In a landmark change for India’s administrative system, the Union governmenthas finalised the roadmap for Census 2027, which will be the country’s first fully digital population count. Census India has announced that the questionnaire for Phase I of Census 2027 has been issued. This first phase will focus on houselisting and housing enumeration.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Census India said the notification for Phase I has been released, while the questionnaire for Phase II, which will cover population enumeration, will be notified later.
Notification of questionnaire of Phase I of Census of India 2027 – Houselisting & Housing Census has been issued. The questionnaire for Phase II i.e. Population Enumeration will be notified in due course.
भारत की जनगणना 2027 के प्रथम चरण – मकानसूचीकरण और मकानों की गणना हेतु… pic.twitter.com/1BHbxmA8fN
— Census India 2027 (@CensusIndia2027) January 22, 2026
On Thursday, the government shared details of 33 questions that census workers will ask people during the houselisting and housing census, which is set to begin from April 1. These questions were notified through a gazette notification issued by Registrar General of India, Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan.
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“The Central Government hereby instructs that all Census officers may, within the limits of the local areas for which they have been respectively appointed, ask all such questions from all persons on the items enumerated below,” the notification said, explaining the scope of information to be collected for Census of India 2027.
Details to be collected on houses and households
The first phase will collect detailed information about houses and households. This will include building and census house numbers and the main materials used for the floor, walls and roof. Enumerators will also note how the house is used, its condition, whether it is owned or rented, the number of rooms and how many people usually live there.
Details about the head of the household will also be recorded, such as name and sex, whether the head belongs to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes or other communities and the number of married couples living in the household.
Focus on living conditions and basic facilities
The questionnaire also covers living conditions and daily needs. People will be asked about access to drinking water, electricity, toilets, wastewater outlets, bathing and kitchen facilities, and the type of cooking fuel used, including LPGand PNG connections.
In addition, the survey will record access to modern facilities like radio, television, internet, laptops, computers, mobile phones and smartphones. It will also capture details about vehicles owned, the main cereal consumed by the household and a mobile number for census-related communication.
The houselisting exercise will be carried out over a 30-day period, which will be notified separately by each state and Union Territory between April 1 and September 30. A 15-day self-enumeration window will be provided just before fieldwork begins.
Two-phase, fully digital census
Census 2027, which will cost Rs 11,718 crore, will be conducted in two phases. The houselisting and housing census will be done this year, followed by population enumeration in February 2027. This will be India’s first fully digital census, with nearly 30 lakh enumerators using mobile apps on Android and iOS to collect data.
The decennial census was originally planned for 2021 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The upcoming census will also see the return of caste enumeration in the population phase. The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the inclusion of caste data in April last year. Caste details have not been collected since Independence, with the last full caste-based count carried out between 1881 and 1931.
As per Census 2011, India’s population was 1,210.19 million, including 623.72 million males and 586.46 million females. Census 2027 is expected to provide the first updated official population figures in more than ten years. |
