What is the significance of the 2027 Census, especially considering the gap of 15 years since the previous exercise?

India is finally moving ahead with Census 2027. We have been trying to govern a 2026–27 reality using 2011 data. The gap has already had real consequences for planning and welfare delivery in a rapidly changing country. During this period, India has seen massive internal migration, rapid urbanisation, declining fertility in several States, and challenges posed by an aging population, none of which are fully reflected in current policy frameworks.

This census exercise will be extremely critical as it will provide updated and much needed data that can guide planning in areas such as employment, urbanisation, health systems, and social protection. Census 2027 is historic as it includes caste enumeration for the first time since 1931 and for being conducted digitally for the first-time ever.

I hope that the census will move beyond basic population count to capturing structural shifts underway in society and the economy, reflecting India’s changing developmental priorities and the aspirations of the large young population, with women constituting nearly half of it.

While digital collection of data is expected to make the process faster and more accurate, there have been apprehensions about privacy and data protection.

Census 2027 will be conducted digitally for the first time, with mobile devices-based enumeration and real-time monitoring. Digitisation is a welcome and necessary shift as it can improve speed, accuracy, and transparency. The census will feature GPS tagging (geotagging) for all residential and non-residential buildings using mobile devices. Each structure will be assigned precise GPS coordinates, creating an accurate map of households and institutions. This will reduce duplication, improve coverage, and build a reliable spatial database to support urban planning, infrastructure development, and targeted welfare delivery.

Importantly, this is not a digital-only census. Self-enumeration is optional, in which case, enumerators will still visit households to verify and collect data. This is a critical safeguard. A digital-first approach cannot assume universal access or literacy, a gap that is acutely gendered in India. The self-enumeration process requires mobile access, OTP verification, and digital navigation. However, women’s mobile phone ownership and internet access continue to lag significantly behind men’s, and can exclude them and other vulnerable groups if they are not supported.

Digitisation also brings data privacy concerns, including risks of data breaches, cybersecurity threats, and the handling of sensitive information such as caste data. While the government has assured strong data security measures, building public trust will be key to ensuring full and accurate participation.

The success of this census will depend on maintaining a strong hybrid model—technology-enabled, but human-led—to ensure no one is left behind.

Poonam Muttreja said: “The census may highlight the continued pull [for migrants] of urban and peri-urban areas, alongside the pressures this places on housing, infrastructure, and service delivery.” Here, migrant workers from Calcutta load cement bags, in Chennai, on April 30, 2020. | Photo Credit: B. Velankanni Raj

So, on the ground, enumeration continues to be indispensable?

A self-enumeration option, wherein households can fill their data online before the enumerator’s visit, is being introduced for the first time. The exercise will be in two phases: house listing and housing census in 2026, and population enumeration in 2027. Over three million enumerators and officials will be involved, making it the world’s largest data collection exercise. Self-enumeration brings flexibility: people can fill the data at their convenience and generate a unique ID to be validated later.

But on the ground, enumerators remain indispensable for reaching the rural poor, the elderly, women without mobile phone access, the homeless, and linguistically diverse communities, ensuring no one is rendered invisible in the data that determines their access to welfare and rights.

But it shifts some responsibility to households. This raises concerns such as who fills the form in patriarchal households, or will women’s work and migration be accurately reported?

Without strong facilitation, self-enumeration may deepen existing data biases rather than correct them.

What are some of the demographic details the census must capture, given India’s developmental requirements?

A key priority is strong age-disaggregated data, especially because of India’s rapidly growing elderly population. It is important not only to know how many older persons there are, but also to understand their living arrangements, economic dependence, access to pensions and social security, health status, and their need for care and support services.

As longevity increases, the census should begin to distinguish between the “young old” and the “oldest old” since their needs differ significantly.

The census should also capture the dynamics of the care economy. This includes identifying unpaid caregiving within households, gendered distribution of care work, and availability or absence of formal care services. Such data would be critical as India navigates the dual challenge of a still-young workforce alongside a steadily ageing population.

In addition, better data on migration, both internal and seasonal, is essential, particularly to understand urbanisation patterns, labour mobility, and access to entitlements.

In essence, the census should be designed not just as a demographic snapshot but as a strategic tool by anticipating future needs, especially in preparing for an ageing society and the corresponding demands on health systems, caregiving, and social security.

A woman and her child sit outside their house that was damaged by strong winds and a dust storm in Agartala, Tripura, on March 31, 2026. “The census should enable a more nuanced understanding of who is being left behind, across geographies and socio-economic indicators,” said Poonam Muttreja.  | Photo Credit: PTI

What are your expectations on the issues of vulnerable and marginalised demographic groups such as women, Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), backward castes, and minorities?

The census presents a critical opportunity to move beyond basic enumeration to capturing the lived realities of these groups that can meaningfully inform public policy and planning.

First, there is a need for sharper disaggregation. Aggregate data often masks significant intra-group disparities—whether among women, SCs, STs, Other Backward Classes, or religious minorities. The census should enable a more nuanced understanding of who is being left behind, across geographies and socio-economic indicators.

Second, it is important to capture the intersectionality of disadvantage better. For instance, the experience of an ST woman in a rural area is very different from that of an urban, upper-caste woman. Linking demographic identity with indicators such as education, livelihoods, migration status, disability, and access to basic services can help reveal these layered vulnerabilities.

Third, the census should sharpen its lens on emerging and under-recognised forms of vulnerability. This includes issues, for example, of ageing populations, urban slum-dwellers, feminisation of the workforce in informal sectors, migration, and the care economy. These dimensions are increasingly central to development outcomes but remain under-captured in traditional data systems.

At the same time, given the sensitivities around identity, it is essential that the process is seen as transparent, methodologically sound, and aligned with a clear policy purpose.

Do you expect the census to reveal demographic shifts over the past 15 years such as on migration, decline in fertility, or growing number of the elderly?

Yes, the census is likely to reveal important shifts, but perhaps not uniformly dramatic ones. What we are more likely to see is the consolidation of trends that have been underway over the past 15 years, now becoming more visible and policy-relevant in scale.

First, the continued decline in fertility is expected to be a defining feature. Many States are already at or below replacement levels [the average number of births required to replace the current population]. This will reinforce the narrative of India moving towards population stabilisation, albeit with significant regional variation.

Second, the growth of the elderly population will become more pronounced. While India is still a relatively young country, its absolute number of older persons is increasing rapidly, and the census is likely to underscore the pace at which ageing is emerging as a structural reality. This will have far-reaching implications for health systems, social security, and the care economy.

Migration is another area where we may see clearer patterns rather than entirely new trends. The census might provide a more accurate picture of internal migration, which has historically been undercounted. It may also highlight the continued pull of urban and peri-urban areas, alongside the pressures this places on housing, infrastructure, and service delivery, and highlight the need for migrant-friendly policies in States with shrinking working force and an ageing population.

It is important to recognise that these changes will not be uniform across the country. India’s demographic transition is uneven, with some States ageing faster while others continue to have a younger population and higher fertility rates. This divergence will be a key feature of the data and will require more differentiated policy responses.

Overall, the significance of this census will lie less in identifying entirely new trends, and more in providing a clearer, updated baseline that reflects how far these transitions have progressed and how urgently policies and programmes need to adapt to them.

Enumerators and supervisors attending a training session for Census 2027, in Bengaluru, on April 16, 2026. | Photo Credit: Idrees Mohammed/AFP

Will the growing urbanisation and accompanying issues of housing, transport, water, and power, amongst others, be significant?

Census data shapes everything, from school planning and anganwadi coverage to vaccination targets, public distribution system allocations, welfare scheme benefits, and climate preparedness in cities.

Updated, age-disaggregated data, especially in the context of India’s rapidly growing elderly population, is essential to design age-aligned cities, including accessible housing, reliable water and sanitation within homes, and uninterrupted power supply for health and mobility needs. Similarly, identifying unpaid caregiving, its gendered distribution, and the availability of formal care services has direct implications for urban design, such as the need for neighbourhood-level care facilities, water access within homes to reduce care burdens, and energy reliability for caregiving and assistive devices.

Better data on migration is critical to understand urbanisation patterns and the pressure on city infrastructure as migrant populations often live in informal or peri-urban settlements with inadequate access to water, sanitation, and electricity.

In essence, the census should be designed not just as a demographic snapshot, but as a strategic tool for infrastructure planning. By capturing the differentiated needs of various population groups, across age, gender, mobility, and economic status, it can guide more equitable and efficient provisioning of services.

Previous census exercises are known to have had excellent accuracy standards. What could be the challenges that enumerators might face in ensuring accuracy?

India’s census has historically been highly credible by global standards, with net errors (undercount minus overcount) typically well below one per cent, compared to one to three per cent undercounts seen in many countries. That said, large and diverse countries like India always face challenges like migration, hard-to-reach populations, and informal urban settlements, and they need careful attention during a digital transition.

Without accurate, disaggregated data, policies assume ‘one India’ instead of many Indias. Also, regional, caste, and gender inequalities remain hidden.

Enumerator bias is also an important concern. Since enumerators are primarily drawn from government staff—such as school teachers and local officials—their own biases and perceptions may influence how questions are asked, interpreted, and recorded. This can lead to systematic errors, particularly with reference to sensitive topics such as caste, gender roles, and women’s economic activity, thereby affecting the accuracy and reliability of the census data.

Recall error at the respondent level is another concern. Individuals may not accurately report details such as age, date of birth, or duration of migration. This is particularly common in rural areas where formal documentation is limited. As a result, responses are often approximated, leading to issues such as age heaping and distortions in key demographic indicators.

“Linking demographic identity with indicators such as education, livelihoods, migration status, disability, and access to basic services can help reveal layered vulnerabilities,” said Poonam Muttreja. Here, a six-year-old in Mumbai who has been recognised as a child with severe acute malnourishment, on September 23, 2016. | Photo Credit: Prashant Nakwe

Does the census exercise conform with UN guidelines laid down in the Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses?

India’s census framework has historically been aligned with the principles of the United Nations Statistics Division, particularly in ensuring universal coverage, individual enumeration, and standardised concepts. However, earlier rounds had involved multiple UN agencies in providing training, material development, and technical support. In contrast, the proposed 2027 Census does not reflect such engagement.

In addition to the concern of exclusion due to digital gap, the 2027 Census does not appear to adopt the standards of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics for disability measurement. Taken together, these aspects make it difficult to assess alignment with established UN principles and limit comparability with international practices.

Further, the delay in the census has already weakened adherence to the principle of periodicity. The recommended interval is at least once every 10 years. In India, the last census was conducted in 2011. The 2021 round was postponed due to COVID-19 and is now scheduled for 2027. While the new census will update demographic data, the 16-year gap disrupts time-series continuity, limits comparability across periods, and constrains longitudinal analysis.

Concerns over women going unrecorded have also been expressed. How important is it to properly capture socio-economic data relating to women?

Entrenched social norms around gender roles continue to render women’s unpaid work, especially caregiving and domestic labour, largely invisible in official data. And a digital census may inadvertently reproduce pre-existing intra-household inequalities.

Census is critical to capture women’s economic and social realities. For example, data on female labour force participation, including informal work, and migration patterns of women are necessary. It must also account for the scale and distribution of care economy burdens, which remain largely invisible despite their centrality to households and the broader economy.

In health and family planning, the lack of disaggregated data continues to mask unmet needs, access gaps, and systemic service delivery failures. This has direct implications for maternal health outcomes, access to contraception, and the realisation of reproductive rights, ultimately shaping women’s overall well-being and development.

Even as Census 2027 is being rolled out, the government proposes delimitation of constituencies which may not be based on this census to implement 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies. Your views? [The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill was subsequently deafeated in the House as it failed to secure two-thirds majority]

Given the significant delay in both the census and delimitation exercises, there is understandable urgency to ensure that women’s reservation does not remain indefinitely deferred. At the same time, [the government’s] approach raises important considerations. Delimitation is inherently linked to questions of population representation and federal balance. This is particularly sensitive in the Indian context, where population growth has been uneven, and past commitments have sought to ensure that States which have made progress on population stabilisation are not disadvantaged.

From a governance perspective, it is important to distinguish between two objectives: expanding women’s representation, and redrawing constituencies to reflect current population realities. While both are important, they need not be made entirely contingent on each other.

Advancing women’s political participation is unquestionably important, not only from a representation standpoint, but also for strengthening democratic outcomes. However, doing so in a manner that is seen as equitable across regions, and as grounded in transparent reasoning, will be critical to building broad-based political consensus.

What is the significance of capturing caste data? What details must be included? What challenges do you foresee?

A carefully conducted caste enumeration can strengthen welfare delivery, enable better calibration of affirmative action, and support more evidence-based public debate.

But the value of such an exercise will depend critically on what is measured and how. Beyond enumeration, there is merit in also linking caste data with key socio-economic indicators such as education levels, occupation, income, and access to basic services. This would shift the focus from caste as a static identity marker to caste as it intersects with deprivation and opportunity, which is ultimately what policies and programmes must respond to.