The Government of India has announced that the 16th Population Census will be conducted across the country from April 2026 to February 2027. This will be the first full-scale census exercise since 2011, after the 2021 census was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.The census will be carried out in two phases. The first phase, known as the House Listing and Housing Census, will begin in April 2026 and focus on collecting details related to households, housing conditions, and basic amenities. The second phase, the Population Enumeration, will take place in February 2027, recording demographic, social, and economic details of every individual.
The upcoming census is expected to play a crucial role in policy formulation, welfare schemes, and resource allocation, as census data forms the backbone of government planning. Officials have indicated that the exercise will increasingly rely on digital data collection methods to ensure accuracy and efficiency.
As India’s largest administrative exercise, the census will involve extensive groundwork and participation from millions of enumerators, making it a key national effort with long-term implications for governance and development.