India's population enumeration for Census 2027 will be carried out across the country from January 25 to February 28, 2027, except in snow-bound and poll-bound states, the government said in its notification, news agency PTI reported on Friday evening.

Source: PTI — government notification

Households that wish to fill in their details themselves will get an optional self-enumeration window from January 10 to January 24, 2027, before enumerators begin the door-to-door exercise. A revisional round will follow from March 1 to March 5, 2027, and the reference date for the census — the moment to which the count relates — will be 00:00 hours on March 1, 2027, according to the government notification reported by PTI.

Source: PTI — government notification

Jan 10–24, 2027Optional online self-enumeration window
Jan 25–Feb 28, 2027Door-to-door population enumeration in most of India
Mar 1, 2027, 00:00 hrsReference date (census moment)
Mar 1–5, 2027Revisional round

Punjab and four other poll-bound states kept out of this window

The population census will not be held in this window in poll-bound Manipur, Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand, and in the snow-bound areas of Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, PTI reported, citing the government. Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand are all due assembly elections around that period.

The same January schedule — self-enumeration from January 10, field enumeration from January 25 to February 28 and a revisional round on March 1–5, with the reference date at midnight on March 1, 2027 — has also been reported in district-level preparations covered by Mirror Now, which noted that enumerators will still visit every household to verify details submitted online.

Source: Mirror Now — Census 2027 self-enumeration schedule

India's first digital census

Census 2027 is India's 16th census and its first fully digital one, with data collected through mobile apps and the self-enumeration portal, and it includes caste enumeration. The first phase — house listing and the housing census — was carried out between April and September 2026. The population-enumeration questionnaire covers 40 questions on personal details, education, occupation, migration, religion and caste, according to officials cited in earlier coverage of the preparations.

The last full census was held in 2011; the 2021 round was postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic, making this the first population count in 16 years.