Detailed census data at state, district, and urban agglomeration levels from the 1981 Census, including literacy and worker classification.
Format
A tibble with 2,364 rows and 39 columns including:
- year
Census year (1981)
- geo_id
Unique geographic identifier
- geo_name
Name of the geographic unit
- level
Geographic level (india, state, district)
- state
Name of the state
- state_name_harmonized
Harmonized state name for joining across datasets
- district
Name of the district (if applicable)
- sector
Sector: "total", "rural", or "urban"
- area_km2
Area in square kilometers
- total_persons
Total population
- total_males
Male population
- total_females
Female population
- literate_persons
Total literate population
- main_workers_persons
Total main workers
- cultivators_persons
Total cultivators
- agri_labour_persons
Total agricultural labourers
- hh_industry_persons
Household industry workers
- other_workers_persons
Other workers
- non_workers_persons
Non-workers
Source
Jolad, Shivakumar and Singh, Madhav (2026). "Indian Census Data Collection, 1901-2026: Digitised Subnational Population and Administrative Datasets." Harvard Dataverse. doi:10.7910/DVN/ON8CP8 .