Population Census to begin in four States from December 1

Population enumeration for Census 2027 will take place in Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and parts of Uttarakhand from December 1, 2026, to January 4, 2027, the Registrar General of India said on Saturday, keeping in mind the election schedule of these States.

These four States are all set to go to Assembly elections in February, which is usually the month when population enumeration is held. Manipur is the fifth one which is scheduled to go to polls during the same time, but the Census operations in the State have been halted due to demands for preparing a National Registry of Citizens. The terms of the State Assemblies of Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand will end by May 2027.

In a gazette notification, the Registrar General of India (RGI) and Census Commissioner of India, Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan, said the citizens in these areas can avail the option for self-enumeration from November 16 to November 30, 2026.

“The conduct of the Census of the population shall be undertaken in the States of Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and areas other than snow-bound areas of the State of Uttarakhand, from 1st December, 2026 to 4th January, 2027 with a revisional round from 5th January, 2027 to 9th January, 2027,” the notification said.

The reference date for Census 2027 for Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand, other than snow-bound areas of the State, shall be 00:00 hours of January 5, 2027.

“For the Union territory of Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the reference date shall be 00:00 hours of the 1st day of October, 2026,” it added.

The population enumeration of snow-bound areas of Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh has already started on September 1 and will end on September 30. At present, the house listing and housing Census in other States are underway. The early announcement of population enumeration in four states has been made keeping in mind the logistics of holding two massive exercises without any glitches, as most of the officials needed for conducting the Census and elections are the same.

A Government statement issued on June 25 said that the reference date for the remaining country, except Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the States of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, would be March 1, 2027.

Last month, the Centre notified 40 questions, including a query on caste for the first time in independent India, to be asked of respondents. This is the first time that caste will be enumerated in independent India, other than that of Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Scheduled Castes (SCs).

Until the 2011 Census, the exercise included the systematic enumeration of only SCs and STs, while caste enumeration for other communities was not part of the post-Independence Census. The decision to include caste enumeration in Census 2027 was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) on April 30, 2025.

The government has added new questions --such as father’s & mother’s particulars, total number of bank accounts, place of COVID vaccination, Aadhaar no, mobile no, voter ID, and passport no -- for posing before every person through the schedule of Census 2027.

As per the notification issued by the Registrar General, India, the information to be collected also includes the name of the person, relationship with the head of household, sex, date of birth and age, marital status, age at marriage and spouse’s name, nationality, mother tongue, religion, literacy, education, migration, and other demographic parametres.