Joining the Census of India 2001 and 2011 data

Joining the Census of India 2001 and 2011 data

Census of India 2001 and 2011 (and more recently even 1991) data is available online. However, the merging is a humongous task given that several districts have changed their boundaries between the two decades, and names have changed. Merging the two is useful in studying trends and ~I have used it for several research works already. And while I go back to this file for merging any Census data, I thought I should put this up in public so others can use it too.

I used several methods to do this merging - more importantly, I also did a spatial join which made joining them easier. Once I merged the file, I rarely go back to the original merging from scratch file so I might have to dig that up in case it is needed. It is also cross-checked for correctness.

For those who use the census data regularly, these columns would be familiar - but for key: where there is ‘1’ at the end is a 2001 column and ‘11’ or ‘2’ is for 2011. division column at the end shows that the district is split into that many in 2011 - so the population of 2001 is also divided the number of divisions evenly accordingly. In case of joining, please ensure you multiply the joined 2001 figures by that number and cross-check.

Hoping this helps someone. Instead of joining, you can pick this file up.

Please find the csv HERE