Report on the Census of British India taken on the 17th of February 1881: Vols. I-III

This report on the 1881 census of British India says that it was “the first synchronous enumeration attempted for all of India.” A previous census had been conducted for the provinces and states but at different times and by independent agencies. (See Memorandum on the Census of British India of 1871-72) This census was conducted by the Government of India and its local administrations.   It covered all of British India (except Kashmir) and included the ‘Feudatory States’, the French and Portuguese colonies, and what was then the province of Burmah. It was compiled by William Chichele Plowden, a civil servant and a member of the imperial legislative council of British India. This report is divided into three volumes. The first volume has 13 chapters with information about the size, sex and density of the population, religious groups, marriage and divorce, mortality and average life span, literacy, languages and dialects, physical and mental illnesses, urban and rural areas, caste and occupation and so on. Volumes II and III contain the report’s appendices.