What population did India's 2011 census record?

What population did India’s 2011 census record? India’s 2011 census recorded a population of 1,210,854,977.

The 2011 census was India’s 15th national census and was conducted in two major phases. House listing began in 2010, while the main population enumeration took place from February 9 to 28, 2011. The final total represented a decennial increase of about 17.7% from the 2001 census, making India the world’s second country to pass 1.2 billion people at the time.

The census counted 623,724,568 males and 586,469,294 females in the reported national total. It recorded a literacy rate of about 74.04%, a population density of 382 people per square kilometre, and a sex ratio of 943 females per 1,000 males. It also marked the first Indian census to collect biometric information and to include an official count of transgender people.

A frequent error is misremembering the final digits as 1,210,584,977. The correct sequence is 1,210,854,977. The figure is a historical census count, not a current estimate; India’s population has continued to change since 2011.