Reference Date Set as March 1, 2027; October 1, 2026 for Snow-Bound Regions
The Government of India has announced that the Population Census 2027 will be carried out in two phases, along with the enumeration of castes. The reference date for the upcoming census will be 00:00 hours on the first day of March 2027.
For the Union Territory of Ladakh and the non-synchronous, snow-bound areas of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, the reference date will be 00:00 hours on the first day of October 2026.
A formal notification declaring the intent to conduct the Population Census with the specified reference dates is expected to be published in the Official Gazette on June 16, 2025, as per Section 3 of the Census Act, 1948.
The Census of India is governed by the Census Act, 1948, and the Census Rules, 1990. The last census was conducted in 2011, also in two phases:
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Phase I – House Listing and Housing Census (April 1 to September 30, 2010)
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Phase II – Population Enumeration (February 9 to 28, 2011)
The reference date was 00:00 hours on March 1, 2011, except for snow-bound areas, where it was October 1, 2010.
A similar two-phase approach was planned for the 2021 Census, with House Listing from April to September 2020 and Population Enumeration in February 2021. Although all preparatory work for the first phase had been completed, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic led to the postponement of the exercise across the country.
