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History of Indian Census (1872-2011)

Census-nama is a long-form series that traces the evolution of the Indian Census—from its colonial origins to the present day. India is on the verge of its largest administrative exercise: Census 2027, a monumental effort to enumerate over 1.4 billion people. With this staggering scope, It is a mirror to the nation itself, capturing everything from age, caste, and language to housing, digital access, and migration. Census-nama will explore how these categories came to be and had a long lasting impact on the Indian society, along with the nitty-gritty of the administrative and statistical process behind this monumental task.​

Download census raw data!

INTRODUCTION

Introduction

FIRST ASYNCHRONOUS CENSUS (1871-72)

1871-72 Census

FIRST SYNCHRONOUS CENSUS (1881)

1881 Census

CENSUS OF 1891

1891 Census

CENSUS OF 1901

1901 Census

CENSUS OF 1911

Census Data

DOWNLOAD CENSUS DATA!

We’re happy to share the raw data that we’ve been able to extract from old census reports.

Census of British India 1871-72 Dataset

This database contains all the tables extracted from the 1871-72 census report. The tables provide expansive data on Population, Age, Sex, Religion, Education, Caste, Occupation and Infirmities

First Synchronous Census of 1881 Dataset

This database contains all the tables extracted from the 1881 census report. The tables provide expansive data on Population Demographics, Age, Sex Ratio, Deccan Famine, Civil Condition, Religion, Education, Caste, Occupation and Life Tables

Census of British India 1891 Dataset

This database contains all the tables extracted from the 1891 census report. The tables provide expansive data on Population, Age, Sex, Civil Condition, Migration, Language, Religion, Education, Caste, Occupation, Infirmities and Imperial Tables

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