New Delhi: The Government of India will conduct the next nationwide population census in 2027, and for the first time, caste enumeration will be included as part of the exercise, according to an official announcement released on Wednesday.
As per the notification, the census exercise will be conducted in two phases, and the reference date for the count will be March 1, 2027.
However, for snow-bound and non-synchronous areas, including Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, the census will be conducted earlier, with a reference date set for October 1, 2026.
The official intent to carry out the 2027 Census with caste enumeration is expected to be published in the Gazette of India on June 16, 2025.
This marks the first time that the enumeration of castes will be part of the national census process, which is conducted every ten years under the Census Act, 1948 and the Census Rules, 1990. The move comes after years of demand from several political parties and states for a formal caste census to aid in policy planning and welfare distribution.
The last population census was conducted in 2011, with house listing done in 2010 and final enumeration in early 2011. The last census in 2011 recorded a population of over 121 crores in India, reflecting a growth rate of 17.7 per cent.
The 2021 Census was fully prepared to launch, but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Preparations for the first phase of the 2021 exercise — including training and fieldwork logistics — had been completed, and data collection was scheduled to begin in April 2020, before the country went into lockdown.
Now, with this new announcement, India will take up the massive population and caste enumeration task in 2027, restarting a process that has been on hold for over a decade.
Once the 2027 Census is completed, a delimitation exercise — redrawing Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies — may also follow, based on the fresh population data.
In simple terms, delimitation is the process of updating the number and boundaries of parliamentary and assembly constituencies based on the latest population data. This is done to ensure that each MP or MLA represents roughly the same number of people, and that growing populations are fairly represented.