Census 2027 to go digital with self-enumeration; 2-phase rollout from April 1

In a first, the national Census will be conducted digitally with the option of self-enumeration, said Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, on Monday (March 30).

Addressing a press conference in Delhi, Narayan said that the “world’s largest census”, India's 16th, will be conducted in two phases, with the first phase set to begin from April 1. The first phase, called House Listing and Housing Census, popularly known as HLO, will be conducted over 30-day periods from April to September. There will be the option of self-enumeration of 15 days period just before the 30-day period of house-to-house houselisting work.

“In this phase, information about the condition of houses, amenities available to the household and assets possessed by the household will be collected. Questions of Phase I of the Census have been notified in January, 2026,” he said as quoted in an official release.

Phase II timeline and data scope

“Phase II–Population Enumeration (PE) will be conducted during February 2027 (UT of Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of UT of Jammu and Kashmir and States of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh Phase II will be conducted during September 2026),” added Narayan.

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Elaborating further, Narayan said that during phase II, information on demographic, socio-economic, education, migration, fertility, etc. would be collected from each individual. He further stated that the exact dates of the Population Enumeration and the questions to be covered in this Phase will be notified soon.

Regional schedule and budget outlay

According to the release, Houselisting and Housing Census will be conducted in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Delhi (New Delhi Municipal Council and Delhi Cantonment Board), Goa, Karnataka, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Odisha, and Sikkim will do the Houselisting and Housing Census from April 16 to May 15. The period of self-enumeration will be from April 1 to April 15.

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An outlay of Rs 11,718.24 crore for Census 2027 has been allocated by the Centre to ensure that there are adequate provisions for payment of honorarium and training to Census functionaries, IT infrastructures, logistics, etc, said Narayan.

The exercise will press over 3 million enumerators, supervisors, and other officials across the country.

Digital collection

Narayan said Census 2027 will be conducted through digital means. Enumerators will collect and submit data directly through the mobile app, using his or her smart phone.

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In addition to this, there will be an online provision for self-enumeration in both phases. Mobile app as well as self-enumeration portal will be available in 16 languages, including Hindi and English.

As for self-enumeration, respondents can log into the SE portal using their mobile number and other basic details and complete the Census schedule at their convenience.

Confidentiality and legal safeguards

Narayan advised citizens to give accurate information to Census enumerators, asserting that the individual data will remain confidential and cannot be used as evidence or to get benefits under any scheme.

The commissioner said under Section 15 of the Census Act, all individual data remains confidential. The Census will be conducted in Delhi from April 16 to May 15.

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"All the individual data collected during the exercise remains confidential. It cannot be shared under the Right to Information Act, used as evidence in a court and cannot be shared with any organisation, be it government or private," he said.

Only statistical aggregate data will be used for tabulation purposes, he added.

Caste data and misuse concerns

Asked about caste being included in the Census and the apprehension that people may not give correct information, the Registrar General said the data related to caste will be collected during the second phase, and the questions will be decided after exhaustive discussions.

Since the individual data shared by any person with a Census enumerator will be strictly confidential and cannot be used to derive benefit from any government scheme, he said the apprehension that it will be misused is misplaced.