Some PerspectiveAnalysis

Statistics

The Census is 15 years overdue and counting

The last Indian Census was 2011. The 2021 Census has been postponed indefinitely. Every population estimate published since 2021 — for ration cards, electoral rolls, sample frames, all of it — is now an interpolation. The compounding error grows every year.

India is the world's most populous country and has not formally counted itself in 15 years.

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About this reading

This is one of 36 standing analyses drawn from the Some Perspective dataset. It is not dated commentary: it describes a relationship in the data that holds across the series, and it is regenerated whenever the underlying dataset is refreshed. The figures quoted here reflect the 2026-08-15 data vintage.

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Raman, V.S. Some Perspective: India's Economic Transformation. someperspective.info · CC BY 4.0 · data vintage 2026-08-15. Cite & download · All analyses