Census 2027 Schedule Announced: House-to-House Enumeration from January 25 to February 28

The Union Government has notified the schedule for the second and final phase of Census 2027, setting the dates for the house-to-house population count across most of the country. Under the notification issued on 30 October by Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, population enumeration will be carried out from 25 January to 28 February 2027, with the reference date fixed at midnight on 1 March 2027.

Before the enumerators begin their door-to-door visits, citizens will get a chance to fill in their own details online. The self-enumeration facility will be open from 10 to 24 January 2027, closing a day before the house-to-house exercise starts. After the main count, a revisional round will run from 1 to 5 March 2027 to verify and correct information that was missed or needs fixing.

This will be India’s first fully digital census, with enumerators recording answers on a mobile app rather than on paper schedules. The population schedule carries 40 questions, and for the first time it will include caste enumeration beyond Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, alongside questions on religion, the place and date of birth of parents, bank accounts and other household details.

Some states and areas are not covered by this January-February schedule and will be handled separately. Manipur has been kept out until a further declaration, while Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand, the Union Territory of Ladakh and the snow-bound non-synchronous areas of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir are excluded from this notification, with the poll-bound states already placed on a separate earlier schedule. Ladakh and the snow-bound areas were already enumerated in September against an October 2026 reference date.

The first phase of Census 2027, the house-listing and housing census, began on 1 April 2026 and was completed across the country by 30 September, except in Manipur. Haryana falls in the January-February schedule, so households in the state should expect enumerators between 25 January and 28 February 2027, with the online self-enumeration window opening on 10 January. The figures gathered will form the basis for planning development works, distributing resources and shaping welfare policies for the next decade.