2027 census of India
The 2027 census of India, or the 16th Indian census, is to be conducted in two phases: House listing and Housing Census from April to September 2026 and Population Enumeration in February 2027.
Although initially the house listing was to begin in April 2020 along with the updating of the National Population Register, and the population enumeration on 9 February 2021, they have been continuously postponed. The national census is set to begin in February, '2027, after multiple delays since its original 2021 schedule. This 16th census will include caste enumeration for the first time since 1931. Certain regions like Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand will commence the census earlier, starting from September, 2026.
The 2027 census' is expected to serve as the basis for redistributing seats in the Lok Sabha for the 2029 general election as part of the delimitation exercise, which have been frozen since 1976 due to The Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi. Gandhi's government brought in the Forty-second Amendment which froze the total Parliamentary and Assembly seats in each state until the 2001 Census.
In September 2019, Central Home Minister Amit Shah had stated that the 2021 national census would be done fully digitally through a mobile phone application, and will be carried out in 16 languages. In February 2021, Central Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allocated for the census in the 2021 Central budget of India. It was delayed to 2022 and then further delayed to 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India. Following the postponement of the deadline of freezing administrative boundaries to 30 June 2023, and owing to the general elections in 2024, it was apparent in early 2023 that the census would not take place earlier than late 2024. This was confirmed in July 2023, when the Government of India extended the deadline to freeze the administrative boundaries to 1 January 2024, ruling out the census exercise before the 2024 Indian general election. On 20 September 2023, Central Home Minister Amit Shah informed during the discussion on Women's Reservation Bill that census and the delimitation exercise will take place after the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. On 30 December 2023, the deadline to freeze the administrative boundaries was further extended to 30 June 2024, thereby postponing the census to at least October 2024 as it would have required three months to identify and train enumerators.
Information collection
House-listings
The House-listing schedule contains 31 questions:| No. | Information |
| 1 | Building Number |
| 2 | Census House Number |
| 3 | Predominant material of floor, wall and roof of the census house |
| 4 | Ascertain use of census house |
| 5 | Condition of the census house |
| 6 | Household number |
| 7 | Total number of persons normally residing in the household |
| 8 | Name of the head of the household |
| 9 | Sex of the head of the household |
| 10 | Whether the head of the household belongs to SC/ST/Other |
| 11 | Ownership status of the census house |
| 12 | Number of dwelling rooms exclusively in possession of the household |
| 13 | Number of married couple living in the household |
| 14 | Main source of drinking water |
| 15 | Availability of drinking water source |
| 16 | Main source of lighting |
| 17 | Access to latrine |
| 18 | Type of latrine |
| 19 | Waste water outlet |
| 20 | Availability of bathing facility |
| 21 | Availability of kitchen and LPG/PNG connection |
| 22 | Main fuel used for cooking |
| 23 | Radio/Transistor |
| 24 | Television |
| 25 | Access to Internet |
| 26 | Laptop/Computer |
| 27 | Telephone/Mobile phone/Smartphone |
| 28 | Bicycle/Scooter/Motorcycle/Moped |
| 29 | Car/Jeep/Van |
| 30 | Main cereal consumed in the household |
| 31 | Mobile number |
Population enumeration
The population enumeration follows the housing census within a gap of six to eight months. During the second phase of census taking, each person is enumerated and her/his individual particulars like age, marital status, religion, schedule caste/schedule tribe, mother tongue, education level, disability, economic activity, migration, fertility are collected.| No. | Information |
| 1 | Gender |
| 2 | Age |
| 3 | Marital status |
| 4 | Child |
| 5 | Religion |
| 6 | Social group |
| 7 | Language |
| 8 | Education |
| 9 | Physical disability |
| 10 | Economic activity |
| 11 | Migration |
Enumeration methods
Digital enumeration
In April 2019, at the conference of data users it was announced that 3.3 million enumerators would be enlisted and that they would be encouraged to use their own smart phones, although a paper option will also be available, which the enumerators will then need to submit electronically. During the census exercise a census portal will be opened, allowing individuals to self-enumerate after logging in using their phone numbers. The building of a mobile app for conducting the census along with the creation of the census portal for information collection is aimed at doing away with paper records in the exercise, making India along with Vietnam and Eswatini, one of the few countries who have tried to do so.NPR
will be linked to this census. NPR was supposed to be updated along with the first phase of census between April and September 2020, however that too has been postponed indefinitely. On 24 December 2019, the Central Government approved for updating the NPR across India.Caste enumeration
The 15th Indian census, taken in 2011, attempted to estimate the population based on Socio-Economic and Caste Status for the first time since 1931. However, as the enumeration was based on recording the respondents' declaration, it led to creation of hundreds of thousands of caste/subcaste categories. For the 16th Indian census, the government was instead considering enumeration based on a list of educationally or socially disadvantaged castes reported by each state. However, in February 2020, the Indian government rejected the demand for OBC data as part of the 2021 census.In September 2018, the then Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, announced that the 2021 census will have Other Backward Class data, for the first time since the 1931 census. Despite this announcement, the questionnaire presented in July 2019 did not have a specific OBC category. Several state legislative assemblies passed resolutions for collecting OBC data including the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Odisha Legislative Assembly, and Bihar Legislative Assembly, while the government of Uttar Pradesh, rejected the opposition's demand to pass such a resolution. On 29 February 2020, central government refused to conduct caste census despite demands from states. Despite Centre's rejection, Maharashtra legislators were adamant for caste based census at least in the state. Protest march in support of OBC census was carried out in Jammu and Kashmir. Minister of State Social Justice and Empowerment, Ramdas Athawale also demanded carrying of census counting every single caste in India. On 6 June 2022 the Bihar government issued a notification to conduct a caste survey, and began collecting data on 7 January following the dismissal of petitions against it in the supreme court. On 2 October the Bihar government released preliminary data from the survey, with the full detailed report being publicly released in the state assembly on 7 November 2023. On 26 June 2024, the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly unanimously adopted a resolution urging the Central government to immediately commence census work along with a caste based population census, however the Chief Minister M. K. Stalin declined to conduct a Bihar style caste survey, as any changes made to reservation based on a survey by the state government could be struck down by the courts, while contending that a full-fledged census can be legally only conducted by the Central government under the Census Act, 1948. In July 2024, Central Minister Chirag Paswan backed the demand for conducting a caste census as part of the 2021 census, however he opposed its data from being publicly revealed as he believed it will lead to division in society.
During the 2024 general elections, the inclusion of a caste census became a key demand of the opposition INDIA alliance led by the Congress.
On April 30 2025, Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs decided to include caste enumeration in forthcoming census exercise.