will be conducted in two phases starting April 1, 2026, with the exercise going digital for the first time, India’s Registrar General and Census Commissioner Mritunjay Kumar Narayan announced on Monday.
The upcoming census will also offer a self-count option. According to the schedule, the census itself will take place from April 1 to April 15, followed by the house inventory phase and the census of houses and apartments from April 16 to May 15 this year.
The decennial census, originally planned for 2021, was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The census schedule was planned in phases across states and union territories, with separate timelines for the census itself and the census of houses and flats.
Houslisting, Housing Census, and self-enumeration for States/UTs
The first phase will take place in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands; parts of Delhi (New Delhi Municipal Council and Delhi Municipal Council); Goa; Karnataka; Lakshadweep; Mizoram; Odisha; and Sikkim. In these regions, the actual census will take place from April 1 to April 15, followed by the census of houses and apartments from April 16 to May 15.
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In Gujarat, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, self-enumeration is scheduled from April 5 to April 19, with the houselisting phase from April 20 to May 19. Uttarakhand will follow from April 10 to April 24 for home list and from April 25 to May 24 for home list.
States like Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh and Haryana will conduct self-enumeration from April 16 to April 30 and house list from May 1 to May 30. Bihar schedule runs from April 17 to May 1 for own enumeration from April 17 to May 1, while the process of Tel. April 26 to May 10 and May 11 to June 9.
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In Punjab, a self-enumeration will be held from April 30 to May 14, followed by house listing from May 15 to June 13. In Delhi (Municipal Corporation of Delhi), Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Rajasthan and Jharkhand, the enumeration itself is scheduled from May 1 to May 15, with the list of houses from May 14.
Uttar Pradesh will conduct its own enumeration from May 7 to May 21 and house list from May 22 to June 20. Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Puducherry will follow from May 17 to May 31 and June 1 to June 30, respectively.
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Himachal Pradesh will conduct self-enumeration from June 1 to June 15 and house list from June 16 to July 15. Kerala and Nagaland will follow from June 16 to June 30 and July 1 to July 30, while Tamil Nadu and Tripura are scheduled from July 17 to July 31 and August 1 to August 30.
In Assam, self-enumeration will take place from August 2 to August 16 and houselisting from August 17 to September 15. Manipur will follow from 17th August to 31st August and from 1st September to 30th September.
The schedule for West Bengal is yet to be announced. Officials noted that Gujarat’s dates may change, while Jharkhand’s dating phase announcement is still awaited.
Meanwhile, Narayan on Monday appealed to the citizens to provide accurate information to the census commissioners and ensure that the individual data remains confidential and is not used as evidence or for availing benefits under any scheme, according to PTI.
The Registrar General of India has announced a set of 33 questions to be asked during the first phase of the exercise, Household Census and Housing Census. This phase involves a systematic listing of all buildings, houses and households across the country to create a reliable framework for conducting a population census.
