Two-phase census to begin April 2026; population enumeration set for Feb 2027

The national census will be carried out in two phases between April 2026 and February 2027, the government told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

Responding to a question from Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said the exercise will begin with house listing and the housing census, followed by population enumeration.

Rai said Phase I — House Listing and Housing Census — will be conducted over a period of 30 days between April and September 2026, depending on the convenience of state and Union territory administrations.

“Population Enumeration will be done in February 2027 with reference date 00:00 hours of 1st March, 2027 except for the Union territory of Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the States of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, where it will be done in September, 2026 with reference date 00.00 hours of 1st October, 2026,” he said.

Rai said the census questionnaire is finalised after inputs from ministries, departments, organisations and census data users, and that learnings from previous exercises — undertaken over 150 years — are incorporated each time.

Responding to a separate question, he said caste enumeration will also be carried out in the upcoming census, as approved by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs on April 30 this year.

In another reply, the minister said Census 2027 will be conducted through digital means, using mobile apps and online self-enumeration options.