Indian Census Data Collection, 1901–2026: Digitised Subnational Population and Administrative Datasets

This collection assembles digitised datasets from the Census of India covering the period from 1901 to 2026. It includes longitudinal population time series, primary census abstract tables at the state and district levels, and a contemporary subdistrict-level administrative directory linked to historical census data. The datasets span multiple census rounds and administrative scales and have been independently digitised, cleaned, and documented. Detailed information on sources, methods, and authorship is provided in the dataset-level codebooks accompanying each component. The following individuals were involved in the curation of data for this collection (listed alphabetically by last name): Alisha Jose; Shivakumar Jolad; Mehr Kalra; Sai Madhuri Khandrika; Vidyali Reddy; Anumeha Saxena; Eshaa Setty; Madhav Singh; Nandhini Somasundaram; and Abhishek Waghmare. Please refer to the metadata and individual codebooks to learn more about individual contributions and how to cite each enclosed dataset.