Census of India

The Census of India, conducted every decade since 1881, is the world’s largest administrative exercise and the foundational dataset for Indian social science. The 2011 Census provides population, household, gender, age structure, literacy, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe populations, migration, housing quality, and asset ownership data — all the way down to village and ward level. The Primary Census Abstract (PCA) tables are the most commonly used, but the full suite includes migration tables, economic activity tables, fertility tables, and housing tables. For researchers, the key value is the combination of complete coverage (every person counted), granular geography (village/ward level), and long time series (decadal comparisons from 1991, 2001, 2011). The 2021 Census was delayed by COVID-19 and is expected to begin in 2025.