Census 2027 to ask duration of stay, migration reasons, Centre tells Lok Sabha

New Delhi, Dec 9: The Census 2027 will also include questions related to the duration of stay at the current residence and the reason for migration, Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

In a written reply, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, said that in the Census information of every individual is collected at the place where they are found during the period of enumeration.

"The Census also collects information on the duration of stay at the current residence and the reason for migration. Questionnaire for Census is notified before conducting field work by the Central Government through the Official Gazette," he said.

Rai was responding to a question from a member on whether any special provisions are being made for counting migrant workers and temporary residents during the Census-2027 and whether a separate data collection process is proposed for the same.

The Minister said migration data is collected for each and every individual based on their place of birth and place of last residence.

The Census 2027 will be conducted in two phases - the first is the House Listing and Housing Census, between April and September 2026 and the second, Population Enumeration (PE), in February 2027.

The first phase from April to September 2026 will be conducted in a period of 30 days in accordance with the convenience of the state governments.

Population Enumeration will be done in February 2027 with the reference date of 00:00 hours of March 1, 2027, except for the Union Territory of Ladakh, the snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, where it will be done in September 2026 with the reference date of 00:00 hours of October 1, 2026.

The exercise will be digital and will also include caste enumeration as decided by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs on April 30.

PTI