New Delhi, Oct 16 – A pre-test exercise for the first phase of the Population Census 2027 will be conducted from November 10-30, 2025, across all states and Union territories in select sample areas. This pre-test will evaluate all aspects of the upcoming census.

The Population Census 2027 will be conducted in two phases. The first phase will involve Houselisting and Housing Census, while the second phase will gather demographic and socio-economic details of every person. The pre-test exercise will assess the efficacy of the census, which is scheduled to be conducted between April 1, 2026, and February 28, 2027.

Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan, said in a gazette notification that an option for self-enumeration will be available from November 1-7. The upcoming census will be the first digital census and will also enumerate the caste of citizens. Enumerators will collect data from citizens using mobile applications on their Android and Apple phones.

A special dedicated web portal will be launched for self-enumeration during the upcoming Census, available for both phases of the national enumeration exercise. During the test phase, all aspects of the census, including questions, data collection, training, logistics, mobile applications, and software, will be evaluated to identify and resolve any potential issues.

India's 16th census with caste enumeration will be carried out in 2027 with the reference date of October 1, 2026, in snow-bound areas like Ladakh and March 1, 2027, in the rest of the country. The notification to conduct the census will be published in the official gazette on Monday.