NEW DELHI—In two months, India is projected to become the world’s most populous country with over 1.4 billion people. But for at least a year, and possibly longer, the country won’t know how many people it has because it hasn’t been able to count them.
India’s once-in-a-decade census, due in 2021 and delayed due to the pandemic, has now got bogged down by technical and logistical hurdles and there are no signs the mammoth exercise is likely to begin soon.
Experts say the delay in updating data like employment, housing, literacy levels, migration patterns, and infant mortality, which are captured by the census, affects social and economic planning and policy making in the huge Asian economy….