census_population_time_series: Census population time series (1901-2011)

In censusindia: Census of India Data, 1901-2011, with Boundaries and Projections

Census population time series (1901-2011)

Description

Decadal population at state and district levels, 1901-2011.

Usage

census_population_time_series

Format

A tibble with 7,901 rows and 12 columns:

year

Census year (1901, 1911, ..., 2011)

geography

Geographic level: "state" or "district"

state_code

Numeric state code

state_name

Name of the state

state_name_harmonized

Harmonized state name for joining across datasets

district_code

Numeric district code (0 for state-level)

name

Name of the state or district

population

Total population

males

Male population

females

Female population

variation_absolute

Absolute change from previous census

variation_percent

Percentage change from previous census

Coverage limits

Sikkim, Mizoram and Daman & Diu are absent from every year, so 2011 sums to 1,208,903,947 across 626 districts rather than 1,210,854,977 across 640. get_census() uses the Primary Census Abstract for 2001 and 2011 instead. District rows also fall short of their state totals before 1961 (57 districts carry no population in 1901-1941) and in 1981, where all 27 Assam districts are missing while the state estimate is present. The year column further carries 1900, 1910, 1940, 1948, 1950, 1960, 1962 and 2021, which are not censuses; use census_years() before any lag().

Source

Jolad, Shivakumar and Singh, Madhav (2026). "Indian Census Data Collection, 1901-2026: Digitised Subnational Population and Administrative Datasets." Harvard Dataverse. \Sexpr[results=rd]{tools:::Rd_expr_doi("10.7910/DVN/ON8CP8")}.

censusindia documentation built on Oct. 15, 2026, 5:08 p.m.