India’s first digital Census begins in Kerala: Enumerators start door-to-door Houselisting phase
Enumerators in Kerala have commenced house-to-house visits for the Houselisting and Housing phase of Census 2027, marking the beginning of India’s first fully digital Census. The exercise began on Wednesday, July 1, 2026, and will continue until July 30, 2026.
More than 61,000 enumerators, primarily teachers and other government employees, have been deployed across the state. Kerala has been divided into 58,619 houselisting blocks for data collection. Enumerators are using a mobile application to record responses, and the entire process is being managed through a dedicated web portal called the Census Management and Monitoring System.
The state comprises 682 Census towns and 758 villages. In this first phase, enumerators will ask 34 questions covering housing characteristics, amenities, and assets. The Kerala government issued a notification on May 7, 2026, urging residents to provide “accurate, unambiguous” information.
Census 2027 is being conducted in two phases. Phase I, the Houselisting and Housing Census (HLO), runs from July 1 to July 30 in Kerala. Phase II, the Population Enumeration, is scheduled for February 2027 across the country. Before the door-to-door visits, a 15-day self-enumeration period was held in June, allowing residents to fill in preliminary details online.
The Census is a constitutional mandate under Article 246 of the Indian Constitution, conducted every ten years. This year’s Census is historic as it transitions from paper-based forms to a fully digital process, aimed at improving accuracy and efficiency. The data collected will inform policy planning and resource allocation for the next decade.
