The Government of India has announced that the first phase of the 2026 Census, involving Houselisting Operations (HLO), will commence from April 1, 2026.
This marks the formal launch of the 16th decennial Census and the eighth since Independence. In a letter addressed to the Chief Secretaries of all States and Union Territories, Registrar General and Census Commissioner Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan confirmed the timeline and requested cooperation in preparatory tasks.
The Census is a two-phase exercise — in phase one i.e. Houselisting Operation (HLO), the housing conditions, assets and amenities of each household will be collected.
Subsequently, in the second phase i.e. Population Enumeration (PE), the demographic, socio-economic, cultural and other details of every person in each household will be collected which is scheduled for February 1, 2027, according to the letter.
